Dubai: In his capacity as the Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, issued Law No. (14) of 2025 regulating the professional practice of engineering consultancy offices in the Emirate of Dubai.

The law seeks to advance Dubai’s engineering consultancy sector, regulate its practices according to international standards, and classify service providers based on their technical, financial, and managerial competence. It also aims to encourage investment, remove obstacles, ensure timely project execution, and attract global companies, positioning Dubai as a key hub for engineering consultancy services.

The law prohibits anyone from taking up engineering consultancy activities in Dubai without proper authorisation. These activities cover all fields of engineering, including architectural, civil, electrical, electronic, mechanical, mining, petroleum, chemical, coastal, and geological engineering, among others. It also prohibits individuals or offices from portraying themselves as engineering consultancy offices without a valid trade licence and registration with Dubai Municipality, which must detail the office’s licensed scope, classification, technical staff, and other essential information.

Furthermore, engineering consultancy offices are not allowed to operate beyond their licensed scope, employ unregistered engineers, or contract with unlicensed companies to carry out consultancy work in Dubai.

Pursuant to the law, Dubai Municipality, in coordination with relevant authorities, shall establish a unified electronic system across the emirate linked to the ‘Invest in Dubai’ platform created under Decree No. (13) of 2024. The system manages applications for registering engineering consultancy offices, determining their classification, issuing professional competency certificates, and handling other matters related to engineering consultancy activities in Dubai. The Municipality oversees, operates, updates, and integrates the system with the ‘Invest in Dubai’ platform to enhance the registration, evaluation, and classification of engineering consultants.

The Municipality also maintains a comprehensive registry of licensed engineering consultancy offices, their consultancy scope, classification, technical staff, and other relevant data. It regularly approves and updates the classification system for companies engaged in construction, building, or demolition activities and issues professional competency certificates for their technical staff.

The new law mandates the establishment of a permanent ‘Committee for the Regulation and Development of Engineering Consultancy Activities’ in Dubai, appointed by the Chairman of The Executive Council. Chaired by a Dubai Municipality representative, the committee includes members from relevant authorities and stakeholders and operates under Decree No. (1) of 2023 on the governance of government committees.

The law defines the types of engineering consultancy offices in Dubai, including local companies established in the emirate, branches of UAE-based offices with at least three consecutive years of engineering consultancy experience, branches of foreign offices with at least ten consecutive years of such experience, or joint endeavours formed through partnerships between a local office and one or more foreign offices with at least ten years of engineering consultancy experience.

It also applies to engineering advisory offices specialising in providing opinion and consultancy services owned by one or more registered engineers, each with a minimum of ten years of engineering consultancy experience, as well as engineering audit offices authorised to conduct third-party audits in any engineering consultancy activity.

The law further lays down the conditions and procedures for registering engineering consultancy offices, the validity of registration tenures, deregistration processes, criteria for classifying offices, office obligations, and rules for registering and deregistering technical staff.

Those found to be in violation of the law or related decisions may face fines of up to AED 100,000, with the penalty increasing for repeat offences within the same year. Authorities may also take punitive measures such as suspending the engineering consultancy offices for up to one year, downgrading their classification, removing them from the registry, cancelling commercial licences, suspending staff, revoking certificates, removing engineers from the registry, and notifying the UAE Society of Engineers about violations.

Parties affected by fines or other measures initiated under this law may submit a written appeal within 30 days of being notified. The competent authority’s committee will decide on such cases within 30 days, and its decision will be final and binding and will be communicated within five working days. Engineering consultancy offices and their staff must regularise their status within one year of the law taking effect, obtaining extensions where needed. Any registrations expiring during this period may be renewed by undertaking to ensure full compliance with its provisions.

The new law annuls Local Order No. (89) of 1994 and its amendments on the regulation of the engineering consultancy profession in the Emirate of Dubai. Decisions, regulations, circulars, and guidelines issued by the competent authority, including those under Local Order No. 89 of 1994 and its executive regulations, shall remain in effect to the extent they do not conflict with this law, until new ones are issued.

This law shall be published in the Official Gazette and shall come into effect six months from the date of its publication.