UAE telemarketing rules: calling hours, DNCR, and repeat-call limits

UAE telemarketing rules allow marketing calls only from 9 am to 6 pm UAE time, from local numbers issued by licensed UAE telecom companies, and only after the company has prior approval from its regulator. Numbers on the Do Not Call Register are off limits, and a person who says no on the first call must not be called again.

The rules come from Cabinet Resolution No. 56 of 2024, with penalties in Resolution No. 57 of 2024. They took full effect in August 2024, and they are now enforced at scale. In August 2026 the TDRA said it had recorded 3,301 violations by individuals and issued AED 19.19 million in fines as of June 2026, and that 9,433 numbers linked to violating telemarketers had been disconnected, according to Khaleej Times (5 Aug 2026). The public had flagged 92,748 numbers.

The rules a calling team has to meet

The Ministry of Economy’s summary (29 Aug 2024) lists what a company must do. As of November 2026:

Rule	What it means on the floor
Prior approval for marketing activity	Get approval from your competent authority before the first call. Banks and insurers go to the Central Bank, securities firms to the SCA, everyone else to their mainland or free zone licensing authority.
Calls from 9 am to 6 pm only	Every dial lands inside this window, UAE time.
Local numbers from licensed UAE telecom companies	No foreign caller ID, and no numbers that are not registered to or owned by the licensed company.
Do not call numbers on the DNCR	Check every number against the TDRA’s Do Not Call Register.
Say who you are and why you are calling	Give the company’s identity and the purpose at the start of the call.
Ask before you pitch	Ask the person whether they want to continue the call before marketing starts.
Record calls, and say so	Record marketing calls and tell the person at the start.
Keep a record of every call	Keep a log of all marketing calls in the form the authority sets.
Know where your data came from	Be ready to disclose the source of numbers and contact data if the authorities ask.
Train the team	Train reps on professional conduct and the DNCR basics.

The same summary bans pressure tactics, deception, and misleading calls.

Repeat calls: the rule most cadences break

This is where a standard SDR cadence runs into trouble. The ministry’s summary says:

• A refusal ends it. If the person refuses the product or service on the first call, you must not contact them again.
• No answer, or a hang-up. Retry no more than once a day, up to a maximum of twice a week.

Many teams run double dials (2 calls in a row) and 6 to 8 attempts over 2 weeks. In the UAE, a double dial is 2 calls in one day, which the summary does not allow, and a 2-week cadence tops out at 4 call attempts.

Treat “not interested” as final for that contact. Log it as a do-not-call outcome, not as an objection to work later. Our guide to the not interested objection covers the wording that counts as a refusal.

A worked example: a Bengaluru team calling Dubai

An example, not a real customer. A 6-rep team in Bengaluru wants to call 300 finance leads in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The window. The UAE uses UTC+4 all year and India uses UTC+5:30. So 9 am to 6 pm in Dubai is 10:30 to 19:30 in Bengaluru, or 05:00 to 14:00 UTC. A team in London calling in winter (UTC+0) gets 05:00 to 14:00 London time, which is mostly early morning for the reps.

The cadence. With at most 2 attempts a week, the team plans 4 attempts over 2 weeks per lead, on different days:

Week	Attempt	Day
1	1	Monday 10:00 UAE
1	2	Thursday 15:00 UAE
2	3	Tuesday 11:30 UAE
2	4	Friday 09:30 UAE

That is up to 1,200 attempts for the list, against the 2,400 a typical 8-touch cadence would plan. Any lead who refuses on attempt 1 drops out at once.

The numbers. The team’s Indian numbers do not meet the local-number rule. The team needs a UAE-licensed entity with prior approval and UAE numbers, or a licensed UAE partner placing the calls. That decision is for counsel, not the sales manager.

Who the rules cover

The ministry’s summary says the provisions apply to “all licensed companies in the country including those in free zones”. It also bars natural persons from telemarketing from their own numbers. That is aimed at freelancers selling property, loans, and courses from personal mobiles.

For individuals, the penalties under Resolution No. 57, as listed by the ministry, are:

1. First violation: AED 5,000, and every fixed and mobile number in the person’s name is suspended until the fine is paid.
2. The same violation within 30 days: AED 20,000, and the numbers are cut off for 3 months.
3. Again within the next 30 days: AED 50,000, and no telecom service for 12 months.

For companies, fines range from AED 10,000 to AED 150,000 depending on the violation, across 18 types of violations. The TDRA figures reported by Khaleej Times add that firms can also face partial or full suspension, license cancellation, or a telecom cut-off of up to a year.

B2B calls. The ministry’s summary talks about “consumers” throughout and does not describe an exemption for calls to businesses. Until your counsel has read the full text of Resolution No. 56 for your case, plan as if a call to a UAE decision maker’s mobile is covered.

A checklist before your first UAE call

1. Confirm which entity places the calls, and that it holds the regulator’s prior approval for telemarketing.
2. Use UAE numbers issued by a licensed UAE telecom company and registered to that entity.
3. Check every number against the DNCR, and record when you checked.
4. Restrict dialing to 09:00–18:00 UAE time (05:00–14:00 UTC). Our calling hours by country guide has the other windows.
5. Turn off double dials. Cap attempts at 1 a day and 2 a week per contact, and stop at the first refusal.
6. Open with the company name, the reason for the call, and a question asking whether they want to continue.
7. Record calls, say so at the start, and keep a log of every attempt.
8. Write down where each list came from.

The UAE is not part of the wider APAC sales calling rules picture, but many Indian and Singaporean teams sell into it, so it is worth keeping beside that guide.

How DialSavvy handles the UAE

As our country list shows, the UAE is blocked by default in DialSavvy. It is possible only with TDRA approval, case by case. Where we do dial, the compliance checks run before every call: calling hours in the contact’s time zone and your do-not-call list.

If the UAE is on your plan for 2027, book a demo and we will walk through which of your countries we dial today and what the UAE would need.