Almost every guide to home businesses in the UAE, including the ones on this site, is written with a food seller in mind. That is fair, since food sellers were the first group the municipalities wrote rules for. It also means a soap maker or a jewellery maker runs into paragraphs about preparation areas, temperature logs and health supervisors that were never written for them, with no statement of what applies instead. This guide is that statement.
Do you need the same home business licence as a food seller?
Yes. The trade licence layer, the part that lets you legally run a business from a residential address, does not distinguish between a cake seller and a candle maker.
Dubai's mainland licence list includes Intelaq alongside the eTrader licence, and neither is described anywhere as limited to a product category. The eTrader licence lets UAE and GCC nationals resident in Dubai sell goods or services through social media, with no mention of food. Sharjah's Eitimad licence from SEDD is described the same way: for home-based businesses run through social media, open to UAE nationals aged 18 and over living in Sharjah.
Abu Dhabi settles the question outright. The Mubdiah licence, evaluated by the Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council, has been reported by Khaleej Times as covering activities from graphic design, cosmetics and perfumes to shoe and leather goods, dates and spices, and baked goods and traditional sweets, and over 1,600 have been issued since 2005 across that same mix of food and non-food activities. If a craft seller needed a different licence type from a food seller, Abu Dhabi's own description of its flagship home business licence would not list food and non-food activities side by side like this.
Read our UAE licence overview exactly the way a food seller would, choosing your emirate and licence on eligibility and cost rather than on what you plan to make. The activity you list should match what you sell, so if your emirate's catalogue does not clearly include your craft, ask the licensing authority to confirm it.
Which parts of the food guides do not apply to you?
Getting this wrong in either direction costs you something. Assume too little applies and you skip a real requirement. Assume too much and you spend time on approvals that were never yours to get.
Dubai Municipality's Food Safety Department runs a permit specifically for home businesses that prepare food: registration on the FoodWatch platform as a "Trader (Licensed Home Business)", a preparation-space inspection, and a permit currently costing 200 AED and running for one year. That process exists because food spoils and makes people sick, and it has no equivalent for a non-food product. The document that sets it out lists fourteen permit categories, and every one is food or a food establishment, right down to a seafood-export approval. None of the fourteen is for crafts.
The same is true in Abu Dhabi. ADAFSA, the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, publishes its scope as food establishment inspection, food handler training and food product registration, and nothing on it mentions cosmetics, jewellery or any other craft product.
So if you make candles, resin art, jewellery, or a craft that is not eaten or applied to skin as a treatment, you do not need to register on FoodWatch, you do not need a Dubai Municipality preparation-space inspection, and you do not need ADAFSA food handler training. Those requirements sit entirely inside our food safety explainer and the other food guides on this site, and they stay there. What you do still need is the trade licence, and, for two specific product categories, an extra approval of a different kind.
Does soap or skincare count as a cosmetic you have to register?
If you make soap, body creams, lotions, bath products or anything marketed for skin, hand or foot care, yes, and this is not optional. Dubai Municipality's technical guideline for cosmetics and personal care products states plainly that no cosmetic product may be manufactured, imported, exported, advertised, sold or distributed in Dubai unless it is registered in the Montaji system. The guideline names body creams, lotions, gels, bath and shower preparations, hand soap and hand cream directly, so a soap or lotion made at home sits inside this rule the same way a factory-made one does.
There is a genuine gap here, and it matters more than anything else in this section. The guideline states that an applicant for product registration must be a company incorporated in Dubai, or a business holding a warehouse in Dubai and a trade licence indicating cosmetics-related activities. Whether a sole-establishment licence, an Intelaq, eTrader or Mubdiah, satisfies that wording is not stated anywhere we found. Before assuming you can register as a home business licensee, call Dubai Municipality's Montaji helpdesk on 800900 or email montaji@dm.gov.ae and ask directly.
Two more gaps to close at the same time: the guideline confirms a five year registration validity but states no fee figure, so treat any AED amount quoted online as unconfirmed and get the current fee from Montaji, and a newer version of the guideline was referenced in some search results but could not be retrieved, so ask Montaji which version is current.
One category sits outside this entirely. A product claiming to treat a condition, an acne treatment, an eczema cream, a hair loss remedy, is excluded from Dubai Municipality's cosmetics scope and treated as a different, medicated category. Several sources point to a Ministry of Health and Prevention registration as that route, but we could not confirm this from an official MOHAP page, so contact MOHAP directly if your product makes a therapeutic claim.
Outside Dubai, we found no published equivalent to Montaji, and no official page states whether Abu Dhabi, Sharjah or the northern emirates run their own version. Ask your own emirate's economic department rather than assuming Montaji is the only registration that could apply, or that none does.
Does selling jewellery mean you need a hallmarking approval?
It depends entirely on the material, and the line is worth knowing before you decide what to make.
Federal Law No. 11 of 2015 sets national rules for trading in, hallmarking and certifying precious metals and stones. Selling gold, silver, platinum or platinum-group metal jewellery without proper hallmarking or certification is a criminal offence, carrying imprisonment of one to two years and/or a fine between 250,000 AED and 500,000 AED. Forging a hallmark or certificate is treated more seriously again: imprisonment of at least two years and/or a fine between 500,000 AED and 1,000,000 AED.
The law's own scope, though, is narrow by design. It applies to gold, silver, platinum and platinum-group metals, wrought or unwrought, and nothing else. Jewellery made from resin, beads, waxed cord, base metal or alloy, glass or polymer clay falls outside this law altogether. A small-piece exemption is also built in: articles of gold or platinum under 1 gram, and silver under 5 grams, are exempt from hallmarking, which covers a lot of delicate, lightweight jewellery.
