On this page 6 sections
A DED activity list is the catalogue of business activities that a Department of Economic Development will license. There is no single UAE-wide list. Each emirate’s economic department publishes its own, and Dubai’s department has been renamed the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), while Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah and Umm Al Quwain still license under a DED. That is why searches for “DED activity list” return different documents depending on which emirate you land in.
This guide explains how those lists are structured, what an activity choice commits you to, and where each authority publishes its own current list. It does not reproduce any authority’s catalogue: those registers change without notice, and a copied list goes stale the day it is published.
Dubai Activity Sectors (Official Classification)
Dubai’s official activity search groups every licensable activity under sixteen sectors at the widest level of its classification. The table below reproduces those sector names exactly as they appear on the authority’s own search screen, read on 8 August 2026, with a plain-language note on what each one tends to hold. The sector names are official; the notes are ours and are a navigation aid, not a classification.
| Official sector | Usual licence family | What tends to sit here |
|---|---|---|
| Trading and Services | Commercial / Professional | The largest sector by far: goods trading, general trading, consultancy, marketing, IT and most service businesses |
| Manufacturing | Industrial | Production and processing; usually needs premises that match the activity |
| Construction | Commercial / Industrial | Building works and related trades |
| Contracting | Commercial | Contracting activities held separately from general construction |
| Real Estate, Renting, Bus Service | Commercial | Property and rental activities; brokerage is separately regulated |
| Transport, Storage and Communication | Commercial | Logistics, warehousing and communications |
| Financial Intermediation | Commercial | Financial activities; expect external approval |
| Accommodation and food service activities | Commercial / Tourism | Hospitality and food service; municipal and tourism approvals apply |
| Education | Professional | Education activities; expect an education regulator approval |
| Health and Social Work | Professional | Health activities; expect a health regulator approval |
| Social and Personal Services | Professional / Commercial | Personal services and community activities |
| Agriculture | Agricultural | Crop and livestock activities |
| Fishing | Agricultural | Fishing activities |
| Mining and Quarrying | Industrial | Extraction activities |
| Electricity, Gas and Water | Industrial | Utilities |
| Extra Territorial Org. and Bodies | Special | International organisations and bodies |
Every individual activity inside these sectors carries an activity name and an activity number in the authority’s system. Those numbers are only exposed through the live search, so this page does not print any of them. Read the number off the authority’s own screen when you apply, because an out-of-date code on an application is worse than no code.
The Six Licence Types
The federal portal lists six licence types: industrial, commercial, professional, tourism, agricultural and crafts. In practice most new companies land on one of three.
- Commercial covers buying and selling goods. General trading is the broad version of it, letting you trade several unrelated product categories under one licence rather than listing each.
- Professional covers services and expertise: consultancy, IT services, marketing, design. It is the usual home for a business that sells skill rather than stock.
- Industrial covers manufacturing and processing, and normally carries premises requirements that the other two do not.
Tourism, agricultural and crafts licences exist for the activities their names describe and are less commonly the starting point for a new service or trading company.
Where Each Emirate Publishes Its List
This is the part that trips people up. There is no shared national activity catalogue you can download once. What exists is a federal lookup, the National Economic Register, described by the government portal as “a federal platform that seeks to integrate accessible government data at both local and national levels”. It lets you inquire about economic licences, economic activities and trade name availability, and it draws its data from nine licensing bodies:
- Ministry of Economy and Tourism (federal)
- Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development
- Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism
- Sharjah Economic Development Department
- Ras Al Khaimah Department of Economic Development
- Ajman Department of Economic Development
- Umm Al Quwain Department of Economic Development
- Fujairah Municipality
- Dibba Municipality
Two consequences follow. First, an activity that exists in one emirate is not guaranteed to exist under the same name, or at all, in another, so a list downloaded for Ajman does not answer a Dubai question. Second, if you are comparing emirates before you commit, the federal register is the only place that lets you check them against each other rather than opening six separate systems.
About Those PDF and Excel Activity Lists
A large share of the searches that lead to this page ask for a downloadable file: a PDF, an Excel sheet, a list to keep. That demand is real, and it is worth being straight about what is available.
The files circulating on consultancy websites are snapshots. Many are several years old, and the year in a filename is not evidence that the contents were current when it was uploaded. Activity catalogues are amended by the authority without announcement, so a downloaded sheet tells you what was true on an unknown date. It is useful for orientation and unsafe as the basis for an application.
The reliable move is to use the authority’s own live search rather than a third-party copy, and to treat any downloaded list as a shortlist to verify rather than an answer. Where an authority does host its own downloadable list, use that copy, not a mirror.
