UAE CEPA trade agreements: partners and what they change

A CEPA, or Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, is a bilateral trade deal in which the UAE and one partner country cut or remove customs duties on most goods and can also open up services and investment. As at 21 October 2026, 18 were in force, from India (1 May 2022) to Ukraine (1 July 2026). Goods get the lower duty only if they meet that agreement’s rules of origin.

Key takeaways

• A CEPA cuts or removes customs duties on most goods traded between the UAE and one partner, and depending on the agreement it can also cover services, investment and digital trade.
• As at 21 October 2026, 18 bilateral CEPAs were in force, the first with India from 1 May 2022 and the latest with Ukraine from 1 July 2026.
• Each agreement has its own tariff schedule, so the preferential rate depends on the product's HS code and, for phased cuts, on the year.
• Goods get the lower duty only if they meet the agreement's rules of origin and travel with the proof of origin it requires, such as a preferential certificate of origin.
• The UAE also trades under GCC and Arab agreements, such as GCC-EFTA, GCC-Singapore and the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, and since 6 October 2026 under an Economic Partnership Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union.

On this page 8 sections

What a CEPA is

A CEPA is a free trade agreement between the UAE and a single partner country that reaches well beyond customs duties. On goods, each side cuts or removes its duties according to its own schedule: some products become duty-free on the day the agreement enters into force, and others reach their final rate in steps over several years.

The rest of the agreement deals with how the two economies do business with each other. The Ministry of Economy and Tourism describes the UAE-Korea CEPA as 18 chapters covering trade in goods and services, investment, digital trade, intellectual property, government procurement, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and economic cooperation, with a mechanism for settling disputes between the two states. The UAE-Australia CEPA has 26 chapters, including dedicated chapters on SMEs, women’s economic empowerment and sustainable development.

A CEPA also differs from the GCC-wide free trade agreements in who is party to it. Each CEPA is made between the UAE and one partner, while agreements such as GCC-EFTA and GCC-Singapore were made by the GCC states together (see the last section). The Ministry summarises the agreements on its own CEPA pages; the Korea page links the full agreement text, and the India and Korea pages link a market access dashboard that shows the preferential rate for each product.

CEPAs in force

As at 21 October 2026, 18 bilateral CEPAs were in force. The dates come from the Ministry of Economy and Tourism’s page for each agreement and, for Ukraine, from a Dubai Customs notice; each partner’s name links to that page.

Latest CEPA in force

In force from 1 July 2026

Dubai Customs Notice No. 11/2026 states that the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the UAE and Ukraine, ratified by Federal Decree No. 60 of 2025, is implemented and enters into force as of 1 July 2026.

Eight of the 18 entered into force in 2025 and four so far in 2026. Each agreement applies from a set date, which Dubai Customs, for example, announces in a customs notice, as it did for Ukraine. An agreement that has been signed or concluded but is not yet in force gives no preferential duty, so it is not in the table. The Economic Partnership Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, made with a group of five states rather than one partner, is covered in the last section. How trade fits into national output is covered in the guide to the UAE economy.

What a CEPA changes for a business

A CEPA lowers duties in both directions, on UAE goods entering the partner’s market and on the partner’s goods entering the UAE, and it can open parts of the services, investment and procurement markets. How much it changes for one business depends on its products: each agreement has its own tariff schedule, and the preferential rate is set for each HS code.

Duties on UAE exports

The partner country cuts its own duties on goods that originate in the UAE, and the UAE does the same in return. The Ministry describes the scale of each agreement in different terms, so the figures below are not directly comparable.

Because some cuts are phased in, the rate for a shipment depends on the year as well as the product. Goods re-exported from the UAE get the partner’s preferential rate only if they meet the rules of origin described below.

Duties on imports into the UAE

The same agreements cut the UAE’s duty on goods originating in the partner country. Without a preference, most imports from outside the GCC pay the general rate.

General UAE customs duty

5% of CIF value

The general UAE customs duty on goods imported from outside the GCC is 5% of the CIF value (cost, insurance and freight up to the place of importation); some goods are exempt and some carry higher rates under the GCC common tariff.

A CEPA does not remove import VAT, which is still charged at 5%, so the saving at import is at most the duty plus the VAT that would have been charged on that duty.

Value of an import for VAT

Customs value + customs duties + Excise Tax

For VAT, the value of imported goods is their customs value under customs legislation, including insurance and freight, plus any customs duties and Excise Tax paid on the import; VAT itself is not included in the value.

Worked example

Importing goods covered by a CEPA preference

The CIF value is an illustration, and so is the 0% rate: the real preferential rate depends on the product’s HS code and the UAE’s schedule for that partner. The goods originate in the partner country and travel with valid proof of origin.

1. Without the preference, duty is AED 100,000 × 5% = AED 5,000.
2. Import VAT is charged on AED 100,000 + AED 5,000 = AED 105,000, so VAT is AED 105,000 × 5% = AED 5,250.
3. Duty and VAT together come to AED 5,000 + AED 5,250 = AED 10,250.
4. With a 0% preferential rate, duty is AED 0 and import VAT is AED 100,000 × 5% = AED 5,000.
5. The difference is AED 10,250 - AED 5,000 = AED 5,250: the AED 5,000 of duty plus AED 250 of VAT that would have been charged on it.

Saving at import: AED 5,250.