Where it gets harder is at the edge. Dubai Municipality's Central Laboratory has publicly warned, on at least two occasions reported in the press, that selling gold and precious jewellery out of apartments and offices is illegal and unlicensed. Both reports describe unlicensed trading, and neither draws a line for a seller who holds a valid home business licence listing a jewellery activity and sells pieces above the exempt weight. If your plan involves such pieces, ask your Department of Economic Development and Dubai Municipality whether your licence covers that. The practical hallmarking process, which laboratory, what it costs, was not published anywhere we could find; ask Dubai Central Laboratory or the assay office in your own emirate.
What about candles, resin art and crafts with no product rule?
For most craft categories, there is nothing beyond the trade licence. We could not find candles, resin art or decorative crafts named specifically in any official activity list we could reach; what we did confirm is that Mubdiah's own reported activity mix already spans cosmetics, perfumes and other non-food crafts alongside food ones (see above), which is the closest thing to an official signal that a licensed non-food craft is an ordinary activity rather than a category needing its own approval. We looked for a food-safety-style approval or a Montaji-style registration covering candles, resin art or similar decorative crafts and found none. If your specific craft isn't named on your emirate's activity catalogue, confirm with the licensing authority that it's covered rather than assuming it is.
That is not the same as nothing ever applies. Materials that are also flammable, or packaging that makes a safety claim, may sit under general consumer protection rules that apply to any product sold in the UAE. If in doubt, your emirate's Department of Economic Development is the right place to ask, since it issued your licence.
What extra approval applies to your product?
| Product | Extra approval beyond the trade licence |
|---|---|
| Food items | Dubai Municipality Food Safety Department, or ADAFSA in Abu Dhabi (see the food guides) |
| Soap, creams, lotions, skincare in Dubai | Montaji cosmetic registration; confirm your licence qualifies you as an applicant |
| Skincare with a treatment claim (acne, eczema, hair loss) | Outside Montaji's scope; ask MOHAP what applies |
| Gold, silver or platinum jewellery above 1g (gold, platinum) or 5g (silver) | Hallmarking under Federal Law No. 11 of 2015 |
| Gold or platinum under 1g, silver under 5g | Exempt from hallmarking |
| Jewellery in resin, beads, cord, base metal, glass or polymer clay | Outside the hallmarking law entirely |
| Candles, resin art, decorative crafts | No product-specific approval found |
Licensing and product registration are yours to sort out with the relevant authority. KLU does not require or check a licence, and nothing above is legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need Dubai Municipality's food safety approval to sell candles or jewellery?
No. FoodWatch registration and a preparation-space inspection are specific to food establishments, with no equivalent for a non-food craft.
Can I use my food business licence to sell skincare or jewellery too?
The licence type, Intelaq, eTrader, Mubdiah or Eitimad, is not restricted by product category. What matters is whether the activity listed on it covers your product, which your licensing authority can confirm.
Do I have to register my soap or cream before I sell it?
In Dubai, yes. Soap, creams and lotions are named directly in Montaji's cosmetics scope. Whether a home business licence qualifies you as an applicant is unsettled publicly, so confirm with Montaji on 800900 before registering.
Is handmade jewellery covered by the same rule as gold shops?
Only if it contains gold, silver, platinum or platinum-group metal above the exempt weight, 1 gram for gold and platinum, 5 grams for silver. Resin, beads, cord and base metal jewellery sits outside Federal Law No. 11 of 2015 entirely.
What if my skincare product claims to treat acne or eczema?
Dubai Municipality's guideline excludes such claims from its cosmetics scope and treats them as a different category. We could not confirm the exact registration route from an official source, so ask MOHAP directly.
Does this guide apply outside Dubai?
The licence scheme point applies everywhere, since Intelaq, eTrader, Mubdiah and Eitimad each cover food and non-food activities. Montaji is specifically a Dubai Municipality system, and we found no published equivalent elsewhere, so ask your own emirate's economic department.
Sources
- Steps to start a business on the mainland | u.ae
- DED Trader licence from Dubai | u.ae (live page returns a 404 as of September 2026; content verified via the Wayback Machine snapshot of 29 April 2025)
- Eitimad domestic licence from Sharjah | u.ae (live page returns a 404 as of September 2026; content verified via the Wayback Machine snapshot of 30 May 2025)
- Abu Dhabi exempts Emirati women from paying Mubdiah licence issuance, renewal fees | Khaleej Times
- Food Related Permits and Approvals Services | Dubai Municipality (live link now redirects to the Dubai Municipality homepage; content verified via the Wayback Machine snapshot of 6 July 2022)
- Food safety | Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority
- Technical Guidelines for Cosmetic and Personal Care Products | Dubai Municipality (live link now redirects to the Dubai Municipality homepage; content verified via the Wayback Machine snapshot of 10 May 2025; this is guideline version V1.0, issued 6 January 2022, and we could not confirm a newer version)
- Sheikh Khalifa issues federal law on precious metals and stones trade | UAE Cabinet (returned a 403 as of September 2026 and could not be independently re-verified; all specific figures attributed to Federal Law No. 11 of 2015 in this guide were confirmed instead against the law's own text on uaelegislation.gov.ae)
- Federal Law No. 11 of 2015 | UAE Legislation
- Gold and jewellery sale in apartments, offices is illegal | Gulf News
- Dubai Municipality warns against jewellery trade inside apartments | Khaleej Times
Last verified: 6 September 2026.
