The UAE has been strengthening the regulatory compliance requirements for the companies with a variety of regulations including the AML/CFT Regulations, Economic Substance Regulations (ESR) etc. Now, following this, the Ministry of Economy has mandated all the legal entities (mainland, free zones and offshore) in the UAE to make all the company information publicly available. The information regarding the companies will be made public through the National Economic Register (NER), through which the information including the name of ‘Responsible Manager’ will be made public, ending the UAE’s reputation of being a ‘Secrecy Haven.’ The new regulations have changed the way of setting up a business in Dubai, UAE as compliance with the regulations has become a top priority.
What is the UAE National Economic Register?
The NER has been developed as a platform for the integration and sharing of government data at the national level. The NER enables access to comprehensive information about existing economic licenses, data, statistics, activities and reports. The integration of the NER system is being handled by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) by coordinating with the Ministry of Economy and the local business licensing authorities across the UAE such as the DEDs of different emirates and the free zone authorities.
The mainland and free zone companies are required to comply with the mandatory requirement of making the information publicly available. The NER will enable banks and other interested parties to view the basic details of a company.
How Does the UAE National Economic Register Work?
Using the NER, banks, businessmen or any other parties may inquire about a business license by entering a business name, a license number or the Economic register number (CBLS). The NER can also be used to inquire about a business activity or generate reports on:
- Most licensed business activity
- Total number of licenses per business activity
- Total number of licenses per business activity group
- Total number of licenses per legal type
Chief Objectives of the UAE National Economic Register
The NER aims to:
- Facilitate the smooth exchange of data between local and national registers
- Serves as a database on licensed economic sectors in the UAE including the size and capital invested and accurate statistics and reports
- Boost the government’s strategy on complete digital transformation
- Reduce the time taken to obtain accurate and timely data about the companies
- Provide data access for banks, new investors, researchers, government and private entities
- Enhance the economic competitiveness and attract more investments into the UAE
How Will the National Economic Register Help in Removing the ‘Secrecy Haven Tag’?
Up until 2018, the UAE was known to be a tax haven and secrecy haven due to the secretive and weakly regulated financial sector. However, winds of change swept the country after the introduction of regulatory measures to comply with global standards. The UAE introduced the AML regulations to combat money-laundering activities and the ESR which requires the companies to demonstrate they are having economic substance in the relevant activities they carry out within the UAE. The authorities developed the NER to regulate the financial sector which has been criticized earlier for being secretive.
By making information about the companies, the financial sector will become more transparent. With the publicly accessible information, the banks, government authorities, customers, and other concerned people could know about information such as
- CBLS number
- License Number
- Legal Type
- License Expiry Date
- Name of the Business
- Established date
- Business Activity
- Physical Address
- Economic Department (DED or Free Zone Authority)
- Name of the Responsible Manager
Making all this information public will allow the authorities or any interested party to know who is behind the company. The NER literally eliminates the shadow of the ‘ask-no-questions, see-no-evil approach’ as far as financial regulation is concerned. The concerned authorities will know the company that exists in the UAE is not just a PO Box Number.
Jitendra Business Consultants as Registered Agents with Free zones & Offshore Authorities in the UAE
The change in the regulatory requirements in the UAE has impacted the formation of companies in the country. Setting up a business in the UAE has become a complex process after the introduction of AML, ESR and NER. The need for the professional assistance of reputed business setup consultants is more significant now than before. A company formation specialist that provides services including compliance on ESR, AML and NER is what the companies require at the moment. Jitendra Business Consultants (JBC) is a reputed company formation expert in Dubai, UAE that helps investors establish their businesses ensuring full compliance with local and global standards. JBC’s highly qualified business set-up consultants will guide the entrepreneurs through every stage of company formation right from the registration to incorporation and also ensure the companies are adhering to all the regulatory requirements thereafter. Thus, JBC’s services help the businessmen run their companies with peace of mind with a good image before the government and other regulatory authorities.