New rules for installation of billboards in Abu Dhabi

Omar Al Hashemi, Head of the Section, said that a business owner should meet a series of requirements to get approval for erecting a signboard of supermarket, office, clinic, company or other business.

“Applicant should submit an application stating the name of the street, numbers of the building and sector, two coloured copies of the billboard design and space the billboard and commercial register will occupy in the front of the building,” he told Khaleej Times.

The regulations, he said, defined the requirements to be fulfilled for putting up billboard on shops located on the ground floor, mezzanine and on villa.

The commercial register for billboard on ground floor, he added, should be written in Arabic and English. As for the mezzanine, billboard looking like a box would not be allowed.

Under the rules, the trademarks should also be written in both Arabic and English and there should be mention of the type of trade activity either in writing or drawing.

Al Hashimi said the new rules ban use of trade name signboard as board for commercial advertisements. The number of billboards should not be more than the number of the front portions of building, he said, adding that size of the billboard should exactly fit in the space on the front of building where it is to be installed.

Only one billboard should be fixed on the front portion of the building , provided that its size should tally the space set on the front

For villa, he said, billboard should not be fixed on the top of the villa and should not be higher than the building. Only one signboard on the front of the villa is allowed under the new rules.

With regard to the businesses which use a complete building as headquarter for their activities, the new rules have allowed fixing of signboard bearing the trade name on top the premises provided that it is not higher than the height of the building.

Billboard of the kind of Totum or Pylon are prohibited except for ADNOC group and banks,” he said, adding, “The new procedures are part of the section’s plan to maintain the aesthetic and civic face of Abu Dhabi.”

He said inspectors would be deployed to book violations and random use of billboards and offenders would be referred to the municipal court for action.

Graffiti on walls and front portions of buildings are also strictly banned, he added.