If your shipment arrives damaged and the damage is visible, signing for it and paying the freight can extinguish your claim on the spot. Article 315 of Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022, the Commercial Transactions Law, states that receipt of the goods and payment of the freight invalidates proceedings against the carrier where the defect is apparent. For damage that is not visible, you have seventy-two hours to serve notice and thirty days to file the claim in court.
Those two deadlines decide more moving disputes than the contract does. This guide covers what UAE law makes the mover liable for regardless of what the contract says, which exclusion clauses are void by statute and which caps are allowed, the declaration rule that determines whether jewelry and valuables are covered at all, the thirty-day rule that converts a missing shipment into a total loss, and the six-month and one-year limitation periods that quietly end claims. For choosing a firm in the first place, see our comparison of moving companies in Dubai, and for the customs side of an inbound move, shipping your belongings to the UAE.
What the Mover Is Liable For, Whatever the Contract Says
Article 302(1) makes the carrier accountable for destruction in whole or in part, damage, and delayed delivery from the moment it receives the item. Article 306 then allows the carrier to deny that liability only by proving one of four things: force majeure, a defect inherent in the item, a fault by the consignor or consignee, or an act of the Government.
That is a closed list, and it reverses the burden most people assume they carry. You do not have to prove the mover was careless. The mover has to prove one of those four defenses. “The truck was loaded by a subcontractor” is not on the list.
Three limits sit alongside it. Article 303 ends the carrier’s liability once the goods have been delivered to the consignee, the agreed customs point, or a court-appointed trustee, except where fraud or gross fault is established. Article 304 excuses the normal loss of weight or volume that happens to an item because of its nature. Article 305 removes liability where the goods traveled in the custody of the consignor or consignee, again except for fraud or gross fault.
The Exclusion Clause That Is Void by Statute
Article 307(1) states that any condition relieving the carrier from liability for total or partial destruction or damage of the item is null and void, as is any condition relieving it of liability for the acts of its subordinates. It then adds that any condition obliging the consignor or consignee to pay all or part of the insurance expenses against the carrier’s liability is itself deemed an act of relief from liability.
Read that last sentence twice, because it describes a very common commercial structure. A quotation that prices the move and then adds a separate line for insurance against the mover’s own liability is, on the face of Article 307(1), being treated by the statute as an exclusion clause. The article does not distinguish between labeling it insurance and labeling it an exclusion.
Article 307(2) marks the one place where the mover can genuinely be relieved: delay. The carrier may require total or partial relief from liability for delayed delivery. Article 309 then requires that any such limitation or relief for delayed handover be established in writing, or it is null and void, and where the contract is on a printed form the condition must be clear and explicitly stipulated or the court may void it anyway. Article 310 closes the loop: the carrier cannot invoke a delay limitation or relief clause where fraud or gross fault by it or its staff is proved.
Caps are allowed, exclusions are not
Article 308(1) permits the carrier to require that its liability for total or partial destruction or damage be limited, provided the liquidated damages are not fictitious, and leaves that to the court’s discretion in a dispute. The remaining clauses balance it: no liquidated damages are payable if the carrier proves the consignee suffered no damage, and where the actual damage is less than the agreed figure the judge may reduce it to match.
Article 308(3) contains the point that matters most in a serious loss: where the damage exceeds the agreed cap you cannot claim more than the cap, unless the carrier or its staff committed fraud or a gross fault, in which case the carrier indemnifies the damage in full. So the cap in the contract is real, but it is not absolute, and gross fault removes it.
| Contract term | Status under the Commercial Transactions Law |
|---|---|
| “The company accepts no liability for damage in transit” | Null and void, Article 307(1) |
| “The company is not responsible for the acts of its packers or drivers” | Null and void, Article 307(1) |
| “The client shall bear the cost of insuring the company’s liability” | Deemed relief from liability, therefore void, Article 307(1) |
| “Liability is capped at a stated amount per shipment” | Permitted if not fictitious, Article 308(1), but lost on fraud or gross fault, Article 308(3) |
| “No liability for delay” | Permitted, but only in writing and clearly stated on a printed form, Articles 307(2) and 309 |
Valuables Are Only Covered If You Declared Them in Writing
Article 311(3) states that apart from fraud and gross fault, the carrier is not accountable for the loss of items entrusted to it including money, commercial papers, jewelry or any other precious items, except to the extent of the express written particulars provided by the consignor at the time of delivering the item for carriage.
This is the provision that decides most high-value claims, and it is decided before the shipment ever leaves. If the jewelry was not itemized in writing when you handed the consignment over, the statutory position is that the carrier is not liable for it. A verbal mention to the packing crew is not express written particulars.
For everything else, Article 311(1) sets the measure of compensation: where the value is not indicated in the bill of lading, the indemnity is the real value of the item at the place and time of arrival, and outside total destruction the tolerable loss allowed by customary practice is taken into account. Article 311(2) lets the carrier challenge a value you did state and prove the real value by any means.
