New Prescribed Company Regulations and Active Enterprise Commercial Package

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) has made significant revisions to the Prescribed Companies Regulations, effective 15 July 2024.

The DIFC has introduced two new offerings designed to enhance the business landscape within the jurisdiction:

• Prescribed Company – Passive Holding
• Commercial Package – Active Enterprise

Below are the key takeaways of the latest developments and their potential impact on business operations within the DIFC:

1. The qualifying criteria for setting up a Prescribed Company has been expanded and simplified. However, a Prescribed Company under the new regulations cannot have employees, and can only conduct a holding company business activity, unless the Prescribed Company is set up for a qualifying purpose.

2. Under the Active Enterprise option employees are permitted and this option allows the company to conduct the activities (i) holding company (ii) managing office and (iii) proprietary investment activities.

3. Both options still benefit from the subsidized DIFC license and registration fees, being, USD 100 Application Fee (one time) and an annual commercial license fee of USD 1000 (Data protection fees USD 750 – if applicable).

4. If your entity no longer meets the qualifying criteria under the new Prescribed Company Regulations and is not considered as a Prescribed Company effective from July 15th. The discounted license fee of USD 1,000 will continue for the next 2 years. After which, the full DIFC license fees will apply, unless this entity meets the criteria under the Active Enterprise commercial package.

How can we help?

Should you have any questions or require further clarification on the revised prescribed company regime, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We are here to support you and navigate these changes together.