As of 1 October 2026: the Abu Dhabi market stall permit, officially the Izhal Permit, costs AED 100 to AED 300 depending on category. Selling at a pop-up market or exhibition stall in Abu Dhabi costs AED 100 per activity for non-food items, or AED 300 per activity if you are selling anything edible, read directly from the Department of Economic Development’s own TAMM service page. This is the Izhal Permit, a seasonal licensing route most small sellers have never heard the official name of.
What does the Izhal Permit actually cover?
Markets like this have grown steadily across Abu Dhabi in recent years, giving small-scale makers and food entrepreneurs a legitimate, low-commitment way to test demand before investing in a full retail setup.
It authorises eligible entrepreneurs to carry out specific service and food-related activities at approved exhibitions and events. This is the legal route for anyone running a small home-based business, baked goods, crafts, cosmetics, accessories, who wants to sell at a weekend market, pop-up bazaar or exhibition rather than from a registered retail premises.
Why does food cost three times as much?
DED’s fee structure is split cleanly by category: AED 100 per activity for non-edible items, AED 300 per activity for edible ones. The gap reflects the extra regulatory weight attached to anything sold as food, food safety and handling fall under a stricter compliance bar than crafts or non-food retail, even for a short, temporary event-based stall.
What does “per activity” actually mean for your fee?
If your stall covers more than one type of product, say, baked goods alongside handmade candles, each distinct activity is charged separately. A seller doing both food and non-food items at the same event would pay the AED 300 food rate for the edible activity and a separate AED 100 for the non-edible one, rather than a single blended fee.
What do you actually need to apply?
This single-document requirement keeps the process deliberately light, since the heavier vetting has effectively already happened once the event organiser accepted the seller’s participation.
The published requirement is specific: a certificate of participation issued by the event organiser. In other words, you need to already be accepted into a specific market or exhibition before applying for the permit itself, the Izhal Permit formalises participation you have already secured rather than being the first step in finding an event to sell at.
How fast does approval come through?
A one-day turnaround is fast even by TAMM’s own standards, and reflects how tightly the permit is tied to a specific, time-bound event rather than an ongoing business relationship with the Department.
DED processes the application in 1 working day through UAE PASS: submit the application and the organiser’s participation certificate, and receive an approval or rejection notification. This quick turnaround suits the seasonal, event-driven nature of the permit, since most markets and exhibitions are booked and confirmed only weeks ahead rather than months.
How does this fit with a full freelancer licence?
The Izhal Permit is lighter and narrower than Abu Dhabi’s freelancer licence, which costs AED 1,425 and authorises ongoing, ordinary freelance trading rather than one-off event participation. Someone testing a small product idea at a handful of markets a year may find the per-event Izhal route cheaper overall than committing to a full freelancer licence upfront, though anyone selling regularly, online or otherwise, outside of events specifically needs the broader licence instead.
How does this connect to the wider business-setup picture?
Anyone weighing up whether to formalise a side business further should also look at Abu Dhabi’s free zones for a sense of what a larger commercial setup looks like beyond either the Izhal Permit or a freelancer licence, and factor the wider cost of living into any decision with our Abu Dhabi cost of living breakdown.
What is the short version?
Abu Dhabi’s Izhal Permit costs AED 100 per activity for non-food stalls or AED 300 per activity for food stalls at approved exhibitions and events, requires only an event organiser’s participation certificate, and is approved within 1 working day. It is a lighter, event-specific alternative to a full freelancer licence, built for entrepreneurs who sell seasonally at markets rather than running an ongoing freelance business.
Last updated: 1 October 2026. Primary source: TAMM, Issue Izhel Permit.
