DED to bring Dun Data Numbering System to Dubai

Dubai's nearly 80,000 registered companies will soon have a unique identification number from consulting firm Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) and become a part of their international database that lists about 95 million businesses globally.

Dubai's Department of Economic Development (DED) announced yesterday it planned to introduce D&B's Data Universal Numbering System, called the DUNS number, that is used as a global standard for recognising businesses worldwide.

The number, to be issued to all companies registered with DED as part of a plan to boost trade, could also be used as identification for a planned credit bureau that is being set up by Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Ali Ebrahim, Deputy Director-General of DED, told Gulf News.

He said the credit bureau, that will provide a credit snapshot of companies, would be ready for launch by October.

The DUNS number, a unique nine-digit sequence created by Dun & Bradstreet in 1962, lists company details like name, address, telephone numbers and products and will immediately give Dubai companies visibility on a global identification platform.

Dun & Bradstreet officials told a news conference that DUNS was one of the world's largest commercial databases and listing on it will enhance a company's credibility and greatly improve its chances of being noticed by international buyers of products and services.

It will also list companies on the D&B website, one of the most visited business-to-business portals.

Dubai's total non-oil trade was estimated at $186 billion (Dh684.5 billion) in 2004. The city is a major trading re-export hub.

D&B officials said about 80 per cent of the companies listed on the Dun & Bradstreet database were small and medium enterprises and the listings especially helped companies "that were trying to become big", a category that most Dubai companies would fall into.

Several US government organisations like the Department of Defence, retailers like Wal-Mart and computer firm IBM insist on DUNS numbers as a prerequisite for doing business.

"As we move towards complete integration with the World Trade Organisation, it becomes increasingly important to further the reach of Dubai-based companies in the international business arena," Ebrahim said.

He said about 70,000 DUNS numbers had already been generated and companies whose registration and trading licenses would come up for renewal would automatically be given DUNS numbers.

He said the 80,000 companies did not include those in the free zones.