ICV Certificate in the UAE: What It Is, How to Get It and What It Costs

An ICV certificate shows how much of your business stays in the UAE: what you spend with UAE suppliers, what you invest here, and who you employ. It is issued under the National In-Country Value Programme, supervised by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT), by a certifying body the Ministry has authorised. Government entities and national companies in the programme use your ICV score when they award tenders, so a higher score can win contracts. Here is what it measures, what you need, and how to get one.

Who uses the ICV score

The programme was launched as one of the Projects of the 50. Federal and local government entities and major national companies take part, 31 of them by the first half of 2024, and certified suppliers gain an advantage in tenders based on their score. Two changes in 2026 raised the stakes:

• A mandatory model in selected sectors. On 26 April 2026 the UAE Cabinet approved moving ICV from an incentive-based framework to a mandatory model across selected sectors, including federal entities and companies in which the government holds 25% or more.
• ADNOC’s single evaluation. From 1 November 2026 ADNOC scores the commercial offer and the ICV offer together in one evaluation, instead of matching bids afterwards.

How the ICV score is calculated

Every supplier is either a goods manufacturer, holding a UAE industrial licence, or a service provider, which includes traders and agents. The score adds up these components:

Your suppliers’ own certificates matter. A UAE mainland supplier without an ICV certificate counts at only 10% of what you spend with it, and other suppliers without a valid certificate count as zero. Some costs have fixed values: water, electricity and rent count at 80%, and government and free zone authority fees at 100%. A free zone manufacturer counts as within the UAE, but a free zone service provider counts as outside it.

Documents and requirements

• Audited financial statements. Prepared under IFRS, audited under International Standards on Auditing by a licensed UAE auditor, and not older than two years from the certification year. A certificate cannot be issued more than two years after the financial year end.
• Stand-alone statements. For financial years ending after 31 December 2024, the statements must be for the entity being certified. Management accounts carved out of a group’s consolidated statements are no longer accepted.
• One certificate per licence. Each trade licence needs its own certificate. The exception is branches in the same emirate with identical activities and ownership, which can share one.
• Payroll through WPS. Only salaries paid through the Wage Protection System count, based on Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation reports. Free zone companies outside WPS need an official employee list from their free zone authority.
• Supplier certificates. Each supplier ICV percentage you claim has to be backed by that supplier’s certificate.
• NAFIS registration. Private companies must register as partners on the NAFIS platform before certification.
• New companies. A company less than 10 months old can use up to 9 months of management accounts instead of audited statements.

How to get an ICV certificate, step by step

1. Log in to the ICV platform at icv.moiat.gov.ae with UAE Pass and register your company.
2. Under the bidding process, choose certifying bodies from the Ministry’s list and complete the questionnaire.
3. Receive quotes, then accept, counter or reject them.
4. The certifying body you choose uploads a signed engagement letter.
5. You complete the draft certificate in the ICV template, with your financial, payroll and supplier data.
6. The certifying body reviews the figures, carries out its checks, then endorses and approves the certificate on the platform.

The Ministry gives a service time of 14 to 28 working days. Only the certificate generated by the platform is official, and you cannot switch certifying body for that year’s certificate without proper justification.

Who can issue it

Only certifying bodies authorised by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology. The Ministry’s open data page listed 25 on 12 November 2026, all audit and accounting firms, together with more than 8,800 certified companies. Check the current list there before you choose.

Validity and cost

The certificate is valid for 14 months from the date your audited financial statements were issued, not from the date of the certificate. Recertifying with the same statements does not reset that period, so plan your annual audit so that new statements are ready before the old certificate expires. On cost, the Ministry’s service page says the fee depends on the company and can range from AED 500 to AED 10,000.

Items that lower a score

The guidelines exclude several costs and assets from the calculation, and these are where scores most often fall short:

• Management, board and sponsor fees, fines, penalties, taxes, charity spending and foreign exchange losses are excluded from total cost.
• Owners’ bonuses are excluded, and an Emirati owner’s salary counts only up to AED 200,000 a month.
• Intangible assets other than capitalised software, and assets held by owners or related parties, do not count as investment.
• Internal training does not count towards Emiratisation.
• Export bonuses need a certificate of origin and payment into a UAE bank. Re-exports do not count.
• Suppliers without certificates pull the spend component down to 10% or zero.

Where an auditor fits in

Every ICV certificate starts from stand-alone audited financial statements, and the timing of the audit sets the certificate’s 14-month validity. Quick Ashford Auditing of Accounts L.L.C. is not an ICV certifying body. We prepare and audit IFRS financial statements to International Standards on Auditing for UAE mainland and free zone companies, in the form the ICV guidelines require and timed to your certification. See our audit services and accounting and bookkeeping.