Import reference / United Arab Emirates
What import duty and tax do you pay on a diesel generator into the UAE?
Import duty on a diesel generating set into the UAE is 5 percent of the CIF value, and VAT is a further 5 percent charged on the customs value including insurance, freight and the duty itself. Because the duty sits inside the VAT base, the two compound to about 10.25 percent of CIF on a mainland entry. Land the container in a Designated Zone such as Jebel Ali Free Zone instead and neither charge falls due while the goods stay there or leave the country again, but both become payable in full on the day the goods cross into the mainland. There is no conformity certificate to obtain: HS 8502 is not named in any UAE conformity scheme.
Rates last checked against the published schedule on .
What a customs entry attracts
Tariff heading 8502.12, generating sets with compression-ignition internal combustion piston engines, of an output exceeding 75 kva but not exceeding 375 kva. sets at or below 75 kva fall in 8502.11 and sets above 375 kva in 8502.13. every one of those subheadings carries the same 5 percent rate.. Port of entry Jebel Ali, Dubai.
| Charge | Rate | Charged on |
|---|---|---|
| Import dutyRead subheading by subheading from the customs tariff file: 8502.11, 8502.12, 8502.13, 8502.20, 8502.31, 8502.39 and 8502.40 all carry 5 percent. Nothing in the range attracts a different rate. | 5 percent | CIF value, on entry to the mainland |
| VATThe duty is inside the VAT base by statute, so the two charges compound rather than add. A VAT registered importer accounts for import VAT on its return instead of paying it at the border, and recovers it, which leaves the 5 percent duty as the real cost of the import. | 5 percent | Customs value including insurance, freight, customs duty and any excise |
| Duty and VAT in a Designated ZoneA Designated Zone is treated as outside the State for VAT and sits outside the customs territory for duty. The relief is suspensive, not an exemption: it ends the moment the goods enter the mainland, and it applies only to the zones named in the Cabinet Decision list. | Suspended | Nothing falls due while the goods remain in the zone |
| Customs service feesDubai Customs publishes its service fees per declaration type and shipping channel, with a knowledge and innovation fee on top of larger service costs. They are fixed amounts per declaration rather than a percentage, so they do not scale with the container and do not move the arithmetic below. | Flat, per declaration | The declaration, not the value of the goods |
| Total as a share of CIF | about 10.25 percent | |
The working
- 01Take the CIF value as 100.
- 02Import duty at 5 percent of CIF adds 5.
- 03VAT is charged on the customs value including insurance, freight and the duty, so on 105. At 5 percent that adds 5.25.
- 04Total is 10.25, so about 10.25 percent of CIF on a mainland entry. The duty sitting inside the VAT base is what turns two 5 percent charges into 10.25 rather than 10.
- 05For a VAT registered importer the VAT is recoverable, which leaves the 5 percent duty as the irrecoverable cost of importing.
- 06Route the same container into a Designated Zone and nothing is paid on arrival. Sell it on to a buyer outside the country from the zone and nothing is ever paid.
- 07Move it from the zone into the mainland and that movement is an import. Duty and VAT both fall due then, on the same arithmetic, at the value declared on that entry.
- 08Move it from the zone to another GCC state and that is a fresh import in the receiving state. The GCC is a customs union with a single point of entry, so goods entering it from a free zone are entering it for the first time.
Conformity: None. HS 8502 is outside every UAE conformity scheme
A diesel generating set does not need a certificate of conformity to enter the UAE. The regulated product lists that cover imported electrical goods publish their scope by HS code, and 8502 is absent from all of them. The control that makes that a real exclusion rather than an oversight is that air conditioners under HS 8415 are named in the same lists, so the schemes plainly do reach heavy electrical machinery and simply do not reach generating sets.
Nothing to plan into the production schedule. This is the single largest practical difference between the Gulf lanes and East Africa, where a certificate has to be issued in the country of export before the goods sail and cannot be obtained afterwards.
Commonly stated, and wrong
You need a conformity certificate to import a generating set into the UAE.
You do not. HS 8502 appears in no UAE conformity scheme. Air conditioners under HS 8415 are named in the same schemes, which shows the lists do reach machinery of this kind and simply exclude generating sets. Agents who quote a certificate for this heading are quoting a document that does not exist for it.
Goods landed in a Dubai free zone are free of duty and VAT.
They are free of both only while they stay in the zone or leave the country again. The relief is a suspension, not an exemption. The day the goods cross into the mainland that movement is an import and duty and VAT both fall due in full. Goods consumed inside the zone by their owner, or found short, are also treated as imported even though nothing physically crossed.
Any UAE free zone gives that treatment.
Only the zones named in the Cabinet Decision list do, and only while each one still meets the statutory conditions: a fenced geographic area, security measures and customs controls on the movement of goods and people, internal procedures for keeping and storing goods, and an operator that complies with the tax authority's procedures. Jebel Ali Free Zone (North-South) has been on that list since 1 January 2018. Three zones that were once on it have been taken off, so the status is live and can be withdrawn.
Duty is 5 percent, so tax is about 5 percent of what you land.
