UAE courts, regulators & registries

The DIFC Courts are the independent English-language common-law courts of the Dubai International Financial Centre. They publish their judgments and orders openly, searchable by party and case number — so a judgment against a company is a concrete, verifiable risk signal you can confirm at source.

The ADGM Courts are the independent common-law courts of Abu Dhabi Global Market, where English common law applies directly. They publish their cases and decisions on adgm.com, so litigation involving an ADGM-registered company can be verified at source — separately from the DIFC and the onshore courts.

The UAE has a National Economic Register (NER, “Growth”) that aggregates licence records nationally, but companies are still registered locally: mainland firms with each emirate’s Department of Economic Development, and free-zone firms with their zone’s authority — the DIFC Registrar of Companies and the ADGM Registration Authority keep public registers. They confirm identity and licence status, not litigation.

The DFSA is the independent regulator of financial services conducted in or from the DIFC. It publishes its enforcement actions — fines, restrictions, withdrawals of authorisation and public censures — and maintains a public register of the firms and individuals it authorises. An enforcement notice names the firm, so it is directly checkable.

The ADGM Registration Authority incorporates and supervises the companies registered in Abu Dhabi Global Market. It runs a public register of entities and publishes public notices — including strike-off and winding-up notices — so a company's standing in ADGM, and any move to remove it from the register, can be confirmed at source.

The DIFC Registrar of Companies incorporates and maintains the register of entities in the Dubai International Financial Centre. It publishes a public register and formal notices — including strike-off and dissolution notices — so whether a DIFC company is still in good standing is a matter of public record, separate from the DIFC Courts.

VARA is Dubai's regulator for virtual assets, licensing exchanges, custodians, brokers and other virtual-asset service providers across the emirate outside the DIFC. It publishes regulatory notices and public warnings naming firms operating without a licence — the fastest way to check whether a crypto counterparty is authorised at all.