Legal & IP · Product Registration

Product registration in the UAE

Which authority you register with depends entirely on what the product is. Food, cosmetics, medical devices, electronics and chemicals each have a different regulator and a different process. Getting that wrong is the most common delay.

MoIAT, EDE and Dubai MunicipalityRead off the authorities' own service pagesESMA no longer exists

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Who regulates your product

Each card is the authority's own service, and the system it runs on. The routing question is the one that decides your timeline.

Food and beverages Registered on ZAD, the national food product data platform, before entering the market — built jointly by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and Dubai Municipality under Federal Law No. 10 of 2015 on Food Safety. Abu Dhabi runs FIEMIS through ADAFSA. In Dubai, food item registration and label assessment is a separate service from Foodwatch, which registers food establishments — a distinction that trips people up constantly.

Cosmetics and personal care Dubai Municipality, through the Montaji system. No cosmetic product may be manufactured, imported, exported, advertised, sold or distributed in Dubai unless registered there. Medicated cosmetics are federal instead.

Medical devices and pharmaceuticals The Emirates Drug Establishment. These moved out of the Ministry of Health and Prevention on 29 December 2025, and EDE is now the only federal authority regulating medical and pharmaceutical products. A medical device marketing authorisation runs 5 years.

Regulated products requiring conformity ECAS, the UAE conformity assessment scheme, run by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology. A valid UAE trade licence and an accredited-lab test report are required.

Quality and halal marks MoIAT's National Conformity Marks — the Emirates Quality Mark, the National Halal Mark, the Eco-label and the Made in the UAE mark — licensed for three years. Halal runs against the UAE.S 2055 standards series.

Chemicals and hazardous materials Civil Defence approves import, transport, trade, manufacture and use of hazardous materials. MOCCAE maintains the national list of banned and restricted chemicals and permits hazardous waste movement.

There is no general UAE chemicals registerNothing along REACH lines exists. MOCCAE's remit is pesticides, ozone-depleting substances, hazardous waste and the banned-and-restricted list — not a catalogue of every chemical product.
What registration usually needsRegardless of category, expect: product specification and ingredients or components, manufacturer details and certification, laboratory test reports from an accepted lab, artwork and labelling compliant with UAE requirements, and a certificate of free sale from the country of origin.
Labelling is the most common rejectionMandatory declarations and claim restrictions differ from other markets, and artwork approved elsewhere frequently fails here. For prepackaged food the governing standard is UAE.S GSO 9, and requirements vary by category. Check your category's standard before you print, not after the shipment lands.
On Arabic labelling, this page states no ruleA blanket Arabic requirement could not be verified: UAE.S GSO 9 is paywalled, and the Dubai Municipality guidance that is reachable says some declarations may be "in clear English and/or Arabic" — optional in that context, bilingual in others. The page points at the standard rather than stating a rule it cannot source.
Registrations expireAn EDE medical device marketing authorisation runs 5 years, a MoIAT conformity mark licence 3. Diarise them; a lapsed registration stops a shipment as effectively as never having had one.

At a glance

The essentials

Food and beverages: ZAD nationally; FIEMIS through ADAFSA in Abu Dhabi
Cosmetics: Dubai Municipality, via Montaji — medicated cosmetics are federal
Medical devices and pharma: Emirates Drug Establishment, since 29 December 2025
Conformity: ECAS, run by MoIAT — trade licence and accredited-lab report required
Quality and halal marks: MoIAT National Conformity Marks, licensed for 3 years
Hazardous materials: Civil Defence; MOCCAE holds the banned and restricted list
Medical device authorisation: 5 years
Prepackaged food labelling: UAE.S GSO 9, with requirements varying by category
ESMA: No longer exists — merged into MoIAT
General chemicals register: None. There is no UAE equivalent of REACH

Does this apply to you

Do you need to register?

The cost of being wrong is a held shipment, so the routing question is worth settling first.

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This applies to you if

You are importing consumer goods for sale in the UAERegistration comes before the goods enter the market, not after.
You manufacture locally for the UAE marketSame regime, and the same routing question decides the timeline.
You are changing a formulation or a supplierA change in manufacturer generally requires updating the registration even where the product is identical.

It may not apply if

You are transiting goods without entering the local marketWorth confirming rather than assuming.
You trade strictly B2B in categories outside the consumer regimeAlso worth confirming, because a held shipment costs more than the question does.

FAQ

Common questions

Ask AgentBiz

Do I still apply to ESMA?

No. ESMA was merged into the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology and all its authorities and duties transferred. Conformity now runs through MoIAT's own e-services.

Is it per product or per range?

Usually per product, sometimes per variant. A range with several flavours or shades is often several registrations.

What if I change supplier?

A change in manufacturer generally requires updating the registration even where the product is identical.

How long is it valid?

Registrations have expiry dates — an EDE medical device marketing authorisation runs 5 years, a MoIAT conformity mark licence 3. Diarise them; a lapsed registration stops a shipment as effectively as never having had one.

Does my label have to be in Arabic?

It depends on the category, and we do not state a blanket rule. UAE.S GSO 9 governs prepackaged food and is paywalled; the Dubai Municipality guidance that is reachable allows some declarations "in clear English and/or Arabic". Check your category's standard before printing.