It is about 10.25 percent. The VAT base is defined to include the customs duty, so the two 5 percent charges compound. This is the same trap as Tanzania, where a 0 percent duty rate does not reduce the VAT base either.
Re-exporting out of a UAE free zone is always free of duty.
Re-export to a destination outside the GCC is. Sending the goods to another GCC state is not, because the GCC is a customs union collecting duty at a single point of entry, and goods leaving a free zone are treated as foreign goods entering the union for the first time.
Questions
What is the import duty on a diesel generator in the UAE?
5 percent of the CIF value. Every subheading of HS 8502 carries the same 5 percent rate in the customs tariff, whatever the output of the set.
What is the total tax on importing a generator into Dubai?
About 10.25 percent of the CIF value on a mainland entry. That is 5 percent duty, then 5 percent VAT charged on the customs value including insurance, freight and the duty. Because the duty is inside the VAT base the two charges compound rather than add.
Is Jebel Ali Free Zone a Designated Zone for VAT?
Yes. Jebel Ali Free Zone (North-South) has been on the Federal Tax Authority's list of Designated Zones since 1 January 2018 and has no end date against it. Being on that list is a live status: three other zones that were once on it have since been removed.
Do you pay duty and VAT on a generator landed in a Dubai free zone?
Not while it stays there. A Designated Zone is treated as outside the State for VAT and outside the customs territory for duty, so nothing falls due on arrival and nothing is ever paid if the goods are sold on to a destination outside the country. Both charges become payable in full on the day the goods move into the mainland.
What happens when goods leave a UAE free zone into the mainland?
That movement is an import. A customs declaration is filed, duty is charged at 5 percent of the value declared on that entry and VAT at 5 percent on the customs value including the duty. A VAT registered importer accounts for the import VAT through its return rather than paying it at the border.
Do you need a certificate of conformity for a generator into the UAE?
No. HS 8502 is not named in any UAE conformity scheme. Air conditioners under HS 8415 are named in the same schemes, so the absence of generating sets is a real exclusion rather than an oversight.
Is it cheaper to import a generator into the UAE or East Africa?
The UAE, by a wide margin on tax. A mainland UAE entry lands at about 10.25 percent of CIF. Tanzania is about 21 percent and Kenya about 21.2 percent, both on a 0 percent duty rate carrying heavier levy stacks and higher VAT. The UAE also requires no conformity certificate for this heading, which removes a step that has to be completed before the goods sail into either East African port.
Sources
- Customs tariff file behind the GCC Integrated Tariff, in force 1 August 2025
- Every subheading of heading 8502 read line by line: 8502.11, 8502.12, 8502.13, 8502.20, 8502.31, 8502.39 and 8502.40 each carry 5 percent. The control that the rate is real and not a default is that the same file carries 1,596 lines at 0 percent and 48 lines at 100 percent. Medicaments under heading 3004 are 0 percent and cigarettes under 2402 are 100 percent. Dubai Customs states the same position in its published guidance: 5 percent of the CIF value, with 50 percent on alcohol and 100 percent on tobacco.
- Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 on Value-Added Tax, Articles 3, 35 and 50
- Article 3 sets the standard rate at 5 percent on any supply or importation. Article 35 defines the value of an import as the customs value under the Customs Legislation, including the value of insurance, freight, any customs duties and any excise taxes. Article 50 provides that a Designated Area meeting the conditions in the Executive Regulations is treated as being outside the State.
- Executive Regulation of Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017, Article 51
- Sets the four conditions a zone must meet: a specific fenced geographic area, security measures and customs controls monitoring the entry and exit of individuals and the movement of goods, internal procedures for keeping, storing and processing goods, and an operator that complies with the Authority's procedures. A zone that changes the manner of its operation or breaches any condition is treated as if inside the State. Goods a zone owner consumes, or a shortage in the goods, are treated as imported into the State.
- List of Designated Zones published by the Federal Tax Authority
- Made under Cabinet Decision No. 59 of 2017 and the decisions amending it. Twenty-seven zones across the seven emirates. Jebel Ali Free Zone (North-South) is the first Dubai entry, effective from 1 January 2018, with no end date. The control that the list is a live status rather than a formality is that the same table carries end dates against zones that have ceased to qualify: RAK Airport Free Zone to 4 July 2019, Dubai Textile City to 4 April 2021 and the Free Zone Area in Al Quoz to 1 July 2021.
- Designated Zones VAT Guide, Federal Tax Authority
- Sets out the treatment in a table. Goods moving from outside the UAE into a Designated Zone are outside the scope of VAT. Goods moving from a Designated Zone into the mainland are treated as an import, with the importer paying VAT through its return if registered or at the time of import if not.
- Common Customs Law of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, free zones chapter
- Foreign goods may be brought into a free zone and taken back out of the country without being subject to customs duties. Goods taken out of a free zone into the country are treated as foreign goods. The UAE federal customs authority states the same in its account of the customs union: goods imported from free zones are subject to duty upon exit from those zones.
Rates change. This page states what the schedule said on . Confirm the current position with a licensed clearing agent before you commit to a shipment, and treat the classification as indicative until customs rules on your entry.