Mohammed bin Rashid issues the law to organize contracting activities in Dubai

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister, may God bless him, in his capacity as ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, issued Law No. 7 of 2025, regarding the organization of practicing contracting activities in the Emirate of Dubai, which is a qualitative step to enhance the legal and judgmental framework for the contracting sector.

The law – which keeps pace with Dubai’s entrepreneurial vision in developing and organizing vital sectors, in order to achieve best global practices – aims to unify and regulate the practice of contracting activities at the emirate level, and to lay clear foundations for the classification of contractors that are appropriate to their expertise and financial, technical and administrative capabilities, in a way that ensures the application of the highest quality and professional standards, and enhances transparency and coordination between the competent authorities, which supports the ambitious development process For the Emirate of Dubai, the requirements of its urban and economic growth are kept pace with, and it is compatible with the standards, structural requirements and urban planning in the emirate.

The law stipulated that in the Emirate of Dubai be formed – by a decision of His Highness the President of the Executive Council – a permanent committee called the “Committee for the Regulation and Development of Contracting Activities”, headed by a representative of the Dubai Municipality, the membership of representatives of the competent authorities, and the relevant authorities in the emirate.

The law also defined the competencies of the committee, the most important of which are: adopting contracting activities in Dubai, identifying the competent authority to supervise each of these activities, in accordance with the jurisdiction established by law for each party, supervising the application of the provisions of this law and decisions issued according to it, and proposing policies and legislation regulating the conduct of contracting activities, and submitting them to the authorities specialized in the emirate to take what is necessary.

It also includes the competencies of the committee, the solution to any dispute that may arise between the competent authorities by virtue of its supervision of contracting activities in the emirate, the adoption of a list of behavior and ethics to practice contracting activities, and coordination with various public and private bodies in all issues related to practicing contracting activities in the emirate, and studying recommendations and proposals made to it from the competent authority, which the law defined as including the Dubai Municipality, and any competent government agency Law to supervise and monitor any of the contracting activities in the emirate, and to direct what it deems appropriate regarding these recommendations.

The range of application

The scope of the implementation of this law – which it operates six months after the date of its publication – includes all contractors working in the Emirate of Dubai, including private development areas and free zones, such as the Dubai International Financial Center, and also includes all contracting activities, provided that the provisions of this law are excluded from the activities of airport and infrastructure and its facilities, and any contracting activity that is decided to be excluded from the provisions of this law, by a decision of His Highness the President of the Council The executive of the Emirate of Dubai, based on the recommendation of the committee.

Municipal competencies

The law also dismissed the competencies of the Dubai Municipality related to its purposes, foremost of which is the establishment of a unified electronic system at the emirate level, its operation, management, supervision and modernization, and linking it with the “Invest in Dubai” platform in a way that ensures the development of the registration, evaluation and classification system for the contracting of contracting activities in the emirate, in addition to establishing and organizing the record, which is an electronic file to registration of data for the contractor, and the activity of the permissible contracting. With his practice, his classification category, his technical staff, and any other data that the “Committee for the Organization and Development of Contracting Activities” sees the importance of its inclusion in it, and the update of its data, in a manner that ensures the existence of a comprehensive database in the emirate for contractors, and the activities of contracting allowed to practice it.

The specialties of Dubai Municipality also include the preparation of a list of behavior and ethics practicing contracting activities in the emirate, and raising them to the committee for approval, and qualifying and classifying contractors practicing the activities of construction and construction business and building buildings, and issuing professional competence certificates for the technical staff of contractors practicing the activities of construction and construction business and demolition of buildings.

Conditions for registration of the contractor

The law set the conditions for registration of the contractor in the record, the registration procedures, and its duration, which is one year that is renewable for similar periods, and the cases in which the contractor may be removed from the record.

The law also provided the contractors ’obligations, the most important of which are: commitment to the legislation in force in the Emirate of Dubai, including construction, planning and environment legislation, health and public safety and occupational safety, and providing all standards, conditions and requirements on the basis of which it was classified throughout the period of its classification, and not to use any person who is not restricted in the record and does not have a certificate of professional efficiency, as well By practicing it, with the limits of the classified category.

The law obligated the contractor not to contract to implement projects that exceed its financial, technical or administrative ability, or exceeding the number of technical cadres and employment available to him, in addition to adhering to the provisions and conditions of the contracting contract, and the instructions of the engineering office appointed by the employer, and not to exploit his license, class or classification to implement mock projects in favor of others, with the intention of obtaining benefits or achieving special interests.

The contractor must carry out the contracted works by himself, through the technical staff available to him, and he is not permissible to assign these works to others, except according to the conditions stipulated in this law, and after obtaining the approval of the competent authority, while the law separated the cases in which the contractor may assign some contracting work to another contractor, as the law authorized the agreement to form a coalition between more than one contractor to implement one project, and he mentioned the conditions related to that, The nature of the project requires the formation of the coalition, whether in terms of its size, its material, human or financial resources, or the specializations required to implement it, or the time period needed to accomplish it, or any other considerations, and obtain prior approval from the employer and the competent authority, and that all contractors in the coalition be bound in the record, and that their registration be valid.

The law stipulated that it is determined by a decision of the Director General of Dubai Municipality, in coordination with the competent authority, conditions and procedures for registration and renewal of the members of the technical staff in the registry, issuing a certificate of professional competence for them, the period of validity of the registration of the technical staff member in the registry, and cases of stopping the technical staff from practicing his work temporarily, as well as cases of deletion from the record, and the conditions and controls of his registration, in addition to determining the obligations of the technical staff.

With no violation of any more severe punishment stipulated in any other legislation, everyone who violates the provisions of this law and decisions issued according to it, with a fine of no less than a thousand dirhams and not more than 100 thousand dirhams, and the value of the fine in the event of a repetition of the violation itself within one year from the date of committing the previous violation of it, in a maximum limit of 200 thousand dirhams.

One or more of the following measures may be taken against the violator:

• Stop the contractor from practicing contracting activity for a period not exceeding one year.

• Download the contractor classification category to a lower category.

• The contractor’s registration was removed from the record after obtaining the approval of the “Committee for the Regulation and Development of Contracting Activities” on this, and to address the licensing authority to cancel his commercial license, according to the procedures approved in this regard.

• The temporary suspension of any of the technical staff members of the contracting activity.

• Canceling a professional competence certificate issued to any of the technical staff and removed his registration from the record.

Reconcile

Law No. 7 of 2025 obliged all contractors working in the Emirate of Dubai, at the time of implementation of this law, to reconcile their conditions in accordance with its provisions, within one year of the date of its implementation.

The Committee for Organizing and Developing Contracting Activities may extend this deadline for a similar period when necessary.

In the event that the contractor’s registration ends in the record during the deadline specified for the success of the situation, his registration is renewed in the record, while obliging him to submit a declaration whereby he pledges to reconcile his conditions during that period.

• The law keeps pace with the best global practices in the contracting sector, and aims to enhance its development, economic and urban contributions.

• The law supports the ambitious development process of the emirate, and keeps pace with the requirements of its urban and economic growth and urban planning.

• Forming the “Committee for the Regulation and Development of Contracting Activities”, and its competencies lead the adoption of contracting activities in Dubai, and the identification of the competent authority to supervise.

• Dubai Municipality’s jurisdiction to establish a unified electronic system to carry out contracting activities in the emirate, and linking it with the platform “Invest in Dubai”.