Commercial activity requirements in Bahrain set for review

TDT | Manama                                                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The Bahrain Ministry of Industry and Commerce has affirmed its commitment to reviewing and updating the requirements for all commercial activities in the records system.

The ministry highlighted that the guide for commercial activity requirements available on the Sijilat website has been revised in collaboration with 52 licencing authorities registered in the system.

In response to a parliamentary inquiry submitted by MP Jalal Kadhem Hassan regarding the total number of active commercial registrations for establishments and companies in the Kingdom of Bahrain, as well as the criteria and requirements for obtaining a commercial registration for Bahraini nationals and foreigners, the ministry stated that the process of obtaining a commercial registration is based on Decree Law No. 27 of 2015 concerning the commercial register and its executive regulations.

Regarding the number of active commercial registrations, the ministry clarified that the total number of individual commercial establishments reached 40,494, while the number of company registrations reached 42,766.

It was noted that Bahrainis own 66,640 out of the total.

As for the revenues generated by active commercial registrations, the ministry indicated that in 2021, revenues amounted to BD10,311,195.6, while in 2022, the figure was BD8,399,020.8. Up until the third quarter of 2023, revenues of BD8,185,876.8 were recorded.

Violations

Regarding violations of commercial registrations, the ministry stated that these violations vary from the absence of the establishment at its registered commercial address to violations related to the commercial nameplate of the establishment, failure to display product prices, conducting unlicensed commercial activities, opening commercial premises without obtaining the necessary licences, and expiration of the validity period of the weighing scale label.

In this regard, the ministry emphasised that after identifying violations, the appropriate measures are taken for each violation according to its nature and procedures by the relevant laws and decisions.

It was noted that in 2021, 171 establishments were closed, followed by 190 closures in 2022 and 94 closures in 2023. The owners of these establishments are being monitored to rectify their legal status.