Set the excise goods and rates applied from 1 December 2019 to 31 December 2025: tobacco and tobacco products, electronic smoking devices and their liquids and energy drinks at 100%, carbonated drinks and sweetened drinks at 50%, with the method of calculating the excise price; repealed by Cabinet Decision No. 197 of 2025 from 1 January 2026.
Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2019 was the list of excise goods and excise rates that applied in the UAE from 1 December 2019 until 31 December 2025. It has been repealed by Cabinet Decision No. 197 of 2025 with effect from 1 January 2026, but it still governs every excise return, audit and voluntary disclosure for periods up to December 2025. It was issued on 4 August 2019, amended once by Cabinet Decision No. 99 of 2025 (effective 9 September 2025, which rewrote Article 3 on tobacco), and by Article 16 cancelled its predecessor, Cabinet Decision No. 38 of 2017.
Article 2 listed six categories of excise goods: tobacco and tobacco products, liquids used in electronic smoking devices and tools, the devices and tools themselves, carbonated drinks, energy drinks and sweetened drinks. The 2019 decision is remembered chiefly for adding the last three beverage categories beyond the original tobacco and energy drink scope. Article 6 defined carbonated drinks as any aerated beverage other than unflavoured aerated water, plus concentrates and powders that become one. Article 8 defined sweetened drinks as any product with added sugar or sweetener in ready-to-drink or convertible form, excluding beverages that are at least 75% milk or milk substitute, baby formula and baby food, and special dietary and medical beverages under GCC standards 654 and 1366. Article 9 excluded alcoholic drinks from the beverage categories and Article 11 settled overlaps: a product meeting more than one definition took the higher rate, and a drink that was both carbonated and sweetened was treated as carbonated.
Article 12 fixed the rates: 100% for tobacco products, e-liquids, e-smoking devices and energy drinks, and 50% for carbonated drinks and sweetened drinks. Articles 13 and 14 set the excise price as the higher of the FTA's published standard price list and the designated retail sales price net of the tax it contains, with the embedded tax equal to one third of the retail price for 50% goods and half for 100% goods; the designated retail price itself was the higher of the importer's or producer's declared recommended price and the market average, both net of VAT. Article 15 allowed the FTA to demand documents and laboratory tests to classify a product and to treat an undocumented product as an excise good until proven otherwise.
Article 17 left the start date to a ministerial decision to be fixed before 1 January 2020; the Ministry of Finance publication records 1 December 2019 as the effective date. From 1 January 2026 the carbonated drink category disappears and sweetened drinks move to a per-litre amount by sugar content under the 2025 decision.
Importers, producers, stockpilers and warehouse keepers of tobacco products, e-liquids, electronic smoking devices, carbonated drinks, energy drinks and sweetened drinks in the UAE for excise periods from 1 December 2019 to 31 December 2025, and anyone whose returns for those periods are audited or corrected.
| Article 2 | Listed six categories of excise goods: tobacco and tobacco products, liquids for electronic smoking devices, electronic smoking devices and tools, carbonated drinks, energy drinks and sweetened drinks. |
| Article 3 | Tobacco products are all items in Chapter 24 of the GCC Common Customs Tariff imported, cultivated or produced in the UAE, including electrically heated cigarettes, except smoking-cessation products under customs codes set by the Minister; wording as amended by Cabinet Decision No. 99 of 2025. |
| Article 6 | Carbonated drinks meant any aerated beverage except unflavoured aerated water, together with concentrates, powders, gels or extracts that can be transformed into an aerated beverage. |
| Article 8 | Sweetened drinks were products with added sugar or sweetener in ready-to-drink or convertible form, excluding beverages that are at least 75% milk or milk substitute, baby formula and baby food, and special dietary and medical beverages under GCC standards 654 and 1366. |
| Article 11 | A product meeting more than one definition was classified as the excise good taxed at the highest rate; a product meeting both the carbonated and sweetened drink definitions was classified as a carbonated drink. |
| Article 12 | Rates: 100% on tobacco products, e-liquids, e-smoking devices and energy drinks; 50% on carbonated drinks and sweetened drinks. |
| Article 13 | The excise price was the higher of the FTA's published standard price list price and the designated retail sales price less the tax in it; the embedded tax was one third of the retail price for 50% goods and half for 100% goods. |
| Article 14 | The designated retail sales price was the higher of the recommended retail price declared and affixed by the importer or producer net of VAT and the market average retail selling price net of VAT under FTA procedures. |
| Article 15 | The FTA could require documents, laboratory tests or other evidence to classify a product and treat a product whose documents were not supplied in time as an excise good until proven otherwise. |
| Article 16 | Cancelled Cabinet Decision No. 38 of 2017 and all conflicting provisions. |
| Article 17 | Left the implementation date to a decision of the Minister, to take effect before 1 January 2020; the published effective date is 1 December 2019. |
The decision contains no penalty provisions. Errors in returns for the periods it governed are corrected by voluntary disclosure under the Tax Procedures Law and attract the administrative penalties in Cabinet Decision No. 40 of 2017 as amended.
We keep this decision indexed because excise audits run behind the calendar: the FTA can still open returns for 2021 to 2025, and those returns were computed under these categories and rates, not under the sugar-based amounts that replaced them in January 2026. When a beverage client receives an assessment or needs to file a voluntary disclosure for an earlier period we check the classification against Article 11 (carbonated beats sweetened) and the one-third and one-half embedded-tax formulas in Article 13, which do not exist in the current decision. We also use it to explain to clients why their January 2026 returns look different: carbonated drinks are no longer a category, and sweetened drinks are now taxed per litre by sugar content.
Excise Goods and Rates Decision (2025)
Replaces Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2019 from 1 January 2026: keeps 100% excise on tobacco, e-smoking products and energy drinks, and moves sweetened drinks to a volumetr…
Excise Tax Law
Imposes excise tax on goods the Cabinet designates as excise goods (tobacco, energy and carbonated drinks, sweetened drinks, electronic smoking devices and liquids) on th…
Excise Tax Executive Regulation
Implements the Excise Tax Law: registration and deregistration, tax liability and the person responsible, designated zones and warehouse keepers, exemptions, calculation …
Tax Penalties Decision (VAT, Excise, Procedures)
Sets in three tables the fixed and percentage-based administrative penalties the FTA imposes for breaches of the Tax Procedures Law, the Excise Tax Law and the VAT Law, s…
Tax Procedures Law
The common procedural code for all federal taxes: registration, record keeping, returns, voluntary disclosures, FTA audits and assessments, tax agents, administrative pen…
Whether you are establishing a new venture, restructuring an existing enterprise, or exploring residency pathways — we are here to advise.
Arrange a Consultation →