New Commercial Register Law in details

Logo of Ministry of Commerce

Umm Al-Qura newspaper published on Oct. 4 the new Commercial Register Law, which was approved by the Cabinet last month, to replace the previous Commercial Register Law issued on July 19, 1995. The new law will come into effect 180 days from its publication in the official newspaper.

The law aims to facilitate the conduct of business in the Kingdom through regulating the registration procedures in the commercial register.

In addition, the law seeks to ensure transparency and reliability, through making the registered data accessible for review as well as correct and accurate.

The law consists of 29 Articles, with Article 28 stating that the Minister of Commerce will issue the executive regulations within 180 days from the date of publication in the official newspaper.

As per Article 9, traders may register different activities in the commercial register without the need for them to be homogeneous, provided this does not conflict with the provisions of other related regulations.

The law obligates traders to register in the commercial registry, and allows the Ministry of Commerce—based on guidelines to be determined in the regulations—to exempt certain categories of traders from registration in the commercial register and to define the consequences of the exemption.