IFZA activity register
Trade licence activities in IFZA
Get my UAE setup planThe short answer
IFZA's Trade licence family covers 437 of the 824 activities on the free zone's register, grouped on IFZA's own site under what it calls a Commercial Licence. It spans buying, selling, importing, exporting and distributing goods, running from General Trading through to narrowly written categories such as Construction & Building Materials Trading or Auto Spare Parts & Components Trading. It sits alongside a separate Service family, IFZA's Professional Licence, reserved for activities that are not based on moving physical goods. Velarozone advises on which Trade activities fit a given business and prepares the application; IFZA assesses it and issues the licence.
The International Free Zone Authority (IFZA) is a Dubai free zone. On IFZA's own General Trading guidance, a trading company first chooses a legal structure and a trade name. The name needs initial approval from the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) before it can be reserved. Some activities also need extra approvals from other government authorities, depending on the activity. Once the licence is issued, IFZA emails a soft copy and the original can be collected from its office on request.
IFZA's register has two families. Trade holds 437 activities and Service holds the other 387, which together make the 824. Trade is built around moving physical goods. Service covers work with no goods changing hands, such as consultancy, design or technology services, and IFZA presents it as its Professional Licence. The activities filed under Service are listed in [the IFZA Service licence register](/zones/ifza/service-licence), issued under the Professional Licence.
General Trading is its own entry on the register. IFZA's General Trading page describes it as covering import, export, distribution and storage across diverse product categories, and says the product mix can change without amending the licence. Most other entries are written by product category: Construction & Building Materials Trading, Auto Spare Parts & Components Trading, Mobile Phones & Accessories Trading and Goods Wholesale Trading are examples from IFZA's own register. Outside General Trading, a company's actual trade in goods needs to match one or more of these named activities.
Take a founder who buys tiles, sealants and other building supplies from overseas manufacturers and resells them to UAE contractors. Goods change hands, so Construction & Building Materials Trading is the natural named activity, with General Trading added if the range is broader. Nothing from IFZA's Service family fits, because the business resells materials and does not advise on their use. A Professional Licence activity such as Management Consultancy would not match what it does. A consultancy that advises contractors on which materials to specify has no goods changing hands, so it sits in the Service family, even though both businesses work in construction.
Velarozone is an advisory and company-setup firm, as [why Velarozone](/why-velarozone) explains, and not IFZA. We do not issue the licence. IFZA assesses the application and keeps the official activity register. Our job is matching the goods a business actually trades to the correct named activities on that register, then preparing and submitting the application on the applicant's behalf.
What the Trade classification covers
Activities in this family describe trade in physical goods. Each register entry names a product line, such as "(G.P.S) Retail sale of Global Positioning System" or Acids & Alkalines Trading, and the licence covers that named line, not goods in general.
A licence that names one product line does not quietly cover another. If you also want to sell a second line, such as signage alongside chemicals, it needs its own activity on the licence, and Ajman Free Zone decides whether the two can sit together.
What a trade licence here is structured for
A licence built from this family suits a business whose revenue comes from goods changing hands between businesses: import and re-export, wholesale and distribution. RAKEZ's rules bar a free-zone entity from retail trading inside the free zone, and online selling falls under its separate E-Commerce licence.
The activity wording should match what you will actually invoice for. Where your product range spans several register categories, the licence should carry several activities. Leaving one off to simplify the application is the mistake that surfaces later at the bank or at renewal.
From the register
Named Professions on RAKEZ's Freelance List
A sample of the 437 activities IFZA files under Trade, exactly as the register names them. Activity names are the authority's own wording and are shown in English in every language; register codes are not published.
- General Trading
- Accounting & Office Machinery Rental
- Acids & Alkalines Trading
- Adhesives Trading
- Advertising Requisites Trading
- Agarwood & Incense Trading
- Agricultural Equipment & Accessories Trading
- Agricultural Equipment & Machinery Spare Parts Trading
- Agricultural Pesticides Trading Abroad
- Agricultural Tractors & Machinery Trading
- Air-Condition Trading
- Air-Condition, Refrigeration Spare Parts Trading
- Aircraft Scrap & Used Spare Parts Trading
- Aircraft Spare Parts & Components Trading
- Airline Inflight Products Trading
- Airport Equipment Trading
- Alternative Energy Equipment and Accessories Trading
- Animal & Birds Feed Trading
- Animal & Poultry Farms Equipment Trading
- Animal fodder supplements trading
- Animals And Birds Requisites Trading
- Antennas Trading
- Aquarium & Display Cases Trading
- Aquatic & live Animals Trading
- Arabwear Trading
- Artificial Flowers & Plants Trading
- Audio Recorded Media Distribution
- Audio Recorded Media Trading
- Audio-visual, Recording Equipment & Accessories Trading
- Authentic Antiques, Artefacts & Artworks Trading
What this page does not decide
Decision factors
How the Permit Differs from a Company Licence
As of the register snapshot of 25 August 2026, four points separate the Trade family from the rest of IFZA's activity list.
