External Approvals Dubai

The Department of Economic Development (DED) is the authority to issue license for new business setup in Dubai Mainland. Generally the DED provides the initial approvals and name approvals. But there are certain business activities for which the approvals only from DED are not enough as they are related with different activities which may be regulated by different other Govt. departments and the external approvals comes in picture which need to be taken from authorities who are responsible to regulate these activities in order to get the license from DED.

Why an external approval is required

The external approval plays an important factor when the activity of the business becomes enough liable to create a deep impact in human lives. Hence, the DED also seeks the assistance from the specialized authority to check whether the probable executions related to that particular activity abides by the rules and regulations of UAE to keep a healthy balance in the economical cycle and also to eliminate the risk of insecurity from day to day lives.

How to know whether an activity needs an external approval

As told earlier all the licenses do not require external approvals until unless it doesn’t come under a special factor when it can create an impact in the economical cycle or the day to day lives. For an example to take the activity TRAVEL AGENT which basically deals for flight ticket booking needs an external approval from GENERAL CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY (GCAA) and DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM and COMMERCE MARKETING (DTCM) as well, or to start an EDUCATION SUPPORT ACTIVITIES in mainland an external approval is required from Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA).So in all cases it is always better to check the activity with a knowledgeable person or from a corporate advisor who have enough experience in formation of different kinds of licenses.

Does external approval comes with an extra cost?

The answer is YES in some cases. The external approval comes with some times one time charges or in some cases with a recurring charge. As the activities are different and as they come with different range of business opportunities hence there are no fixed charges and it varies from one activity to another activity. The charge to take a TRAVEL AGENT activity cannot be matched with the charge while taking an activity for EDUCATION SUPPORT ACTIVITIES. Hence, kindly contact an experienced company to check the detailing about the charges related to external approval.

What is the process to get the external approvals?

Generally the process starts with a name approval and an initial approval from the Department of Economic Department Development (DED) and then according to the activity the authority related to the external approval will provide the process and the conditions to get the approval from themselves. Sometimes it may take more than a month to accomplish the process in order to get the external approval. Once the external approval is received then the DED provides the license to start the activity.

Related authorities for granting external approvals

• Dubai Maritime City- external approval cargo clearing or cargo packaging etc.
• Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM)- external approval for tourism related activities
• Dubai Sports Council- external approval for gym or sports related activities
• Community Development Authority - external approval for any community related services like social club
• Environment Protection Section of Dubai Municipality - external approval for tents or tarpaulin manufacturing etc
• Central Bank of the UAE - external approval for Banks and Financial Institutions related activities
• Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) - external approval for education and institution related activities
• Ministry of Health or DHA (Dubai Heath Authority)- external approval for Pharmaceutical and medical products
• Municipality - external approval restaurant for contracting and building services etc
• Road and Transport Authority (RTA) - external approval for transport related activities
• National Media Council- external approval for publishing or printing or advertising related activities
• Telecommunications Regulator Authority (TRA)- external approval for telephones &telecommunication etc
• Department of Protective Systems - external approval for Jewelry trading related activities
• Ruler’s Court - external approval for oilfield and natural gas related activities

This blog post is written by Ms. Ananya Business Advisor at Flyingcolour Business Setup, VAT and Accounting Services in Dubai UAE. For more details, please contact us at +971 4 4542366 or email us at info[at]flyingcolour[dot]com.