Federal Law No. (10) of 2018 on Product Safety
Federal Law No. (10) of 2018
Establishes product-safety obligations for products introduced into the UAE market, including safety criteria, conformity/risk assessment, supplier duties, traceability, market surveillance, withdrawal and recall.
Overview
What this legislation covers
Establishes product-safety obligations for products introduced into the UAE market, including safety criteria, conformity/risk assessment, supplier duties, traceability, market surveillance, withdrawal and recall.
Who or what it applies to
- Manufacturers, importers, distributors and suppliers of consumer/industrial products within scope.
- Online/electronic-market sellers where products are placed on the UAE market.
- Products introduced into mainland and free-zone markets, subject to exclusions.
- Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology and competent market-surveillance authorities.
- Conformity-assessment and testing bodies involved in product-safety evidence.
Key points
Important points at a glance
Applies to products introduced into the UAE, including free zones, subject to statutory exclusions.
Expressly excludes categories such as human/veterinary medicines, vaccines and serums, artifacts and specified used products awaiting repair/reconditioning.
Treats a product as safe when it complies with applicable mandatory laws/technical regulations or accepted safety standards as provided by law.
Requires a risk-assessment route where prescribed safety standards do not directly cover the product.
Places duties on suppliers and other economic operators to ensure product safety before and after market placement.
Requires accurate product information, warnings and instructions.
Executive Regulation requires Arabic and English product information at minimum where applicable to the product nature.
Requires traceability so products and responsible suppliers can be identified.
Requires monitoring of accidents, risks or harms arising from products.
Requires corrective measures, including withdrawal or recall of unsafe products.
Prohibits misleading safety claims and non-compliant placement/promotion of products.
Empowers authorities to conduct market surveillance, testing and verification.
Provides complaints/reporting mechanisms and coordination between authorities.
Federal Decree-Law No. (17) of 2020 is reflected in the current legal framework and related Executive Regulation.
Cabinet Resolution No. (38) of 2021 is the active Executive Regulation.
Practical explanation
Understanding the law
Purpose and practical effect
Establishes product-safety obligations for products introduced into the UAE market, including safety criteria, conformity/risk assessment, supplier duties, traceability, market surveillance, withdrawal and recall.
Who and what the law applies to
- Manufacturers, importers, distributors and suppliers of consumer/industrial products within scope.
- Online/electronic-market sellers where products are placed on the UAE market.
- Products introduced into mainland and free-zone markets, subject to exclusions.
- Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology and competent market-surveillance authorities.
- Conformity-assessment and testing bodies involved in product-safety evidence.
Important definitions
- Product: a product within the statutory market scope, subject to stated exclusions.
- Safe Product: a product satisfying the statutory safety test.
- Supplier: a manufacturer, importer, distributor or other person responsible under the law for placing/supplying a product.
- Risk Assessment: documented evaluation of product safety used where required by law.
- Recall: action to retrieve an unsafe product already supplied to consumers/users.
- Withdrawal: action to prevent an unsafe product from continuing to be supplied or displayed.
Main rights, duties and legal consequences
- Consumers are entitled to products meeting the statutory safety framework.
- Suppliers must act when they know or should know a product presents a safety risk.
- Authorities may inspect, test, restrict, withdraw or recall unsafe products.
- Suppliers must provide information and traceability needed for corrective action.
Practical compliance / procedure checklist
- Check whether the product falls within the law or an excluded specialised regime.
- Identify applicable mandatory technical regulations and approved standards.
- Obtain conformity evidence or a compliant risk-assessment report where required.
- Ensure labels, instructions and safety warnings satisfy current language/content requirements.
- Maintain supplier/product traceability documentation.
- Monitor complaints, incidents and emerging product risks after market placement.
- Notify the competent authority and execute withdrawal/recall when the statutory threshold is met.
- Keep recall and corrective-action evidence for regulator review.
Important dates and deadlines
- Issued: 18 December 2018.
- Effective: 30 June 2019 under the six-month-after-publication commencement rule.
- Executive Regulation No. (38) of 2021: effective 17 May 2021.
- Recall notification and corrective-action timing depends on the risk and authority direction.
- Product-specific technical regulations may impose separate transition deadlines.
Enforcement and legal exposure
Unsafe products may be prevented from market entry, withdrawn, recalled or otherwise restricted, and suppliers may face administrative or statutory penalties. Exact sanctions depend on the violation and current article/regulation.
Practical scenarios
- An importer should identify the applicable UAE technical regulation before shipping a regulated product.
- A supplier learning of a serious product defect should assess and notify/recall under the legal framework rather than waiting for a regulator complaint.
- An online seller placing products on the UAE market remains subject to safety obligations.
- A product excluded from this law, such as a medicine, is not unregulated; it is governed by the specialised medical-product regime.
Current-law interaction
The current framework reflects Federal Decree-Law No. (17) of 2020 and is implemented by Cabinet Resolution No. (38) of 2021. Product-specific technical regulations under the standards framework may impose additional current requirements.
Research status and caution
Legal-status and source verification for this package was carried out on 2026-09-08. UAE federal legislation frequently operates together with Executive Regulations, Cabinet resolutions, ministerial decisions, regulator guidance and Emirate-level rules. The current official source should be rechecked before a live filing, licence application, tax position, clinical/veterinary decision, enforcement step or court submission.
