Two numbers keep turning up in UAE import paperwork and they get quoted as if they were the same thing. One is AED 150. The other is AED 2,000.
They are not two prices for the same service. A commercial invoice at AED 150 is attested through eDAS 2.0. A trade licence, an MOA, a board resolution or a power of attorney at AED 2,000 goes through commercial document attestation. Different document, different counter, different receipt. If a clearing agent has told you invoice attestation runs to two thousand dirhams, he has confused two different services. Ask him for the receipt, and the document type on it will say which one you paid for.
When the attestation is required
Since 1 September 2024, commercial invoices for imports into the UAE valued at AED 10,000 or more have to be attested by MOFAIC before the customs declaration closes. Sea freight and air freight both. The invoice value is the figure customs works from.
Below AED 10,000 it is not mandatory. Whether to attest anyway is a question for your clearing agent, and the answer usually depends on how your declared value sits against customs benchmarks for that HS code. An invoice that reads well below what customs sees as normal for that HS code invites a value challenge, and a challenged file takes longer than an attested one. On small shipments, the 150 is often cheaper than the delay it prevents.
The requirement sits inside a wider file. If you are still working out what else a UAE entry needs, UAE import requirements for carbon steel flanges covers the documents, the duty and the VAT in one place.
How the file actually moves
The service runs on eDAS 2.0, the ministry’s own system, and it is entirely online.
- Register the company with the trade licence. This happens once, and it waits for approval.
- Create user accounts for the people who will submit. Each one logs in with UAE Pass, tied to the company account.
- Submit the invoice or the certificate of origin. The system reads the invoice data and lists the transactions. You tick the ones you want attested.
- Pay AED 150 per invoice or per COO.
- Receive the digitally attested invoice and the receipt. If you need paper carrying the MOFA seal, upload a copy and it is stamped without an extra fee.
The ministry lists two minutes for the service itself. That is the system, not the whole job. The first registration has to be approved, and if the invoice data does not match the trade licence on file, the transaction sits there until it does.
The fourteen days
Attestation has to be done within 14 days of the customs declaration. After that the fine is AED 500 per invoice, more than three times the fee you were trying to delay.
The arithmetic explains why importers file early. One supplier, one invoice, one fee of 150. A container consolidated from four suppliers carries four invoices, so four fees. If those four go past the window, that is 2,000 in fines on top of 600 you already paid.
What the invoice has to say to pass
Most rejections come from the paper, not the payment.
Buyer name exactly as it reads on the trade licence, including the L.L.C. and any legal suffix.
Value that matches the declaration. Attest at one figure and declare another, and the attestation is void. You pay 150 again.
HS code at the digit count your declaration uses. The UAE has been phasing in 12-digit codes, and the broker’s entry and your invoice have to agree on the same string.
A description specific enough to defend the code. “Steel products” invites a value challenge. “Carbon steel slip-on flange, ASTM A105, ASME B16.5 Class 150, 6 inch, raised face” does not.
Invoice number, invoice date and gross weight that also appear on the packing list. A second document that contradicts the invoice stops the file.
A clean PDF. A crooked photograph of a stamped page comes back.
One more that catches people: the certificate of origin has to line up with the invoice, not sit beside it. Same buyer, same value, same goods description. Why a certificate of origin does not automatically cut the duty explains what the COO actually does for a UAE entry, because a lot of suppliers still promise a discount it cannot deliver.
Who pays the 150
On FOB, CFR and CIF terms the attestation is the importer’s step and the importer’s cost. The documents come from the supplier. Put one line in the contract, invoice attestation for buyer’s account, and the argument never happens.
Freight sits in the same part of the cost sheet and has grown faster than the duty: what the freight quote leaves out on a 20ft of flanges into Jebel Ali.
What a supplier owes you is a file that can be attested without being reissued. Same invoice number across invoice, packing list and COO. Same weights. Same goods description. A legible company stamp, not a smudged one. Once the invoice is attested, changing the value means starting again at 150.
Three ways it goes wrong after you have paid
You attest the invoice, then the supplier corrects the weight on the packing list. The invoice is now inconsistent and the attestation will not support the entry. Fix the documents before submission, not after.
You send the invoice for attestation before the HS code is agreed with the broker. The code changes at the declaration, the invoice description no longer defends the code, and customs asks for a value file.
You register the company account under one licence and the invoice is issued to a sister company. The names do not match the licence and the transaction is refused at submission. Both entities can be registered, but each file has to sit under the right one.
What to tell your supplier
Ask for the invoice in PDF, with the buyer’s full legal name, the HS code the broker has agreed, and the goods description written to the standard. Ask them not to reissue the invoice after attestation. Those three instructions remove most of the delays I see on the supplier side.
We supply carbon steel flanges and butt-weld fittings to importers and stockists in the UAE and Oman, and we issue the invoice, packing list and certificate of origin as one matching set for the entry. We ship out of Cangzhou, China, where our production base sits.
If you are preparing an entry and want the documents to line up the first time, send your specification and we will come back with the drawings, the weights and the document set.
Mingyang Pipe Fittings
mingyangpiping.com