Memorandum of Association (MOA)

The MOA is the contract between a company's shareholders that brings the entity into existence. It names each partner, states how many shares each holds, defines the company's licensed activities, sets the share capital, and describes how the company is managed and how profits are distributed. For a mainland LLC it is the document the economic department and the courts treat as the authoritative record of ownership.

Mainland MOAs must be notarised — historically in person before a notary public at the Dubai Courts or a private notary, now increasingly through DET's digital channels. Free zones use their own equivalent constitutional documents (often called Articles of Association or a Memorandum & Articles), executed under the free-zone authority's rules rather than a UAE-court notary.

Any later change to ownership, share split, capital, manager, or activities requires an amended MOA — an 'MOA amendment' — re-notarised and re-filed. ZETUP PRO drafts and coordinates MOA notarisation during company formation and handles amendments when shareholders or activities change.