The Department of Economic Development (DED) in Dubai is a government body that provides multiple e-Services for people. The Department of Economic Development is a pioneer in providing regulated economic plans and business policies for the development of projects and programmes within the available resources. It has 3 major goals.
- Achieving the ministry’s vision and mission for developing different economic sectors.
- Organize business sector and be prepared for ambitious investment domain in order to attract foreign and local investments.
- To offer the best financial, technical and human resources in a supportive environment.
Usage of DED e-Services
The services provided by DED helps entrepreneurs in setting up, managing and protecting their businesses. An entrepreneur will have to register first in order to use these services. Ded services improved the facilities of doing business and dealing with the raising competitiveness among entrepreneurs and investors.
Registering on DED website to obtain e-services
To avail, users must log in into the website. Methods to log in into the DED portal:
- You can log in using your ‘UAE Pass’ credentials.
- You can log in using DubaiID credentials.
- You can choose ‘Login’. Provide ‘Dubai economy account name’ and ‘password’. These credentials are valid for 3 months.
- You can provide your mobile number, an OTP will be generated and then you can log in into your account.
Also refer: How to start a company in Dubai?
List of e-Services available:
Instant License
DED started providing instant licenses for entrepreneurs.
Procedure:
- Login into DED eServices website
- An online legal form has to be filled up
- Choose a trading activity from the list provided on the display
- Add partner details as per the legal form
- Mention total capital and share capital
- Profit and Loss ratio in terms of the partnership
- If you chose a trading name then specify it. If you haven’t chosen a trading name the system will generate a ‘trade name number’ so that you can add trade name later
- You will receive the payment details
- Pay the amount online
- Print the instant license
Reserve and Renew Trade Name
Business owners who haven’t registered their trade name earlier can update it by logging in to the portal. Business holders can also modify their existing trade name.
Issue Initial Approval
DED offers initial approval certificate after verifying the registered trade name. The trade name must meet the official standards.After the initial approval certificate is obtained, a license shall be issued for the company’s/business branch. You can log in and then get your business initial approval branch certificate.
Renew and Print License
Business owners can renew their license online by uploading the required documents.
Legal Contract
A Legal contract will be issued by the department of legal affairs which is necessary for the business license. DED will issue an approved legal contract. The approved legal contract will be available for print.
Transaction Status/Payments
Business owners can get their transaction details by providing Transaction Number or License Number or Initial Approval Number
Estimated Cost of Issue and Renew License
Business owners can estimate the cost of license by choosing your business activity. You can pick your business activity from the list provided and proceed accordingly to get the estimated cost.
Search Entities
Company owners can also search for business activities, license information, trade names, on DED eservices portal. DED also provides sales and promotions details of a particular business category.
Public E-Forms
DED provides commercial permit eForm and licenses registration eForm in the portal where business owners can fill the form and submit and it online and get a printed copy of the same.
Also refer: Business set-up in Dubai
A few points to be noted:
- You can get a business license even if there is no trade name yet. An automated trade name will be generated.
- Business owners can get their business license without a legal contract only for the first year.
- There are some fees and charges levied to avail DED eServices. Along with the normal license fees, there are some fees levied for initial approval, trade name registration and issuing license.
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DED’s main aim is to develop economic strategies and plans and provide services to both international and domestic companies and investors. It will be easy and quick for anyone to set-up a business in the UAE with the support of DED. For budding entrepreneurs, it will be easy to initiate and expand their operations without any issues. Hence DED eServices save time and create a hassle-free environment for all kinds of business activities.