DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, DUBAI DEACTIVATION OF EXPIRED LICENCE

The Department of Economic Development (DED) has come up with the option of freezing expired licences upon payment of AED 2,000 for each year. After payment of the freezing fee, the license can be kept inactive for as long as three years with no further renewal fees. However, a company can freeze its license only when no employees are under its sponsorship and all governmental charges are paid. It is also important that no pending legal action at the courts of laws against the company at the time of exercising the freezing option. Creditors do not loose their rights to claim against the company and if a creditor initiates a court case against a company with a frozen license, DED will inform the owners and activate the licence immediately.

CANCELLATION OF LICENCE BY LOCAL PARTNER

DED further introduces the option for UAE national partner to cancel a defunct licence without the presence of expatriate partner(s). Accordingly, under special circumstances it is possible for the local partner to cancel the company license provided that:

a) the license has been expired for more than two years

b) the foreign partner has been out of the country for more than six months; and

c) all employment agreements and visas under the license have been cancelled and cleared.

The cancelation procedures shall remain the same of a normal limited liability company, but the only difference is that under this situation only one partner is involved in cancelation.

In case the foreign partner wishes to reactivate the company, he can do so provided:

a) he introduces a different local partner; and

b) he pays all the cancelation and re-activation costs of the license.