Dubai Customs

Dubai Customs is one of the earliest government departments known as “Al Furdha”, a classic Arabic term for “berth”, i.e. the designated location in a port or harbor used for mooring ships when they are not at sea. Firmly established, Dubai Customs was called "the Mother of Government Departments”, particularly because some of the other departments were based at the Customs old building and financed through the revenue collected by Customs.

Over its long history spanning over a century, Dubai Customs never stopped evolving. In the era of the late Sheikh Rashid Bin Said Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, Dubai Customs adopted an institutional direction. The first floor of the Customs old building was used by the Ruler of Dubai as his official office, reflecting the critical role of Customs and its position in Dubai, which was renowned for its trade and traders.

Being part of a major corporation contributing to Dubai’s economy, Dubai Customs started to reconcile its new organizational position. To do so, a comprehensive review of its organizational structure, strategy and operations was conducted. A detailed report identifying areas of weakness and strength was produced. The report was a startup point for reconsidering the organizational strategy, objectives, processes and procedures. A new strategy, organizational structure and future plan in-line with Dubai’s vision, expectations and future expansion plans have been developed. Dubai Customs undertook a reform and modernization program in order to accomplish its goals and objectives while meeting its vision as the leading Customs administration in the world.

Our Vision is the leading customs administration in the world supporting legitimate trade. Our Mission is Protecting the society and sustaining economic development through compliance, facilitation and Innovation.

The United Arab Emirates presents a universal model in pioneering the future. Acclaimed for investing in the latest global innovations towards inducing grand changes in the forthcoming development of the country’s promising future, the UAE has set off into assuming an active participation in leading the global innovation rally via ‘Dubai Future Accelerators’ initiative, pursuant to the launch of the ‘Future Agenda’ as per the directives of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The initiative aims at attracting the best minds and harnessing the latest innovation within Dubai. This approach was recently commemorated with the adoption of the Hyperloop project for passengers and containers movement.

These strides have definitely moved the UAE’s innovation rally forward into the universal sphere with numerous world-class inventions holding the nation’s brand name high. This owes a great deal to the farsighted forward-looking vision of our wise leadership and their deep belief in the nation’s and the region’s capacity to contribute to the global development progress. They sought to nurture the spirit of creativity and innovation in the community to drive human development in all fields. The UAE adopts an integrated strategy of innovation and creativity, road-mapped in the UAE Vision 2021 and Dubai Plan 2021 and supported by the successive initiatives for boosting innovation and creativity within the society.

We at Dubai Customs are very keen to keep up with the nation’s innovation-based progression, by introducing out-of-the-box ideas and breakthroughs in commercial and Customs services that ensure the happiness of our clients. We also uphold our commitment towards supporting the national economy and diversifying its structure, while moving in confident steps towards the ‘post-oil era’. Dubai Customs continues to evolve bringing about more innovations in Customs work to be launched in the future in parallel with Dubai’s transformation into the world’s smartest city and to enable an exceptional hosting of Expo 2020.