Under the reverse charge, a VAT-registered importer generally accounts for import VAT in its own VAT return instead of paying it at customs (Article 48 of the VAT Decree-Law), and it can recover the VAT as input tax under the normal rules, so for such a business the lasting saving is mainly the duty. How the duty itself is calculated, and which goods are exempt anyway, is in the guide to UAE customs duty.

Not every product is covered. Under the UAE-Australia CEPA, for example, the UAE keeps exclusions for special and prohibited products such as tobacco and alcoholic beverages.

Services, investment and procurement

Beyond goods, a CEPA can open markets for service providers, make investment between the two countries easier and give companies access to the other side’s government tenders. The Ministry’s pages describe, for example:

• Republic of Korea: better access and legal certainty for suppliers of professional, telecommunications, financial, transport and logistics, and tourism services; temporary entry for business persons; no customs duties on electronic transmissions, with support for cross-border data flows and paperless trade; and government procurement within set thresholds, which on the UAE side is limited to federal entities.
• India: wider market access for UAE service providers, and access for UAE businesses to Indian government procurement.
• Australia: an Agreement to Promote and Protect Investments, signed together with the CEPA.

Rules of origin

Rules of origin decide which goods count as originating in the UAE or in the partner country, and only those goods get the CEPA rate. The test differs between agreements and between products, so passing it under one CEPA says nothing about another.

The Ministry’s summary of the UAE-Korea CEPA shows a common structure. A manufactured product must go through sufficient working or processing, which it can show in one of two ways:

• Change in tariff classification: the finished product falls under a different HS code from the non-originating materials used to make it.
• Value content: the processing gives a value content of not less than 40% of the product’s free on board (FOB) price.

On top of these general tests, some goods have product-specific rules. As a simplified illustration with made-up figures: a product with an FOB price of AED 10,000 and qualifying value content of AED 4,500 has a value content of AED 4,500 ÷ AED 10,000 = 45%, above the 40% threshold. The agreement’s text sets out exactly which costs count as value content.

Some agreements say how they treat goods made in UAE free zones. The Ministry states that the UAE-Australia rules of origin cover goods made in UAE free zones and allow bilateral accumulation, so materials originating in one partner count towards the origin of goods finished in the other. The exact rules for a product are in the agreement’s text, which the Korea page, for example, links in full.

Origin is not the only condition. Abu Dhabi Customs, for example, requires goods claiming the UAE-Korea CEPA rate to be transported directly from Korea to the UAE. Goods that pass through a third country still qualify only if the importer shows that they stayed under customs control there, did not enter that country’s market and underwent nothing beyond unloading, reloading, storage, labelling or other handling needed to keep them in good condition or transport them.

How a business claims the CEPA rate

The preference is claimed shipment by shipment, at customs in the importing country, with proof that the goods originate under the agreement.

HS codes in the UAE

Up to 12 digits (first 6 global)

The UAE classifies goods with Harmonized System (HS) codes of up to 12 digits: the first six digits are standardised worldwide by the World Customs Organization, and the UAE and other GCC states add national or regional digits; each HS code is linked to its duty rate, exemptions and trade agreement benefits.

1. Classify the goods. Find the product’s HS code. ICP warns that a wrong classification can lead to fines, shipment delays or incorrect duty payments.
2. Look up the preferential rate. For UAE exports, the Ministry’s CEPA market access dashboards, such as those linked from the India and Korea pages, show the partner’s rate by tariff line. For imports into the UAE, ICP’s Commodity Search shows the duty rates and agreements for a description or HS code.
3. Check the rules of origin that the agreement sets for that HS code.
4. Get the proof of origin. For UAE exports, the Ministry of Economy and Tourism issues preferential certificates of origin; the Korea page, for example, links to its certificate of origin service.
5. Claim the rate at customs. The importer declares the preferential rate together with the proof of origin when the goods are cleared. For imports into the UAE under the Korea CEPA, for example, Abu Dhabi Customs asks for the certificate of origin and the other documents to be submitted electronically, with the exemption requested in the customs declaration itself and the originals kept to show on request. The clearance steps are covered in importing goods into the UAE.

Other trade agreements of the UAE

Besides its CEPAs, the UAE trades under agreements made together with the other GCC states, Arab agreements and four other bilateral free trade agreements, all listed by the Ministry of Economy and Tourism.

Other free trade agreements

GCC-EFTA, GCC-Singapore, GAFTA and 4 bilateral

Besides its bilateral CEPAs, the UAE is party to free trade agreements including the GCC agreements with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states and with Singapore, the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) and bilateral free trade area agreements with Sudan, Iraq, Lebanon and Morocco.

The Ministry’s list also includes the Arab agreements on trade in services and on facilitating and developing trade among Arab countries, and an agreement on a Malaysian committee for trade cooperation.

Since 6 October 2026 the UAE has also had an Economic Partnership Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), covering Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the Russian Federation. According to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), it gives preferential access on more than 86% of tariff lines, covering about 96% of the value of goods traded between the two sides.

UAE-EAEU agreement in force

In force from 6 October 2026

The Economic Partnership Agreement between the UAE and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) entered into force on 6 October 2026, setting up a preferential trade framework between the UAE and Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the Russian Federation, with preferential access on more than 86% of tariff lines, covering about 96% of the value of goods traded between the two sides.

Trade with the other GCC states is a separate case: it runs under the GCC Customs Union rather than a CEPA, and it is covered with the duty rules and the import steps in the trade and customs guides.