Events Licensing System

Refer to Decree No. (54 / 2016) on the Events Licensing System in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

The Abu Dhabi Events Licensing System is a holistic platform which streamlines, facilitates and collates event registration and licensing procedures, providing a unified registry and permit approval mechanism for all government entities for all types of events conducted in Abu Dhabi, including exhibitions, conferences, training courses, workshops, meetings etc.

The licensing system ensures the provision of the necessary information for approvals and builds an accurate database of all activities in Abu Dhabi to avoid conflicting dates and locations, with the overall goal of developing this promising sector.

An event is defined as any activity organised permanently or temporarily in Abu Dhabi, whether for recreational, marketing, sporting, artistic, educational, touristic, health, religious, political or other purposes; whether the event is arranged as a conference, a festival, an exhibition, a concert, a theatrical performance, a symposium, a forum or any other format.

Applicants must apply through the Abu Dhabi Events Licensing System via the TAMM platform. Applications for events featuring speakers must be submitted at least (5) working days prior to the date of the event. Registration in Abu Dhabi's Event Licensing System is limited to owners of galleries, facilities, malls, event venues and event organisers. To register, you should have a trade licence for activities related to organising events or exhibitions, or you should be a venue owner.

For any enquiries or suggestions, please call the Abu Dhabi Contact Centre on 800 555.

Permit Types:

Exhibition

This permit is mandatory for all commercial and non-commercial exhibitions staged in the emirate and which feature transactional elements, such as space sales and event sponsorship.
An Exhibition Permit for any exhibition event (consumer exhibitions, food trucks, real estate and others) requires approvals from the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, as well as from the Abu Dhabi Agriculture & Food Safety Authority, for events hosting or delivering food activities, and other stakeholders.
For more information on conditions and standards for organising consumer fairs and exhibitions, please click here

Conference

A conference includes any gathering under the administration, invitation or sponsorship of government or private agencies, through which it hosts experts in a particular field to explore, discuss and highlight a specific topic or issue, be it international, regional, local, political, social, scientific, economic or press conferences or in any other area.

Training and workshop

This permit is required for any person specifically requested to speak to an audience on a given topic and who delivers a speech or a presentation. The application should be submitted with relevant speaker documents and a clear agenda.

Speakers

This permit is required for any person who will speak, present or provide a training course. Official identification documents need to be attached with all event applications that include speakers. Requirements include:

For UAE citizens, a recent photo
For UAE residents, a recent photo
For GCC and foreign nationals, a passport copy and a recent photo
For mission or visit visa, a passport copy, UAE visa copy and a recent photo

For each application, a fee of AED 200 is required as a registration fee, and for each speaker, a fee of AED 50 is payable.

Entertainment Permits

Permission is required for any artist or entertainer performing at any tourist event or restaurant. All required documents must be attached for approval:

For UAE citizens, a recent photo
For UAE residents, a recent photo
For GCC and foreign nationals, a passport copy and a recent photo
For mission or visit visa, a passport copy, UAE visa copy and a recent photo
For each application, a fee of AED 200 is required
The Temporary Entertainment Permit is valid for (7) days and requires a fee of AED 5,000 for an unlimited number of entertainers. It can be renewed for another (7) days for an additional AED 1,000
The Entertainment Permit requires a fee of AED 500 for each entertainer and is valid for one month. It can be renewed for the same fee for each entertainer

Urgent Request Fees

A fee of 500 AED will be applied to any event permit or entertainment permit request submitted within less than 3 working days before the event start date.
A fee of 500 AED will be applied to any event permit or entertainment permit that is modified within less than 3 working days before the event start date.
Official holidays and weekends are excluded from the 3 working days calculation.
This fee does not apply to requests for the cancellation of event permits or entertainment permits.

E-Ticketing Permit

The Licensing events E-ticketing system was launched in 18/02/2018. Use of the Abu Dhabi Events Licensing Ticketing System is mandatory for all events where tickets are issued to enter recreational and non-recreational activities. Organisers must use the ticket system to print tickets for all types of paid or non-paid tickets, and a fee of 10% will be charged from total ticket sales.

For comprehensive guidelines on event licensing, please refer to the Event Licensing Guidelines:

Event Licensing Manual

For more information, please click below:

Event Licensing System Ticketing System Partners System

Last Modified - 05/03/2025