As people jet off on their summer holidays, here is a reminder of what you are and are not allowed in your hand and hold luggage on an aircraft.
This not only includes dangerous and restricted items, but the more apparently harmless things, such as a mercury thermometer, rolling pins, small plants, or even simple, home-cooked food.
Each country has its own rules and if you are flying to Dubai, you can find the list of prohibited items on Dubai Custom’s website, which is updated regularly.
Ibrahim Al Kamali, director of passenger operations at Dubai Customs, said travellers should check the rules before flying. If in doubt, they can also use the iDeclare app and declare anything that they are not sure of.
“We call upon passengers to declare their possessions on arrival and not to carry luggage for others,” he said.
List of prohibited items
Prohibited goods are any items that cannot be carried in the checked or hold luggage without the approval of the relevant authorities. These include:
All kinds of narcotic drugs, including hashish, cocaine, heroin, poppy seeds, and hallucinogenic pills. Certain prohibited drugs may be imported or exported subject to official approvals.
Crude ivory and rhinoceros horn
Gambling tools and machinery
Three-layer fishing nets
Original engravings, prints, lithographs (prints made on stone), sculptures, and statues in any material
Used, reconditioned and inlaid tyres (made of high quality sponge materials)
Substances that cause radiation
Printed publications, oil paintings, photographs, pictures, cards, books, magazines stony sculptures and mannequins that contradict Islamic teachings, decencies, or deliberately imply immorality or turmoil
Forged and duplicate currency
Cooked and home-made foods
Paan and betel leaves
Live animals, plants, fertilisers and insecticides
Weapons, ammunition, explosives and fireworks
Rough diamonds
Transmitters and radio equipment
Drones
This list can be updated occasionally to add or remove items. For the latest information, check the official Dubai Customs website.
Items prohibited in hand luggage
All types of hammers, nails, screwdrivers, and sharp work tools
Scissors with blades longer than 6cm
Personal grooming kit (parts longer than 6cm will be confiscated)
All types of swords, knives and sharp objects
Handcuffs
All types of firearms, ammunition, or flare guns
All types of laser guns and martial arts weapons
Walkie-Talkies
Drills
All types of ropes
Measuring tapes
Matches, safety (one small packet) or a small cigarette lighter that does not contain unabsorbed liquid fuel, other than liquefied gas, intended for use by an individual when carried on the person. Lighter fuel and lighter refills are not allowed on a person or in checked or carry-on baggage.
Sports equipment that can be used as a bludgeon
Packing tape
Electrical cables except for personal trip use
Chemicals
Large metallic items
Compressed gas cylinders
Car spare parts
Flammable liquid
Hoverboard
Lithium batteries
E-cigarettes (including e-cigars, e-pipes, electric portable incense burners or other personal vaporisers) containing batteries must be individually protected to prevent accidental activation. They can only be carried in the checked luggage, not in the hand luggage.
Hypodermic needles (unless you have a medical certificate explaining why you need them).
High quantities of liquids such as soup, jam, honey, syrups, cosmetics and toiletries, including creams, lotion, oils, perfumes, mascara, lip gloss, sprays, shaving foam, hairspray and spray deodorants, toothpaste, contact lens solution and gels, including hair and shower gel.
All liquids should be packed inside a clear, re-sealable plastic bag and cannot be more than 100 ml per item. The maximum limit is 1 litre.
Medicines
Certain medicines are included in the list of banned items at Dubai Airport.
Some medicines from passengers’ home countries may unintentionally contain substances banned in the UAE, which can lead to possible arrest.
Passengers should carry a valid and attested prescription from a doctor if they do not have any other option but to carry the banned medication.
Passengers should not have medication that is more than the required normal usage for your scheduled stay in Dubai.
Medicines that are banned in the UAE include:
Morphine tablets (used to relieve short-term acute or long-term chronic pain)
Codeine (used for pain and is found naturally in the sap of the opium poppy)
Tramadol (a narcotic analgesic)
Alpha-methylifentanyl (opioid analgesic)
Ketamine (an anaesthetic that can be used for depression)
Betamethodol (used for skin diseases but is a cortisone-like medicine or steroid)
Trimeperidine (an opioid analgesic)
The entire list of banned medicines can be found on the website of Dubai Customs.
What can people bring into the country, legally?
Passengers can bring the following items into Dubai without paying customs duty:
Gifts that are under Dh3,000.
Passengers 18 or older can bring less than 400 cigarettes, 50 cigars, 500 grams of tobacco (minced or pressed for pipes), tobacco or mild-tasting tobacco. Passengers will have to pay duty if they exceed the limit.
Alcoholic beverages and beers should not exceed four litres, or two cartons of beer (each consisting of 24 cans, not exceeding 355ml for each can or its equivalent).
Personal belongings exempt from customs fees
Still and moving image video cameras with their appropriate tapes, films and accessories.
A passenger who is 18 years or older can carry cash, different currencies and traveller's cheques, but the total amount should be less than Dh60,000.
CDs, DVD players, slides, films and accessories that are used in projectors but only for personal use.
Telescopes, mobile telephones, portable TV sets, computers including laptops.
Baby strollers
Portable music equipment
Sports equipment (should be taken in checked luggage if it can be used as a bludgeon)
Portable typing sets
Portable calculators
Disabled wheelchairs and cars
The above items must be for personal use and not for resale.
The passenger should not be a frequent traveller coming in with these goods on a regular basis.
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From Beirut and Amman to London and now Dubai, hairstylist George Massoud has seen the same mistakes made by customers all over the world. In the chair or at-home hair care, here are the resolutions he wishes his customers would make for the year ahead.
1. 'I will seek consultation from professionals'
You may know what you want, but are you sure it’s going to suit you? Haircare professionals can tell you what will work best with your skin tone, hair texture and lifestyle.
2. 'I will tell my hairdresser when I’m not happy'
Massoud says it’s better to offer constructive criticism to work on in the future. Your hairdresser will learn, and you may discover how to communicate exactly what you want more effectively the next time.
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Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
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Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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