The practical conclusion is that an inventory is not paperwork, it is the evidence base for the claim. Photograph high-value items, list them with values at handover, and keep the signed copy. If you also hold a home contents policy, check whether it extends to goods in transit, because a separate transit policy pays on its own terms rather than on the carrier’s liability.
When a Missing Shipment Legally Becomes a Total Loss
Article 302(2) deems an item totally perished if the carrier fails to deliver it, or to notify the consignee to attend and receive it, within thirty days following the expiry of the delivery deadline. Where no delivery date was fixed, the clock runs from the time an ordinary carrier in the same circumstances would have needed.
That article converts an open-ended “it is still in transit somewhere” into a defined claim. You do not have to wait indefinitely for the mover to locate the container. Once the thirty days pass, the law treats the goods as totally destroyed and Article 312(2) makes the indemnity the value of the item plus any loss you sustained as a consequence.
Two related rules are worth knowing. Article 312(1) bars claiming for both total loss and delay at once, and Article 312(4) caps any court-ordered indemnity at the amount that would fall due on total destruction. Article 313 allows you, where partial damage or delay has left the item unfit for its purpose, to abandon it to the carrier and be indemnified on a total-destruction basis.
If the goods later turn up, Article 314 governs. Within one year of paying the indemnity the carrier must notify you and invite you to inspect. You then have fifteen days to send instructions, failing which the carrier may dispose of the goods, and if you take them back you refund the indemnity less the expenses of the claim and a sum for the damage caused by the delay.
Your Mover Cannot Point at the Shipping Line
Article 316(1) provides that where several carriers successively perform a single carriage contract, the first carrier is liable towards both the consignor and the consignee for the whole carriage operation, and any provision to the contrary is null and void.
An international move is almost always exactly this arrangement: a local packing crew, a freight forwarder, an ocean or air carrier, then a destination agent. The company you signed with is the first carrier, and it cannot contract out of responsibility for the whole chain. That is the answer to the most common brush-off in the industry, which is that the damage happened at sea or at the destination and is therefore someone else’s problem.
The subsequent carriers are liable only for their own leg under Article 316(2), and where the damaging leg cannot be identified the indemnity is divided between all of them in proportion to their share of the freight, with an insolvent carrier’s share redistributed on the same proportions. Article 316(3) relieves a carrier that proves the damage did not occur on its leg, and Article 317 presumes that a carrier that took the goods without reservations received them in good condition.
The Deadlines: 72 Hours, 30 Days, Then 6 Months or a Year
Article 315(1) draws a hard line between apparent and non-apparent defects.
| Situation | What the law requires |
|---|---|
| Damage is apparent on delivery | Receipt of the goods plus payment of the freight invalidates proceedings. Note the damage before you sign |
| Damage is not apparent | Serve notice of the defect within 72 hours of receipt, and submit the claim to court within 30 days |
| Proving the condition of the goods | Established by the competent authorities or by an expert appointed by the court on an urgent basis |
| Fraud, gross fault, or concealment of the defect | The apparent-defect bar and the 72-hour rule do not apply at all |
| Overall limitation, domestic carriage | Claims barred after 6 months from delivery |
| Overall limitation, overseas carriage | Claims barred after 1 year from delivery |
Article 319(1) sets those final two periods, running from the date the item was delivered to the consignee, the customs point, or a court-appointed trustee, and in a total loss from the expiry of the Article 302(2) thirty-day period. Article 320 removes the protection of that limitation period from anyone who committed fraud or gross fault.
What to do in the first hour of delivery
- Do not sign clean. Inspect before you accept, and record every visible dent, tear, water mark and crushed carton on the delivery document itself before signing.
- Photograph the cartons before they are opened, then each item as it is unwrapped, with the packing list visible in the frame.
- Send written notice within 72 hours for anything found on unpacking, by a method that produces proof of delivery and time.
- Get the condition established independently. Article 315(2) contemplates the competent authorities or a court-appointed expert, so an urgent application for an expert is the statutory route, not a mover-appointed assessor.
- Diarize thirty days. For a non-apparent defect the claim has to be before the court inside that window.
Choosing the Company, With the Legal Position in Mind
- Read the liability clause first, not the price. An exclusion is void; a cap is enforceable. The number in the cap is the real price difference between two quotations.
- Ask who the first carrier is. If the company signing your contract is presenting itself as a broker rather than the carrier, establish in writing who the contracting carrier is, because Article 316(1) attaches whole-chain liability to that party.
- Itemize valuables in writing at handover. Article 311(3) makes this the condition of any claim on jewelry, money or precious items.
- Insist the inventory is signed by both sides before the truck leaves, with condition notes on anything already marked.