- The Trade family holds 437 of IFZA's 824 registered activities; the remaining 387 sit in IFZA's separate Service family.
- General Trading is one entry within the Trade family. IFZA's own General Trading page describes it as covering import, export, distribution and storage across diverse product categories, and says the product mix can change without amending the licence.
- Most Trade entries are narrow product categories, such as Construction & Building Materials Trading, Auto Spare Parts & Components Trading and Mobile Phones & Accessories Trading, rather than broad descriptions of a business.
- IFZA's own site groups this family under what it calls a Commercial Licence, distinct from the Professional Licence used for the Service family.
Where the Permit Is a Good Fit
- Import, export, wholesale or retail businesses whose goods fall within one or more named Trade activities on IFZA's register.
- Trading companies that want a single Dubai free zone licence covering several related goods categories, built from IFZA's own activity list.
- Businesses already clear on which goods they buy, sell, import, export or distribute, since that is what determines which Trade activities apply.
- Businesses that may also need a service-type activity alongside trading, where IFZA's separate Service family can be checked at the same time.
- Businesses that can answer yes to 'are we selling a physical product'. That question is the practical test for the Trade family. A yes to 'are we selling our own time, advice or a digital service' points to IFZA's Service family instead.
When to Choose a Company Licence Instead
- Businesses whose work is advisory, consultancy or otherwise service-based, with no physical goods changing hands. That work sits in IFZA's Service family, not Trade.
- Businesses that need to sell directly into the local UAE market without a distributor, which a free zone trade licence on its own does not provide.
- Anyone expecting a narrow entry such as Auto Spare Parts & Components Trading to cover an unrelated mix of goods. IFZA describes only General Trading as spanning diverse product categories. The other Trade entries are written by product category.
About this listing
Questions
Frequently asked
- What does IFZA's Trade licence family actually cover?
- It covers the 437 activities on IFZA's register concerned with buying, selling, importing, exporting or distributing goods, including General Trading and narrower categories such as Construction & Building Materials Trading.
- Trade or Service: how do I know which licence family my business needs?
- The practical test is whether the business is buying, selling, importing, exporting or distributing a physical product, or selling expertise, advice or a service with no goods changing hands. The former sits in IFZA's Trade (Commercial) family; the latter sits in its separate Service (Professional) family. Velarozone checks this against the named activity list before applying.
- Is General Trading the same as the other trading activities on the list?
- No. IFZA lists General Trading as its own entry and describes it as covering import, export, distribution and storage across diverse product categories. Entries such as Auto Spare Parts & Components Trading are written for one product category.
- What happens if the goods I deal in don't match a named Trade activity exactly?
- Most Trade activities are written by product category, so a business whose goods fall between categories, or span several, may need more than one named activity. General Trading is the entry IFZA describes as spanning diverse product categories. Some activities also need extra approvals from other authorities. Velarozone checks the goods against the register before applying.
- Can a licence combine activities from both the Trade and Service families?
- Possibly. IFZA describes General Trading holders as able to trade goods and services across multiple industries, but a Service-family activity is added by name, and IFZA decides whether a given combination can sit on one licence. No general rule is stated, so the combination is checked activity by activity.
- Does Velarozone issue the licence?
- No. IFZA issues and administers the licence. Velarozone advises on activity selection and prepares the application on the applicant's behalf.
Sources
Official sources
Check your job title against RAKEZ's freelancer list
Speak to Velarozone to match a specific business against IFZA's Trade activity list before applying.
General information drawn from the CBUAE Rulebook, including the Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes Regulation (C 15/2021), and Cabinet Resolution No. (134) of 2025 as published, not legal or tax advice. Rules and guidance change, so confirm the current text and each institution's own requirements before you submit.