The Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) has announced that 365 industrial facilities operating in Abu Dhabi have added commercial and service activities to their existing licenses.

The revelation follows the Department's Industrial Development Bureau’s (IDB) recent resolution to allow the addition of 14 new commercial and service activities to industrial licenses, aiming to support investors and business owners; create a promising investment environment; and boost the ease of doing business in the emirate.

According to the report issued by ADDED, a total of 547 services activities were added to the industrial ones. It further states that 21.5 per cent of the 1,697 industrial establishments licensed in the emirate took advantage of these services.

Rashed Abdulkarim Al Blooshi, Undersecretary of ADDED, highlighted the positive response of industrial companies towards the resolution that shows their interest to expand businesses in Abu Dhabi, which will in turn boost their contribution to the business sector and increase trade activities in the emirate.

Al Blooshi said that the resolution allowed investors within the industrial sector to increase their investments and expand the scope of their businesses by complementing them with some relevant commercial and service activities. He also noted that 306 industrial facilities have added ‘Onshore and Offshore Oil and Gas Fields and Facilities’ services to their licenses stating that this type of services had the highest share of service activities added to industrial licenses.

Al Blooshi explained that the resolution aims to encourage industrial facilities to expand their businesses and activities to achieve more profits while also increasing the level of competitiveness of industry players to provide the local market with competitively priced and high-quality products.

"The recent IDB report covering the updates of the resolution showed that around 120 industrial facilities added ‘Importing’ activities to their licenses, while 82 facilities added ‘Exporting’ activities to theirs. Other commercial and service activities added by facilities included the sale, transport, maintenance, and installation of their industrial products, among others. These findings confirm the significance of ADDED’s resolution to allow additional services and commercial activities for the industrial sector in Abu Dhabi," he concluded.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Munif Al Mansoori, Executive Director of IDB, stated that the licensed industrial facilities in Abu Dhabi took advantage of adding 14 diversified commercial logistics services and activities to their licenses, which included importing, exporting, sale of factory products, installation of factory products, maintenance of factory products, maintenance of factory equipment, transportation of factory products, design of factory products, distribution of factory products, management and operation of factories, e-trading via websites, e-trading via social media sites, onshore and offshore oil and gas fields and facilities services, and consultations, studies and researches in the field of natural and engineering sciences.

Al Mansoori said that the resolution has helped in defining the guidelines to add logistics services and commercial activities to industrial licenses. The industrial facility has to submit the request to add a commercial or service activity to its industrial license while identifying the location where the activity will be practiced whether inside the facility or externally.

He further added that if the industrial facility wishes to practice the activity outside in an external location, it must obtain a ‘Commercial Branch’ license, however in the case of practicing the activity inside the facility, the submitted application will be directly assigned for the ‘technical study’ by the concerned personnel at ADDED. Following what have been submitted, the application will be subject to internal procedures and approvals prior to adding the activity through the Department's licensing system.

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