Dynamo. The business engine.
Since 3 April 2025 a commercial registration has no expiry date. Instead, the business confirms its registered data online every twelve months. Here is how the new rules work and how to stay on the right side of them.
DynamoOS team7 min read
On 3 April 2025 the Ministry of Commerce brought the new Commercial Register Law and Trade Names Law into force, with their implementing regulations. The biggest practical change is that a commercial registration no longer expires and is no longer renewed. Instead, the trader confirms the registered data online once a year.
The Ministry summarised the main differences from the previous law in five points:
The annual confirmation is an electronic statement in which the trader confirms that the data recorded in the commercial register is still correct. It replaces renewal and is due every twelve months, counted from the date the registration was issued. The new one-page certificate shows the annual confirmation date, so that is now the date to watch.
Because the confirmation is about the data, it is a good moment to check that the register matches the business as it is today:
If anything has changed during the year, update it through the Ministry's services rather than waiting for the confirmation date, so the register is never out of date for long.
It also helps to name one person in the business as responsible for the commercial register: someone who knows the confirmation date and has access to the Ministry's services, rather than relying on one person who may be on leave or gone when the date arrives. Put the date in the management team's shared calendar too.
If the annual confirmation is not submitted within 90 days of its due date, the entry in the commercial register is suspended, together with the services linked to it. The registration is then struck off automatically after a full year of suspension, unless the trader asks to lift the suspension before that.
To lift a suspension within that year, the trader submits the annual confirmation, pays the set fee and adds the set fine. A suspended registration is more than a paperwork problem, because the services linked to it are suspended too, so the simplest protection is a reminder well before the due date.
| Stage | When | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmation due | Every 12 months from the date of issue | Confirm the registered data online |
| Suspension | No confirmation within 90 days of the due date | Entry and linked services suspended |
| Striking off | A full year after the suspension began | Registration removed automatically |
No. Under the new law an establishment has one commercial registration across the Kingdom, covering all its activities, and the Ministry no longer issues branch registrations for sole proprietorships or companies. Existing branch registrations have a five-year grace period, counted from the law's entry into force, to be brought into line.
For a business with several shops or offices, this simplifies the paperwork: one registration, one confirmation date and one set of data to keep correct. It is still worth planning the regularisation of old branch registrations early rather than leaving it to the end of the grace period.
Two duties stand out for a new or growing business. The law requires bank accounts linked to the commercial establishment, to make it more reliable to deal with. And the trader must obtain the licences for the activities recorded in the register within 90 days, unless the licensing authority allows a longer period.
Keeping the business account separate is also simply good practice: it keeps the books clean and makes the VAT return and month-end much easier to check.
The new certificate is a single page issued electronically, with a QR code on its left side. Scanning the code shows the establishment's full data, including its activities, the registration date, the annual confirmation date, the registered address, the managers and the capital. The expiry field has been removed.
The Ministry states that the new form is accepted by government bodies, private organisations and banks under the law and its regulations. When a bank or a customer asks for your registration, send the current certificate: anyone can check the data behind it by scanning the code.
The Trade Names Law came into force on the same day. A trade name can now be reserved before it is registered, for a set period that can be extended once. Names may use Arabic, Arabised or English words, or letters and numbers, and a trade name can be dealt with separately from the establishment itself.
A name may not be registered if it is similar to another establishment's name, even when the activity is different. The implementing regulations also set rules for family names, the trader's personal name, the name of Saudi Arabia and the names of cities, regions and public places.
The Saudi Arabia pack keeps your company's licences and registrations in one place, with their dates and reminders before they fall due, so the annual confirmation is not left to memory. Dynamo Finance keeps the establishment's own bank accounts and books separate, ready for the VAT return.
No. Under the new law there is no expiry date or renewal. What matters is the annual confirmation, due every 12 months from the date the registration was issued.
The entry is suspended only if the confirmation is not made within 90 days of its due date. Confirm as soon as you can, well before that point.
Yes, within a year of the suspension: submit the annual confirmation, pay the set fee and the set fine, and ask for the suspension to be lifted. After a full year it is struck off automatically.
Existing branch registrations have a five-year grace period from the law's entry into force to be brought into line with the single-registration rule.
No. The annual confirmation is a regular statement that the recorded data is correct, due every twelve months. Changing the data, such as adding an activity or a new manager or address, is done when the change happens, through the Ministry of Commerce's services, and is best not left until the confirmation date.
The rules in this article come from these official sources, read on the day it was published.
In Ramadan, Muslim employees work no more than six hours a day or 36 a week, and the year has four official holidays on full pay. Here is what the rules say and how to plan around them.
7 min read
Read the article
Sick leave runs on a yearly scale of full, three-quarter and unpaid days, and maternity leave is now twelve weeks on full pay. Here is how to apply both rules and pay them correctly.
6 min read
Read the article
Most VAT fines come from a few missed dates and avoidable errors, not from fraud. Here is what each fine is, how ZATCA sets the rate for an incorrect return, and the habits that keep a business clear of them.
6 min read
Read the articleStart a 14-day free trial with every app, no card needed.
