Key Takeaways
- The activity code on the licence sets which permits you need, what the government charges and how a bank reads the business.
- Dubai issues licences before permits; Executive Council Resolution 5 of 2024 makes the permit a condition for starting, not for the licence.
- Each free zone keeps its own activity list, and some permits, such as freelancer permits, limit the number of activities.
- Resolution 11 of 2025 tells DET to publish a list of activities and their routes; check Invest in Dubai for the current version.
- Changing the activity later is a paid amendment with a bank notification, so the code costs least to fix before the licence is issued.
The DED activities list is the name people still search for, but the body behind it is the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET, formerly DED), and its list is only one of several. Choosing the DED activity code once and correctly means knowing how to read the lists, which activities need a regulator first, what a later change triggers and what to bring to the authority.
Why the activity code is the first decision
Every later step is built on one line of the licence, the activity code, which says what you may sell. It decides the permits you need before you start, the government fee, what the bank sees in your file and, for a freelancer, whether the visa follows. A code picked from a marketing name brings the wrong approvals and fees, and correcting it later costs an amendment fee and a notification to the bank.
In Dubai a licence can be issued instantly. Executive Council Resolution 5 of 2024 lets DET issue an instant licence against an undertaking, in which the investor confirms that they know every requirement and will obtain every permit before starting. Permission to trade comes from the permit.
Dubai's official guide sets the order of work (dubai.ae, October 2026). You choose the licence type and legal form, check ownership, identify the extra approvals, and then register in three stages: initial approval, trade name, licence. The activity choice sits at the front of that sequence, which is why a mistake there travels through all three stages.
How the DED activities list is organised
Five licence types appear in Dubai's official guide: industrial, commercial, professional, E-Trader and dual (dubai.ae, October 2026). The Dubai DED activity list sits under those types. You pick the type first and the activity inside it second, and the application is built in that order. The wording you select is what prints on the licence.
Under Resolution 5 of 2024, licence and permit applications run through one Digital Window. The activity you select is therefore the one the permit authority sees, whatever you meant.
Government fees depend on the activity. Ask DET, or run the Invest in Dubai cost calculator, for the figure for your exact code. First-year totals quoted by consultancies differ widely and are not a fee schedule; the cost guide for the UAE shows how to split a quote into government and service lines.
Founders often describe the business by its brand name or by the headline on the website, and then look for a matching label. The list uses its own labels, and two labels that sound alike can carry different approvals. Choose from the list in the authority's own words, copy that wording into your contracts, and ask DET which permits attach to the line before you pay the licence fee. The guide to trade licence types helps with the first part, the choice of type.
Free zone activity lists are different from DET lists
A free zone licenses from its own list under its own regulations, and that list is not DET's. RAKEZ, for example, offers commercial, general trading, industrial, service, professional, media and e-commerce licences and a freelancer permit (RAKEZ, October 2026). Some licences fix the number of activities, freelancer permits among them, so check the count in the zone's own terms. The freelance permit guide shows what that means for a visa.
Take a consultant who bills strategy workshops, a software build and staff training. A one-activity permit covers one of those three, and the invoices for the other two then sit outside the licence. That is also why an activity can be on sale in one zone and absent in another. If your zone does not offer it, the choice is another zone or a DET licence. A free zone company that wants Dubai mainland customers also needs one of the routes in Executive Council Resolution 11 of 2025, and those cover Dubai only.
Article 9 of that Resolution instructs DET, with the licensing authority, to issue a list of activities and the route each one needs. The Resolution set six months for that list, so check Invest in Dubai for the current version before you assume your activity qualifies. The Free Zone Mainland Operating Permit, launched on 8 October 2025, covers non-regulated activities in its first phase, such as technology, consultancy, design, professional services and trading (Dubai Media Office).
Activities that need a regulator permit first
Resolution 5 of 2024 lets DET issue the licence instantly, except for activities listed by a resolution of the Chairman of the Executive Council, where permits or approvals must come before the licence. It names no sectors, so ask DET whether your activity is on the Chairman's list. As your own check, a regulated activity such as health or education usually needs its regulator's approval before you start. The licence may arrive first but not the sales: selling or advertising before the permit arrives breaches the undertaking you signed, and the Commercial Companies Law (Federal Decree-Law 32 of 2021, Article 11(1), not changed by Federal Decree-Law 20 of 2025) separately requires all approvals before a company commences.
Some regulators also decide the jurisdiction. Virtual asset activity in or from Dubai, free zones included and DIFC excluded, needs a licence from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). The company may not carry on virtual asset activity until VARA has licensed it (VARA, October 2026); ask VARA for the steps in writing. A trade licence that mentions crypto is not a VARA licence.
Two outcomes follow when the activity needs a regulator the founder did not check: the application is rejected after fees are paid, or the licence is issued and trading is barred. You can start the check alone on the regulator's own website. A lawyer can read those conditions for a regulated activity before you sign a lease or a client contract.
Stacking activities and general trading
More activities do not make a safer licence. A licensing authority can ask you to justify a set of unrelated activities. Advisers commonly report that banks read a long list of unrelated activities as a risk flag.
"General trading" is the label founders pick for comfort, because it sounds as if it covers everything. It can bring more know-your-customer questions and a mismatch with the products you actually sell. The Central Bank's customer due diligence guidance tells banks to build a risk profile of each customer, and a licence line that names no goods gives the bank little to read. Name the goods or the service.
Changing an activity later
An activity change is an amendment, and each amendment is a transaction with a fee set by the licensing authority. Ask for the amendment fee for your licence type before you choose a broader code "to be safe". The bank expects a notification, because the licence on its file no longer matches.
New activities can bring their own permits too. The sequence of Resolution 5 of 2024 can then start again for that line, with the undertaking, the permit and the inspection before you sell.
A checklist to bring to the authority or an adviser
Groundwork costs nothing, and you can do it alone. Bring these items to the authority, the zone or an adviser:
- The exact activity wording from the authority's list, copied and not paraphrased.
- A plain description of what you sell, to whom, from where and at what order size.
- The countries of your customers and suppliers, and whether you will hold or import goods.
- Whether any customers are on the Dubai mainland, if you are considering a free zone.
- The visas you plan in the first year and the activity each person will perform.
- The text of your website and contracts, so that the licence wording and the paper agree.
Choosing the code alone is fair for one shareholder, a standard non-regulated activity and a zone with a published package and an online portal. Even then the weak points are the activity wording, the bank file and Corporate Tax registration, which the guide to Corporate Tax for new companies covers. The full sequence is in the step-by-step guide to setting up in Dubai yourself.
The activity-mapping step is where advice costs least. A business setup consultant can map the code to the permits and to the bank's view in writing before you pay the licence fee, whereas a later amendment costs fees and a bank notification. Ask for that map in writing, and read whether you need a consultant at all first.
AdvisoryHub may receive a fee when you request an introduction; it does not affect the information on this page.
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