Guide · Companies · Saudi Arabia and the UAE
Commercial registration in the GCC
Commercial registration in Arabic: السجل التجاري — the public entry of a trader or company, and the number counterparties ask for. Not a trademark.
Commercial registration is the public record in which a trader or a company is entered, and the number banks, courts and counterparties ask for. It is not a trade licence by itself, and it is not a trademark. Saudi Arabia now keeps one registration for the establishment, kingdom-wide. On the UAE mainland the emirate’s economic department issues the licence. Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman are under review. This is general information, not legal advice.
This is general information, not legal advice, and it does not create a lawyer–client relationship. Laws change. Check the sources and have the text reviewed by a lawyer licensed in the relevant jurisdiction before you rely on it. Last reviewed: 29 October 2026.
In short
- Saudi Arabia: the Commercial Register Law entered into force on 3 April 2025. One registration, no expiry date, electronic confirmation every 12 months.
- UAE mainland: the licence comes from the emirate’s economic department. The National Economic Register is a lookup, not the filing.
- Signing a partnership agreement does not enter anyone in the register. Incorporation uses a memorandum or articles.
What commercial registration is
Commercial registration is the public record in which a trader or a company is entered, with the particulars the authority keeps and shows to anyone dealing with them. The commercial registration number is what banks, courts and counterparties ask for. It is not a trade licence by itself, and it is not a trademark.
Signing a company template, or a partnership agreement, does not make that entry. In the UAE a company’s memorandum takes effect against third parties only once it is entered in the commercial register of the competent authority.
Saudi Arabia: one registration and an annual confirmation
The Ministry of Commerce brought the Commercial Register Law and the Trade Names Law, with their executive regulations, into force on 3 April 2025 (5 Shawwal 1446H). The Cabinet decision described a 29-article law and a central electronic database of traders’ names and data.
Sub-registers are gone. One registration covers the establishment’s activities across the Kingdom, with no expiry date to renew. The trader confirms the data electronically every 12 months from issue. Miss the confirmation by 90 days and the entry, and the services tied to it, are suspended. One year after suspension the entry is struck off, unless the trader lifts the suspension, confirms the data, and pays the fee plus the fine.
UAE: the emirate’s licence and the national register
On the mainland the emirate’s economic department issues the licence: activity, legal form, trade name, initial approval, the memorandum where the form needs one, then the licence. That department registers the trade name. The Ministry of Economy and Tourism registers a trademark, which is a different right.
The National Economic Register is the federal platform for enquiring about economic licences, activities and trade-name availability. Looking a business up there is not the act of registering it. Under the Commercial Companies Law, a company’s memorandum takes effect against third parties only once it is entered in the commercial register of the competent authority.
The filing by country
| Country | Verified | Under review |
|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | Commercial Register Law in force 3 April 2025. One registration, no expiry, confirmation every 12 months. 90 days late suspends; a year of suspension strikes off. | No article number from the statute is restated on this page beyond the ministry’s description of the law. |
| United Arab Emirates | Mainland licence from the emirate’s economic department. National Economic Register is a lookup. A company’s memorandum binds third parties after registration. | Free-zone registers. No article number from Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 is stated here. |
| Qatar | Under review. | No text and no article number. |
| Bahrain | Under review. | No text and no article number. |
| Kuwait | Under review. | No text and no article number. |
| Oman | Under review. | No text and no article number. |