What SIRA approval means for your security system in Dubai

The Security Industry Regulatory Agency (SIRA) regulates the security industry in the Emirate of Dubai under Law No. (12) of 2016. Among other things it registers the companies allowed to design, install and maintain security systems, licenses their technical staff, and sets the standards those systems must meet.

Its rules for security systems are collected in the Preventive Systems Manual. The current version was approved by Administrative Resolution No. (13) of 2025.

The manual applies to the establishments set out under the law's implementing bylaw, Resolution No. (1) of 2018, and gives each type its own chapter — over forty, from hotels, shopping malls and warehouses to healthcare and educational facilities, pharmacies, data centres and vacation homes. Each chapter says which areas need cameras, at what level of detail, and what else is required — alarms, locks, guards or backup power.

If your premises is covered, compliance isn't optional: the system has to be designed, installed and maintained by a SIRA-registered company and meet the manual. Private villas and individual apartments aren't usually among the listed types, so for most homeowners SIRA compliance is a mark of quality rather than a legal duty. The exception is a home let as a holiday home: the manual's vacation-homes chapter asks for an approved lock, the approved smart-lock app and an approved safe.

The quickest way to know where a business stands is its trade-licence activity. Send it to us and we'll check the category.

A SIRA-approved installer is a company registered with SIRA for security systems work, whose technicians hold SIRA licences. A company making the claim should be able to show you its registration — ask before you sign anything, and be wary of anyone who can't.

It also matters that the equipment suits the category. The manual sets technical requirements, so a camera that's fine for a villa may not be acceptable for a regulated shop.

Beyond each category's own chapter, the manual sets a baseline for every regulated system. Among other things:

• colour cameras of at least 1080p, with housings rated at least IP66 outdoors
• wide dynamic range of at least 110 dB on cameras facing light, and on every camera used for identification
• cameras that are clearly visible — hidden cameras need SIRA's approval
• recording for at least 70% of the day, at no less than 10 frames per second, kept for at least 31 days, with 20% spare recording capacity

The manual calls these minimums: nothing may be installed to a lower specification without SIRA's approval.

A compliant project runs from a site survey and risk assessment, through design drawings and equipment chosen to meet the manual, to installation by SIRA-licensed technicians, testing, SIRA documentation and handover. Our SIRA compliance page walks through each of the seven steps and what you receive at the end.

The manual requires a regulated establishment to hold an annual maintenance contract with a SIRA-registered company, with a preventive maintenance programme of at least four visits a year carried out by SIRA-licensed technicians. The establishment and its service provider must keep a continuing record of the system and tell SIRA about changes — to the design, the equipment, the layout, the entrances or the business activity — and the establishment keeps an auditable log of who enters the room where the recorders are kept.

That's what our SIRA-approved AMC is built around.

This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice, and the requirements vary by category and are updated from time to time. We confirm what applies to your premises on the survey, against the manual in force at the time.