It is an office established by an international company or organisation  in  the  Emirate of Dubai to represent it exclusively in the UAE, for the purpose of promoting its own products or services, activating its business or in order to facilitate the conclusion of business dealings between the company represented by the representative office and its clients. The representative office is not allowed to conduct any business or enter into any business deals by itself.

There are other representative offices such as real estate representative offices, academic representative offices and pharmaceutical representative offices. Such offices require approvals from the competent authorities.