Ask a new founder which activity they want on their licence and one answer comes up more than any other: general trading. It sounds like the licence that lets you sell anything, to anyone, from anywhere in the UAE. It does cover a great deal. It does not cover everything, and the width that makes it attractive is the same width a bank's compliance team reads most carefully.
The activity on your licence is not a formality. It decides which goods customs will clear for you, which extra approvals you still need, whether you can sell into the local market directly, and how a bank reads your company when you apply for an account. Getting it right at the start is far cheaper than amending it later.
This guide sets out what a general trading licence covers compared with a specific trading activity, which goods still sit outside it, how mainland and free zone general trading differ, why banks look harder at it, and when a narrower activity is simply the better choice.
What a general trading licence actually covers
General trading is a commercial activity. It allows a company to import, export, wholesale and distribute goods across many unrelated categories under a single activity: electronics one month, textiles and household goods the next. A specific trading activity, by contrast, names a product family, such as trading in coffee, building materials, garments or spare parts, and the company trades within that family.
The UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism lists six kinds of licence: commercial, industrial, professional, crafts, tourism and agricultural. Trading, general or specific, sits under the commercial licence. On the Dubai mainland that licence is issued by the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET). In a free zone it is issued by the free zone authority, under its own rules and activity list.
The important word is goods. General trading lets you deal in a wide range of ordinary merchandise. It does not replace the separate approvals the UAE requires for regulated products, and it does not turn a trading company into a service company. Consulting, logistics or e-commerce platforms are separate activities with their own codes.
The goods general trading does not unlock
Dubai Customs defines restricted goods as those that may only be released with the approval of the competent authority. That approval is needed whatever activity sits on your licence. Its published list gives a clear picture of where the lines fall:
- Food, personal care and cosmetics. Controlled in Dubai by Dubai Municipality, which must approve them before customs releases them.
- Medicines and medical devices. Import permits and marketing authorisations now sit with the Emirates Drug Establishment, which took over these services from the Ministry of Health and Prevention at the end of 2025.
- Chemicals, fertilisers, pesticides, live animals and plants. Controlled by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, which keeps a national list of chemicals that are banned or restricted.
- Arms, ammunition, explosives and fireworks. Controlled by the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Interior.
- Alcohol, radio transmitters and rough diamonds. Controlled by Dubai Police, the telecommunications regulator and the UAE Kimberley Process office respectively.
Vehicles and used spare parts need approvals of their own as well: the Ministry of Economy and Tourism lists used car and used spare parts dealerships among the activities that require Ministry of Interior approval. None of this means a general trading company can never touch these goods. It means the licence alone is not enough. Some approvals also come with conditions on premises and storage: the Emirates Drug Establishment, for example, licenses medical stores and warehouses as well as the products themselves.
Mainland or free zone general trading
Both routes can hold a general trading activity. They differ in where you can sell and how goods move.
Mainland
A mainland trading company licensed by DET, or by the economic department of another emirate, can sell directly to customers anywhere in the UAE. Since June 2021, amendments to the Commercial Companies Law have allowed full foreign ownership of most mainland companies, with exceptions only for activities of strategic impact. Ordinary trading is not among them, so a foreign founder can usually own a mainland trading company outright. Mainland licences often require a physical office or warehouse, depending on the activity.
Free zone
Goods imported into a free zone are exempt from customs duty while they stay there, and re-exports to markets outside the GCC customs area are also exempt. Duty applies when goods leave the zone for the local market. That makes free zone general trading well suited to re-export and regional distribution. Selling into the mainland has traditionally meant working through a mainland distributor. In Dubai, Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025 now lets free zone companies apply for permits to operate on the mainland, and the first phase covers trading among other non-regulated sectors, with separate accounts kept for mainland business.
Whichever route you choose, a company that imports or exports through Dubai registers with Dubai Customs for a client code through the Dubai Trade portal, using its trade licence. Our guide to choosing between free zone and mainland covers the wider decision.
| Area | General trading | Specific trading |
|---|---|---|
| What it covers | Many unrelated categories of ordinary goods under one activity | One named product family, such as coffee, garments or building materials |
| Best fit | Sourcing for several markets, re-export hubs, mixed consumer goods | Exporters and distributors built around one product line |
| Regulated goods | Still need the relevant authority's approval | Still need approval, but the activity already matches the product |
| Bank review | Bank must build a picture of what you really trade from your documents | The licence itself tells the bank what to expect |
| Trade name | Must still reflect a trading business | Must be consistent with the named product activity |
| Growing later | Room to add product lines without amending the licence | New product families can be added by licence amendment |
Why banks look harder at general trading
UAE banks are required to understand what their customers actually do. The Central Bank of the UAE's guidance on trade-based money laundering, in force since November 2025, tells banks to understand a trading customer's business model: the purpose of its trade, its history and geography, the goods it deals in, the industries it serves and the licences those goods require.
The same guidance lists warning signs. One is a customer whose type and volume of goods do not match its usual business, with the example of an electronics wholesaler suddenly buying construction materials. Another is trade that does not fit the size and profile of the company. A specific trading licence gives the bank an anchor for that test. A general trading licence gives it none, so the bank has to build the picture from your file instead.
A general trading licence tells a bank what you are allowed to do. It does not tell the bank what you will actually do, and that is the question it has to answer.
This is not a reason to avoid general trading. It is a reason to arrive prepared: named suppliers and buyers, a realistic product list, expected volumes, shipping routes, sample invoices or contracts, and a clear source of funds. Our guide to opening a corporate bank account in the UAE sets out what banks typically ask for.
When a narrower activity is the better choice
General trading earns its place when a business genuinely sources many unrelated goods, for several markets, from several suppliers. For many of the founders we meet, a specific activity fits better.
- You trade one product family. An Ethiopian coffee or sesame exporter setting up a UAE sales company is a coffee or foodstuff trader, and the licence should say so. Our piece on Ethiopian exporters and the UAE market goes further.
- Your goods are regulated anyway. Food, cosmetics or medical products need their own approvals. A matching specific activity usually makes that process more straightforward.
- Banking matters more than breadth. A licence that describes the business in plain terms gives the bank less to investigate.
- Your trade name should say what you do. UAE rules require a trade name to be consistent with the activity, so a focused name and a focused activity reinforce each other.
A narrow licence is not a trap. Activities can be added later by amending the licence, when the business has earned the need for them.
How And Again Advisory helps
We start with the goods, not the licence. Before recommending general or specific trading, we go through what you will buy, where it comes from, where it will be stored and who will buy it. Then we compare free zone and mainland routes, flag the products that need external approvals, and coordinate the formation, customs registration, visas and bank application with the licensed authorities and partners involved.
We are registered in Meydan Free Zone, with offices in Meydan and Deira, and we work in English and Amharic. Most of our clients are registered within two to three weeks, and government fees are passed through at cost, with our own fee on a separate line. For a first view of the numbers, use our cost estimator, or tell us what you plan to trade.
Final thought: licence the business you actually run
General trading is a useful licence for a genuinely broad trading business. It is not a shortcut around product approvals, and it is not neutral in the eyes of a bank. The founders who do best choose the narrowest licence that fits how they actually trade, and widen it when the business gives them a reason.
