Our local EER Middle East team recently attended an insightful workshop hosted by the Chamber of Commerce that outlined both recent and upcoming changes to the commercial registration system for local companies in Saudi Arabia. Two official representatives from the Ministry of Commerce were able to take attendees through all of the updates and the necessary takeaways for their clients.
Key Points
Cancellation of Branch CRs
The Ministry will phase out the need for individual branch Commercial Registrations (CRs) over the next five years. Following the update, only one main CR will be required per company, and this will allow them to operate across different cities in the Kingdom. Business owners will need to take one of the following steps:
- Merge the branch CR into the main CR (by adding all activities to the main one)
Or
- Establish a new entity, which will require a new name reservation
Annual Information Update
All companies are now required to update their information annually. Companies that fail to comply will have an initial 90-day grace period to make the update, but if that deadline is missed, their CR will be frozen and penalties will apply.
CR Update Deadline
If a company makes any changes to its information, the CR must be updated within 15 days.
Chamber of Commerce Memberships
While the Chamber of Commerce will continue to be divided by region, it will now be possible for companies to use memberships from different cities for government dealings, even for projects located elsewhere. Previously, companies were required to open a branch and obtain local membership in the city of the project.
Though currently these updates apply to local companies, we expect to hear shortly on how they may apply to foreign company branches.
If you would like to be kept informed about commerce and business changes in Saudi Arabia, please follow us on social media or email us on info@eerme.com.
If you would like to speak to one of our local team about your relocation, immigration or corporate services needs in Saudi Arabia, please call today on +966 11 273 8007.