The cover is an editorial design supplied by the user. Its visual wording is not used as the sole basis for legal status. Where the cover and current official materials differ, the manifest and legal files record the verified/current framework used for this package.
Practical notes
- Use the current official Arabic text for interpretation and application; the English material in this package is a structured legal-information rendering.
- Verify the latest consolidated law, Executive Regulation, Cabinet/ministerial decisions and relevant Emirate-level rules immediately before case-specific reliance.
- Exact penalties, thresholds, exceptions, licence conditions, medical/technical criteria and procedural deadlines must be checked against the current article and implementing instrument.
- The supplied cover artwork is editorial artwork and does not constitute an official UAE Government publication or legal-status certificate.
Legislation text
Text and provisions
Official-text notice. This file is a comprehensive structured English legal-information rendering based on the official/current sources listed in this package. It is not represented as the controlling verbatim English text. For interpretation and application, the official Arabic text prevails. Exact offence elements, penalties, thresholds, exceptions, licence conditions, technical or medical criteria and deadlines must be checked against the current article and implementing instrument.
Federal Law No. (10) of 2018 on Product Safety
Verified legislative metadata
| Instrument | Federal Law No. (10) of 2018 |
|---|---|
| Issued | 2018-12-18 |
| Effective | 2019-06-30 |
| Status | Active / in force, as amended |
| Official Gazette | Official Gazette No. 644 |
| Official source | UAE legislation source |
Purpose and scope
Establishes product-safety obligations for products introduced into the UAE market, including safety criteria, conformity/risk assessment, supplier duties, traceability, market surveillance, withdrawal and recall.
Structured legislative map
Objectives and scope
Promotes consumer/product safety and trade confidence and defines market coverage/exclusions.
Safe product test
Defines when a product is legally considered safe based on regulation, standards or risk assessment.
Supplier obligations
Requires safety checks, information, traceability and corrective action.
Risk assessment
Provides a route for products not fully covered by direct mandatory safety standards.
Product information
Requires warnings, instructions, labelling and avoidance of misleading claims.
Traceability
Requires ability to identify product sources/supply chains for safety action.
Incident monitoring
Requires awareness and response to product risks, accidents and harms.
Withdrawal and recall
Provides procedures for removing unsafe products and notifying competent authorities/consumers.
Market surveillance
Allows authorities to inspect, sample and verify products in the market.
Conformity controls
Links safety compliance with standards, conformity certificates and accepted assessment bodies.
Complaints and information exchange
Supports reporting and coordination among authorities and suppliers.
Enforcement
Provides administrative and statutory consequences for unsafe/non-compliant products.
Executive Regulation
Cabinet Resolution No. (38) of 2021 supplies detailed risk, information, recall and market-surveillance rules.
Interaction with standards law
Works with the 2020 Specifications and Standards decree-law and related technical regulations.
Key statutory points
- Applies to products introduced into the UAE, including free zones, subject to statutory exclusions.
- Expressly excludes categories such as human/veterinary medicines, vaccines and serums, artifacts and specified used products awaiting repair/reconditioning.
- Treats a product as safe when it complies with applicable mandatory laws/technical regulations or accepted safety standards as provided by law.
- Requires a risk-assessment route where prescribed safety standards do not directly cover the product.
- Places duties on suppliers and other economic operators to ensure product safety before and after market placement.
- Requires accurate product information, warnings and instructions.
- Executive Regulation requires Arabic and English product information at minimum where applicable to the product nature.
- Requires traceability so products and responsible suppliers can be identified.
- Requires monitoring of accidents, risks or harms arising from products.
- Requires corrective measures, including withdrawal or recall of unsafe products.
- Prohibits misleading safety claims and non-compliant placement/promotion of products.
- Empowers authorities to conduct market surveillance, testing and verification.
- Provides complaints/reporting mechanisms and coordination between authorities.
- Federal Decree-Law No. (17) of 2020 is reflected in the current legal framework and related Executive Regulation.
- Cabinet Resolution No. (38) of 2021 is the active Executive Regulation.
Amendments, regulations and interaction with other legislation
The current framework reflects Federal Decree-Law No. (17) of 2020 and is implemented by Cabinet Resolution No. (38) of 2021. Product-specific technical regulations under the standards framework may impose additional current requirements.
How this text should be used
This package is designed for website publication, internal research and client-facing orientation. It maps the instrument's operative subject matter and the current regulatory context verified for this batch. It does not replace article-level reading. Where the answer depends on a defined term, scheduled disease or product, professional qualification, technical standard, licence category, tax period, limitation period, consent requirement, offence, penalty, exemption, transition rule or deadline, open the current official legislation and the relevant Executive Regulation or competent-authority decision before relying on the conclusion.
Source priority
For legal interpretation, the official Arabic legislation is controlling. The official English portal is useful for research but itself states that the Arabic text prevails in case of conflict. Local Emirate rules, regulator circulars and technical decisions may add operational requirements without replacing the federal framework.
Verification
Official source & references
Official legislation sourcehttps://uaelegislation.gov.ae/en/legislations/1071Open ↗Official Gazette: Official Gazette No. 644
This page is a research and educational resource. Legislation can be amended, repealed, supplemented by regulations or interpreted by courts and authorities. Obtain advice before relying on it for a live matter.