Activities That Need Another Authority’s Approval
Some activities cannot be licensed on the economic department’s say-so alone. The government portal states that “some activities require additional approvals from government entities related to that particular business before applying for the initial approval”, and names telecommunications, finance, aviation, agriculture and media among the sectors affected.
The practical effect is on your timeline rather than your eligibility. A non-regulated activity moves at the speed of the licensing authority. A regulated one moves at the speed of whichever regulator has to review it first, and that step sits before initial approval, not after it. If your activity list mixes regulated and non-regulated activities, the regulated one sets the pace for the whole application.
Adding or Changing an Activity Later
An activity list is not fixed at incorporation. Adding an activity to an existing trade licence is an amendment: you apply to the licensing authority, the change is assessed against your legal form and premises, any external approval the new activity triggers is obtained, and the licence is reissued to reflect it.
Three things are worth knowing before you plan around it. Adding an activity from a different licence family can force a change of licence type rather than a simple addition. An activity that requires approval will need that approval even though your company already exists. And amendment fees are set by the authority and are not the same as your original licence fee, so confirm the current cost before you budget for it.
The commonest mistake is the reverse of over-planning: listing activities you do not need at incorporation “in case”, which can raise your fee, change your licence family or pull a regulator into an application that did not need one.
Frequently asked questions
What is a DED activity list?
It is the catalogue of business activities that a Department of Economic Development will license. Each emirate publishes its own, so there is no single UAE-wide DED list. Dubai now licenses through the Department of Economy and Tourism, while Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah and Umm Al Quwain still use a DED.
How many business activities are there in the UAE?
The UAE government portal states there are more than 2,000 business activities to choose from in the UAE. That is a federal figure covering the country rather than a count for any one emirate, and authorities amend their catalogues without announcement, so confirm the current position with the licensing authority when you apply.
Is there a DED activity list PDF or Excel file I can download?
Copies circulate widely on consultancy websites, and many are several years old. A year in a filename is not evidence that the contents were current when it was uploaded. Because authorities amend their catalogues without notice, a downloaded sheet tells you what was true on a date you cannot verify. Use such files for orientation only, and check anything you intend to apply for against the authority’s own live search. Where an authority hosts a downloadable list on its own site, use that copy rather than a mirror, because you can see where it came from.
What licence types are available on the mainland?
The government portal lists six: industrial, commercial, professional, tourism, agricultural and crafts. Most new companies fall under commercial for trading goods, professional for services and expertise, or industrial for manufacturing.
How do I find the activity list for Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman or Ras Al Khaimah?
Use the federal National Economic Register, which the government portal describes as a platform integrating government data at local and national levels. It covers economic licences, economic activities and trade name availability, and it draws on nine licensing bodies including the economic departments of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah and Umm Al Quwain, plus Fujairah Municipality and Dibba Municipality. It is the only place that lets you compare emirates without opening each authority’s system separately.
Do I need approval from another authority for my activity?
Possibly. The government portal states that some activities require additional approvals from government entities related to that particular business before applying for the initial approval, and names telecommunications, finance, aviation, agriculture and media as examples. That step sits before initial approval, not after it, so a regulated activity sets the timetable for the whole application.
Can I add an activity to an existing trade licence?
Yes. It is a licence amendment: you apply to the licensing authority, the change is assessed against your legal form and premises, any external approval the new activity triggers is obtained, and the licence is reissued. Adding an activity from a different licence family can force a change of licence type rather than a simple addition.
How many activities can one trade licence hold?
This is set by the licensing authority and varies by emirate and licence type, so no single number applies across the UAE. The more useful constraint in practice is that your activities have to be compatible with each other, with your legal form and with your premises. Listing activities you do not need can raise your fee, change your licence family or pull a regulator into an application that would not otherwise have needed one, so confirm the position for your specific combination rather than working from a number quoted for a different emirate.
What is a business activity code?
Every activity in an authority’s system carries a name and a number that identifies it precisely. Quoting the number removes ambiguity between similarly named activities. Codes are authority-specific and are exposed through the live search rather than published as an open list, so read yours off the authority’s own screen at the time you apply.
Does the legal form of my company have to match the activity?
Yes. The government portal states that the legal form of the business must match the business activity. In practice this means an activity you cannot hold under your chosen structure will not pass, so the structure and the activity have to be decided together rather than in sequence.
Next Steps
Write down what your business will actually do in plain words, then match that to sectors and activities in the authority’s own search for the emirate you intend to license in. Confirm the licence type each activity implies, and check whether any of them triggers an external approval before you file. Verify every figure on this page with the authority at the time you apply: counts, licence types and approval rules are all set by the authority and change.
If you would rather have someone check the activity list against your plan before you file, you can compare business licensing support on Emirae.
Official references used for context in this article.
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