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Dubai Municipality showcases regulatory leadership in product safety at Beautyworld Middle East 2025

• Dubai Municipality unveils Montaji+ and the Smart Salon Project, underscoring its role in advancing safety and compliance in the beauty sector.
• The Dubai Central Laboratory highlights its testing capabilities for cosmetics and personal care products, including analyses for allergens, preservatives, and toxic substances.
• Dr Naseem Al Refaei: “We are committed to a future where health, safety, and innovation converge to build a more resilient and digitally empowered city.”

Dubai Municipality is participating in Beautyworld Middle East 2025, taking place from 27 to 29 October at Dubai World Trade Centre, to showcase its leading regulatory systems, digital transformation initiatives, and robust market surveillance efforts for the cosmetics and personal care industry.

Through its presence, the Municipality is highlighting its comprehensive role in overseeing the evaluation, registration, release, and post-market monitoring of cosmetic products in the emirate. Central to its exhibition is Montaji+, the Municipality’s upgraded digital platform that integrates artificial intelligence to streamline product registration, enhance efficiency, and deliver an exceptional user experience to business partners.

Also on display is the Smart Salon Project, a pioneering initiative that boosts regulatory compliance across model salons in Dubai. The project aims to ensure safer beauty care experiences by leveraging real-time monitoring and automated systems that raise hygiene and service standards across the sector.

Advanced testing and laboratory excellence

Dubai Municipality will spotlight the vital work of the Dubai Central Laboratory, which conducts specialised microbiological and chemical testing of cosmetic and personal care products. The laboratory plays a key role in identifying harmful substances such as allergens, toxic metals, carcinogenic formaldehyde, and non-compliant preservatives. All analyses are performed using advanced technologies and in accordance with international standards, including ISO/IEC 17025, ensuring full traceability, accuracy, and quality assurance.

These efforts reinforce Dubai Municipality’s ongoing commitment to maintaining the highest consumer product safety standards, in line with its strategic objectives to support public health and sustainability while contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Empowering business and regulatory engagement

Dr Naseem Al Refaei, Acting CEO of the Environment, Health and Safety Agency at Dubai Municipality, noted the significance of Beautyworld Middle East as a strategic platform to connect with industry stakeholders.

She said: “Dubai Municipality continuously develops and manages a comprehensive health and safety framework across the emirate, reaffirming our commitment to community well-being. We are advancing smart, AI-enabled systems and strengthening our inspection protocols to ensure safe consumer products, while also creating a more responsive and digitally empowered regulatory environment.”

The Municipality also supports small businesses and home-based entrepreneurs through awareness campaigns and training workshops focused on product registration and packaging compliance. It provides access to efficient registration and testing services to uphold product safety while reducing market entry barriers.

Future plans include expanding partnerships with major retailers to facilitate the promotion and distribution of locally produced goods across Dubai’s commercial landscape.

Oversight at scale

Dubai Municipality oversees the safety of cosmetics, personal care products, and perfumes traded across the emirate, including those imported through Dubai’s entry points, which handle over 90% of the UAE’s total imports. The Municipality manages nearly 40,000 product shipments annually and monitors more than 500,000 imported products, reflecting its scale and regulatory reach.

Recent data shows that the number of establishments engaged in the cosmetics and consumer products trade in Dubai has reached nearly 13,000, with the cosmetics sector recording growth exceeding 50% since 2016.