---
title: "Trade Licence"
url: https://www.boruconsulting.com/glossary/trade-licence
type: DefinedTerm
role: obligation
jurisdiction: [UAE]
reviewed: 2026-11-10
modified: 2026-11-10
---

# Trade Licence

Role: Obligation | Jurisdiction: UAE

The licence that brings a UAE business into existence and fixes its legal form, its permitted activities, its owners and its manager. A mainland company is licensed by the emirate’s economic department, which in Dubai is the Department of Economy and Tourism, and a free zone company by its free zone authority.

The licence is only the first record a working company needs. Its premises, immigration file, ownership register and tax registration must agree with it before a bank will open an account or the company can employ and invoice.

## Related concepts
- Related: [Mainland Company](https://www.boruconsulting.com/glossary/mainland-company) (licensed by the emirate economic department)
- Related: [Free Zone Company](https://www.boruconsulting.com/glossary/free-zone-company) (licensed by its free zone authority)
- Related: [Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO)](https://www.boruconsulting.com/glossary/ultimate-beneficial-owner) (whose details must match the licence from the first day)

## Situations
- [Setting up a UAE company](https://www.boruconsulting.com/glossary/situations/setting-up-a-uae-company): step 3 of 8

## Analysis that discusses it
- [Business setup in Dubai is five records the bank reads together](https://www.boruconsulting.com/blog/business-setup-in-dubai) (Corporate Structuring, 2026-11-10)
- [A UAE trade licence does not open a bank account](https://www.boruconsulting.com/blog/uae-corporate-bank-account-opening-rejection) (Risk Governance, 2026-07-11)
- [A UAE company's tax debt can reach its directors on liquidation](https://www.boruconsulting.com/blog/uae-director-personal-liability-tax-liquidation) (Risk Governance, 2026-07-06)
- [The anonymous UAE company is an expired assumption](https://www.boruconsulting.com/blog/uae-ubo-registration-cabinet-decision-109) (Regulatory Intelligence, 2026-07-11)

Canonical: https://www.boruconsulting.com/glossary/trade-licence

---
Source: https://www.boruconsulting.com/glossary/trade-licence