United Arab Emirates
The factory behind the fit-out.
Under the Türkiye–UAE CEPA, in force since 1 September 2023, the UAE's own tariff schedule lists a 5% base rate on furniture and eliminates it at entry into force on 27 of 31 HS 9403 lines and 23 of 24 HS 9401 lines; a handful phase over three or five years. The instrument is a TR-UAE Proof of Origin, not an A.TR. VAT is 5%. Dubai hotels that closed to renovate in 2026 are buying guestroom packages through their fit-out contractors.
We manufacture hotel interiors in Gemlik, Bursa: guestroom casegoods, architectural joinery and upholstery, with soft furnishings and lighting supplied in the same package. In the Emirates the FF&E almost always runs through a fit-out contractor or a purchasing firm, and that is the table we sit at, as the factory that makes the rooms, to your programme, under your main contract. The refurbishment year makes the timing plain: Dubai occupancy fell from 84.7% in February 2026 to 33.1% in March, and operators used the gap to close and renovate instead of losing the rooms in a strong season (CoStar, 27 April 2026).
The refurbishment year
The houses that closed to renovate
Burj Al Arab took 197 rooms out, the Radisson Blu Media City 246 rooms with a 2027 reopening, St Regis The Palm 290, Armani Dubai 160, and the JW Marriott Marquis is rolling through 1,608. STR's area director called it the perfect opportunity, with no displacement of revenue. (CoStar, 27 April 2026.)
Refurbishment is the work, not new build
No new hotel opened in Dubai or Abu Dhabi in the second quarter of 2026; operators were upgrading existing stock while demand recovered (Colliers, UAE Q2 2026). The Middle East pipeline is still growing, and its renovation and conversion count is at a record (Lodging Econometrics, Q2 2026).
What a refurbishment buys
Cases, wardrobes, desks, bedframes and headboards, seating, and the fixed joinery that meets them at the wall, manufactured as room sets, labelled by room number, sequenced to the floor plan the fit-out programme works to.
The rooms come back in a season
A house that closed in spring is selling those rooms again in the next high season, so the order date is set by the reopening, not by the drawing. The first conversation is the key count, the floors and the date the last container has to be on site.
The border, in the agreement's own numbers
CEPA: duty eliminated on most furniture lines
The Türkiye–UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement entered into force on 1 September 2023. In the UAE's own schedule of tariff commitments (Annex 2-1B), chapter 94 carries a 5% base rate and the concession code E(0), eliminated at entry into force, on 27 of the 31 HS 9403 lines and 23 of the 24 HS 9401 lines. Four 9403 lines (94032090, 94034010, 94036090) and one 9401 line (94017120, with 94033030) phase to zero over five or three years instead. Your HS code decides which applies, and we give it to you with the offer.
A TR-UAE Proof of Origin, not an A.TR
The CEPA preference runs on origin, so the document is the TR-UAE Proof of Origin of Annex 7-3, or an origin declaration made out by an approved exporter under Article 7.29. An A.TR belongs to the EU–Türkiye Customs Union and does nothing here. We raise the CEPA papers at the factory.
Without a preference, 5%
The GCC common customs tariff is 5% "on all foreign goods imported from outside the Union", collected at the first point of entry (ICP, Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security, last updated 21 July 2026). That is the number the CEPA removes on most furniture lines.
VAT at 5%
VAT was introduced in the UAE on 1 January 2018 at 5% (u.ae, updated 30 March 2026). Your tax adviser confirms how your registration accounts for it on an import; we supply the commercial documents the entry needs.
How we work with a fit-out contractor
You hold the main contract and the programme; we hold the factory. That means production dates that answer to your site dates, shop drawings issued against your set and returned with the questions numbered, a model room approved before the line opens, and containers loaded in installation sequence and labelled by room number so your fixing teams work a floor at a time. Where a purchasing firm is specifying, the same applies with the BOQ in the middle: we price line by line and tell you which lines we manufacture and which we carry.
Fire performance, quoted against the specification
Fire performance belongs to the build-up: this foam, this interliner, this fabric, not the company. Name the standard and the ignition source the specification calls for, and the build-up is engineered to meet it, with test evidence produced against the approved composite at material approval. Substituting the fabric later reopens the evidence. The fabric is fixed before the line opens.
Fire-rated upholstery: how it is actually evidenced →Working language
English and Arabic, both at the table. Drawings, BOQ, shop drawings and the snag list run in English; the commercial conversation runs in whichever of the two you prefer. Turkish and Russian are also working languages here.
What we manufacture, what we carry
Guestroom casegoods, architectural joinery and upholstery are manufactured under our own production management in Gemlik: machining, veneer, finishing and upholstery in one building. Soft furnishings, lighting and the finishing trades are carried on the same order and executed by trades we manage. The shell is not ours, and OS&E is not ours.
How a UAE refurbishment package runs
Key count, floors and the reopening date
What is being refurbished, in what order, and the day the last container has to land.
BOQ or drawings
Your bill of quantities and the designer's set, in whatever form they exist.
Standards named up front
Fire class and ignition source, finishes and fabrics, fixed before production because they are build-up decisions.
Model room
Built and approved before the line opens. Eight model rooms are in our showroom in Gemlik.
Production and QC
Under our own production management in Gemlik, to your programme dates.
Shipping and CEPA papers
Containers sequenced and labelled by room number; the TR-UAE Proof of Origin raised per consignment.
Common questions
- What duty will we pay on furniture from Türkiye?
- On most hotel-furniture lines, none. The UAE's schedule under the Türkiye–UAE CEPA shows a 5% base rate eliminated at entry into force for 27 of the 31 HS 9403 lines and 23 of the 24 HS 9401 lines. A few lines phase to zero over three or five years from 1 September 2023 instead. The HS code on your item decides it, and it comes with the offer.
- Is an A.TR certificate enough?
- No. An A.TR is the EU–Türkiye Customs Union instrument. The CEPA preference needs a TR-UAE Proof of Origin, or an origin declaration made out by an approved exporter. We raise it at the factory, per consignment.
- Do you work through our fit-out contractor?
- That is the normal shape here. We manufacture to the main contractor's programme, issue shop drawings against the designer's set, and deliver in installation sequence so the fixing teams work floor by floor. Where a purchasing firm is in the middle, we price the BOQ line by line.
- Can you match an existing room so a refurbishment stays consistent?
- Yes. Send the existing room — drawings, photographs or a sample — and the model room resolves the match in a physical room rather than on a finish board: veneer, laminate, edge profile, handle and the way the light falls on it.
- Who installs?
- In the Emirates the installation sits with the fit-out contractor holding the main contract, and we supply to that programme: sequenced containers, labelled room sets, and our production team answering the site's questions during fixing.
- What are your lead times?
- Set per project against scope and materials, and fixed in the offer together with the delivery date.
Related
Send the BOQ and the reopening date.
A bill of quantities, a key count or a drawing set is enough to start. We come back with the scope we cover, the standards we would specify against, and what the first room takes to build.