Business document glossary

GCC business document glossary

42+ tax, legal, HR and finance terms used across invoices, contracts and certificates in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq. Search or jump by letter.

A

ATS (Applicant Tracking System): Software that parses and ranks applications before a recruiter reads them. Simple, single-column layouts parse most reliably.
Attestation: Official authentication of a degree or certificate by the issuing country and the relevant embassy or ministry, required for many GCC work permits.

B

Baseline: The approved version of a plan against which actual progress is measured in later reports.
Batch / lot code: A production identifier that links a unit back to a specific run, making targeted recalls possible.
Bill of lading: The carrier's document that acts as a receipt for cargo, evidence of the carriage contract and, when issued to order, a document of title.

C

CBM: Cubic metres of cargo volume, used to calculate chargeable weight for LCL sea freight and air freight.
Certificate of analysis: A batch-specific quality document reporting test results against the product specification, with methods and a release statement.
Certificate of origin: A document declaring the country where goods were produced or substantially transformed, often attested by a chamber of commerce.
Client-side processing: Work performed inside your browser, so the document never leaves your device.

D

Defects liability period: The period after completion during which the contractor must make good defects in workmanship or materials at its own cost.
DPI: Dots per inch. 300 DPI is print quality; 150 DPI is usually enough for on-screen review.

E

Emiratisation / Saudisation: National workforce quota programmes in the UAE and Saudi Arabia that influence which roles are open to expatriate candidates.

F

Force majeure: A clause excusing performance when extraordinary events (natural disaster, war, pandemic) prevent parties from meeting obligations. Standard in GCC commercial contracts.
Free zone entity: A company licensed by a UAE free zone (DMCC, IFZA, JAFZA, DIFC, ADGM, RAKEZ, etc.), enjoying 100% foreign ownership and — under specific conditions — 0% corporate tax on qualifying income.

G

GHS: The Globally Harmonized System of classification and labelling of chemicals — pictograms, signal words and hazard statements.
GSO: The GCC Standardization Organization, whose standards underpin national labelling rules across the Gulf.

H

HS code: The Harmonized System commodity code used by customs worldwide to classify goods and set duty rates.

I

Incoterms: Standard trade terms such as FOB, CIF and DAP that define who arranges and pays for carriage and insurance and where risk passes.

L

Lossless vs lossy compression: Lossless keeps every pixel and shrinks less; lossy discards detail for a much smaller file. Text scans tolerate lossy; fine artwork does not.
LPO / PO: Local Purchase Order (LPO) or Purchase Order (PO) — the buyer's formal commitment to purchase goods or services from a supplier, referenced on the matching invoice.

M

Milestone: A point in a plan that proves progress — an approval, a passed test, a completed phase — normally used to trigger reporting or payment.
MoFA attestation: Legalisation by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs — required for many commercial documents before they can be used abroad or in front of embassies.

N

Net and gross weight: Net weight is the goods alone; gross weight includes packaging and pallets. Carriers charge on gross or volumetric weight.
Net content: The quantity of product excluding packaging, shown in metric units on GCC retail labels.
NOC (No Objection Certificate): A letter from a current or former employer confirming no objection to you joining another company; still requested in parts of the GCC.
Notice period: The contractual time between resignation and last working day. Stating it removes uncertainty from an offer timeline.
Notify party: The party the carrier informs when a shipment arrives, often the consignee or its customs broker.

O

OCR: Optical character recognition, which turns a scanned image into searchable and selectable text.

P

Page range: The subset of pages selected for splitting or extraction, such as 1-3,7.
PDF/A: An archival PDF profile that embeds fonts and colour data so the file renders identically years later.
Practical completion: The point at which works are usable for their intended purpose, even though minor snags remain to be closed.

R

Retention: A percentage of the contract value withheld by the client, typically released partly at completion and partly at the end of the defects liability period.
Reverse charge: A VAT mechanism where the buyer (not the seller) accounts for VAT — common on cross-border services into the UAE and KSA.

S

Safety data sheet: The 16-section GHS document describing a chemical product's hazards, first aid, handling, transport and disposal requirements.
SASO / SABER: The Saudi standards authority and its online conformity platform for product registration and certificates of conformity.
Scope of work (SOW): The document defining the services included, the deliverables, exclusions and acceptance criteria for a project. Also called a statement of work.
Shelf life on arrival: The minimum remaining validity an imported product must have at the border, commonly expressed as a percentage of total shelf life.
Snag list: The register of minor outstanding items recorded at handover, each with an owner and a closure date.

T

TRN (Tax Registration Number): The 15-digit number issued by the UAE Federal Tax Authority to every VAT-registered business. Required on tax invoices and other financial documents.

V

Variation: An approved change to the scope, price or time of a project, recorded in writing before the work is carried out.
Visa status: Whether you hold a transferable employment visa, a spouse or golden visa, a visit visa, or require sponsorship — a primary screening filter across the Gulf.

Z

ZATCA / Fatoora: The Saudi Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority and its e-invoicing platform, Fatoora. Governs VAT invoicing across KSA and mandates QR codes and cryptographic stamps.