What does the law say?
The new Commercial Register Law replaced the 1416H law and took effect 180 days after publication in the Official Gazette, on 3 April 2025 as the Ministry of Commerce announced. The Trade Names Law was issued with it in the same decree. These are the changes that touch an establishment's day-to-day work:
- One registration per establishment: the Ministry of Commerce says the law keeps a single Commercial Registration (CR) per establishment across the Kingdom, covering all its activities, and stops issuing branch registrations for sole establishments and companies. Article 9 allows different activities on one CR with no requirement that they be related, subject to other applicable laws.
- Annual confirmation instead of renewal: Article 11 requires the trader to confirm the registered data every year, and the Ministry explains that this is done online every 12 months from the issue date on the business.sa platform.
- Suspension, then strike-off: the registration is suspended if the annual confirmation is not filed within 90 days of its due date, and suspension also suspends every licence issued for the registration (Article 15).
- Data updates: within 15 days of any change to the registered data (Article 10).
- Displaying CR data: the trader displays the registration data in a clear place in the shop where it does business, as the regulation specifies (Article 16).
- Bank account and activity licences: according to the Ministry's announcement when the law took effect, the law requires bank accounts linked to the establishment, and requires the trader to obtain the licences for the registered activity within 90 days “unless the licensing body sets a longer period”. Article 6 leaves the bank account data rules to the regulation.
- Everything online: all applications and procedures in the register are electronic (Article 8), and the Registrar decides a complete registration application within ten days of filing (Article 7).
- Violations: a fine of up to SAR 50,000 for giving false data, or for failing to register, update, file the annual confirmation or display the registration data, which may be doubled for a repeat within three years (Article 21). The violations committee may, instead of or as well as the fine, take measures such as warning the trader or ordering corrective steps (Article 24). A grievance may be filed with the competent court within 30 days of notification (Article 25).
“The Registrar shall suspend the trader's registration if the trader does not submit the annual confirmation within ninety days of its due date.”
Commercial Register Law, Article 15(1), as published by the Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers. Unofficial translation; the Arabic text is the reference.
The rest of Article 15 sets out what follows. Before suspending, the Registrar warns the trader that the registration will be suspended 14 days after the warning. The suspension lasts one year and is lifted if the trader asks for this within the year, files the annual confirmation and pays the fee plus the fine. If the year passes without that, the trader's registration is struck off. A company or a foreign company's branch cannot ask for the suspension to be lifted at that point, and the Ministry may ask the partners or shareholders to dissolve the company or ask the competent court to do so.
Branch registrations: a five-year period
The new law stopped issuing branch registrations, but it did not strike off the existing ones at once. The royal decree that issued it set a period to regularise them:
“Those registered in the Commercial Register are granted a period of five years, starting from the date the Law referred to in item (First) of this decree takes effect, to regularise the status of their branch commercial registrations. All their branch registrations shall be struck off when that period ends, under a mechanism set by the Ministry of Commerce.”
Royal Decree No. (M/83) dated 19/3/1446H, item (Third), as published by the Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers. Unofficial translation; the Arabic text is the reference.
Since the law took effect on 3 April 2025, the period runs to about April 2030 by our count (estimate); the mechanism and the final date are set by the Ministry of Commerce. For scale, the Ministry of Commerce business bulletin for Q2 2026 shows 247,464 existing branch registrations for sole establishments and 87,066 for companies.
Who does it apply to?
Every trader must register in the Commercial Register, and the Ministry may exempt some categories of traders under rules set in the regulation (Article 5). The annual confirmation applies to sole establishments and companies, each with its own rule once the year of suspension ends, as described above.
The Ministry of Commerce lists these conditions for a sole establishment's annual confirmation: an active CR, the trader is at least 18 years old, the trader is not a government employee, and a foreign establishment holds a valid investment licence with at least 90 days remaining. Associations and waqf establishments have extra requirements that the Ministry publishes.
A general example with hypothetical dates
The two cases below are hypothetical and only illustrate the rules. They do not describe any real establishment.
- A new sole establishment: registered on 1 December 2025 with two different activities on one CR. Its annual confirmation falls due on 1 December 2026 and then every 12 months. If it is not filed, the 90-day period ends on 1 March 2027 by our count, and the registration is suspended after the warning, together with every licence issued for it.
- An older establishment with two branches: it has a main CR and two branch CRs issued before the law took effect. It must regularise the two branch registrations within the five-year period, under the mechanism set by the Ministry of Commerce, before all branch registrations are struck off when the period ends.
How the boundary day is counted follows the official platform, so do not wait for the last day.
Common misconceptions
- “There is nothing to do each year any more.” Renewal was abolished, but the annual confirmation is mandatory, and missing it leads to suspension and then strike-off.
- “Each activity or branch needs its own CR.” One CR covers all of the establishment's activities, and Article 9 allows different activities with no requirement that they be related.
- “Suspension only affects the CR.” Suspension also suspends every licence issued for the registration.
- “Branch registrations stay as they are.” They have five years to be regularised, and all of them are struck off when that period ends.
- “The fine is a fixed amount.” Article 21 sets a ceiling of SAR 50,000, and the fine takes into account the seriousness of the violation, its circumstances, its effects and the size of the establishment.
Official sources
- The Commercial Register Law and its royal decree on the Bureau of Experts site (Arabic).
- Ministry of Commerce: the Commercial Register and Trade Names Laws take effect (Arabic, 5 Shawwal 1446H, 3 April 2025).
- Ministry of Commerce: annual confirmation requirements for sole establishments (Arabic, 24 Dhu al-Qadah 1446H, 22 May 2025).
- Ministry of Commerce business bulletin, Q2 2026 (Arabic, PDF).
- business.sa platform, for the annual confirmation and data updates.
I reviewed these sources on 28 September 2026.