- Separate transit insurance from the mover’s liability. A policy you buy in your own name and control pays on the policy terms. A charge on the mover’s invoice for insuring their own liability is the structure Article 307(1) treats as relief from liability.
- Check the licence and pay traceably. Deposits paid in cash to an unlicensed operator are the hardest losses to recover.
If the mover simply refuses to engage, the recovery route depends on who you are. An individual pursuing a private claim should read where a small personal claim actually goes in Dubai, and a business should follow the commercial escalation ladder. A statutory consumer complaint at the economic department is a parallel route where the service was sold to you as a consumer, and the underlying remedies are set out in consumer rights in the UAE. If the amount is significant, take advice early, since the deadlines here are measured in hours and days rather than months. See hiring a lawyer in the UAE.
One planning note for an outbound move: what you can ship is constrained at both ends, and the UAE side is covered in the restricted and prohibited items list. Clearing your other obligations before departure matters too, and the sequence is in our checklist for leaving the UAE permanently.
Frequently Asked Questions
My movers damaged my furniture. What are my rights in the UAE?
Article 302(1) of the Commercial Transactions Law makes the carrier accountable for damage from the moment it receives the goods, and Article 306 lets it escape only by proving force majeure, an inherent defect in the item, a fault by you, or an act of Government. You do not have to prove negligence. Act on the deadlines in Article 315 immediately.
Can a moving company exclude liability for damage in its contract?
No. Article 307(1) makes any condition relieving the carrier from liability for total or partial destruction or damage null and void, including relief for the acts of its own staff. The carrier may cap its liability under Article 308(1), and may exclude liability for delay under Articles 307(2) and 309, but it cannot exclude damage liability altogether.
I signed for the delivery before I noticed the damage. Is my claim gone?
If the damage was apparent, Article 315(1) says receipt plus payment of the freight invalidates proceedings. If it was not apparent, you can still claim, but you must serve notice of the defect within seventy-two hours of receipt and submit the claim to court within thirty days. Article 315(3) disapplies the bar entirely where fraud, gross fault or intentional concealment is established.
How long do I have to sue a moving company in the UAE?
Article 319(1) bars claims for delay, destruction or damage after six months for carriage within the UAE and one year for overseas carriage, running from delivery to the consignee, the customs point or a court-appointed trustee. In a total loss, time runs from the expiry of the thirty-day period in Article 302(2).
My shipment has disappeared. When can I claim for total loss?
Article 302(2) deems the goods totally perished where the carrier has not delivered them, or notified you to come and receive them, within thirty days after the delivery deadline expires. Where no date was agreed, the clock runs from the time an ordinary carrier would have needed in the same circumstances.
Is jewelry covered when I ship my belongings?
Only to the extent you declared it in writing. Article 311(3) states that apart from fraud and gross fault the carrier is not accountable for the loss of money, commercial papers, jewelry or other precious items, except to the extent of the express written particulars given by the consignor when handing the goods over.
Do I have to accept the mover’s liability cap?
A cap is enforceable under Article 308(1) provided the liquidated damages are not fictitious, and it is subject to the court’s discretion. Article 308(3) prevents you claiming above the cap, except where the carrier or its staff committed fraud or a gross fault, in which case the carrier must indemnify the damage in full.
The damage happened at sea, not in Dubai. Who do I claim against?
The company you contracted with. Article 316(1) makes the first carrier liable to the consignor and consignee for the whole carriage operation where several carriers successively perform one contract, and expressly voids any provision to the contrary. Subsequent carriers are liable to the first carrier for their own leg.
Should I buy the insurance the moving company offers?
Distinguish two things. A transit policy in your own name pays on its own terms and is worth pricing. A charge that makes you pay for insuring the mover’s own liability is treated by Article 307(1) as an act of relief from liability, and clauses of that kind are void, so paying it does not improve your position against the carrier.
How do I prove the condition of my goods on arrival?
Article 315(2) states that the condition of the goods is established either by the competent authorities or by an expert appointed by the court on an urgent basis. An assessment arranged by the mover is evidence, but the statutory routes are the ones designed to withstand a challenge, so apply for an urgent expert appointment where the value justifies it.
Official Sources
- Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022 Promulgating the Commercial Transactions Law, Part Eight, Articles 302 to 320
- Dubai Customs, Prohibited and Restricted Goods Guide
Information current as of August 2026. Article text is taken from the official English translation of Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022; the Arabic text prevails in case of conflict. Chapter Five of Part Eight applies special provisions to air carriage, and international conventions may govern the sea or air leg of a specific move, so the position on a particular shipment can differ from the general carriage rules described here. No mover pricing, insurance premium or complaint fee is quoted in this guide because none could be verified against an official published source.
Disclaimer: This guide is general information, not legal advice. Claims against a carrier turn on very short deadlines and on the wording of your own contract and bill of lading. Consult a UAE-licensed lawyer promptly if your shipment has been lost or damaged.
