While autonomy in each emirate has helped propel the UAE to where it is today, some inherent difficulties are also entailed in this set-up. On top of this is the lack of a uniform standard, which is primarily due to a lack of a unified federal strategy.

In Abu Dhabi, land size is measured by metre while in Dubai measurement is usually done by foot. The gross floor area is also interpreted differently. So measurement, which is supposed to be universally uniform, is put under question. Even in home appliances, one can notice that there are different kinds of plugs and there are times that they are not compatible with the socket outlets. All of these boil down to one thing: standardisation.