MUSCAT: The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion (MoCIIP) urges commercial agents which are registered with the Ministry’s Register of Commercial Agencies and Agents to submit applications for renewal of registration of their commercial agency contracts one month before the expiration date of these contracts, in order to avoid the penalties stipulated in Article (19) of the Commercial Agencies Law, perambulated by the Royal decree No. 26 / 77.
The Ministry also emphasised the importance of submitting the necessary documents indicating the continuity of these contracts, stressing that, the agency registration will be cancelled in the event that 90 days have passed from the date of its expiration.
Yaqoub bin Shayikh al Dabouni, Head of the Commercial Agencies Registration Department in the Secretariat of Commercial Registry, at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, emphasized that the Ministry monitors commercial agencies and determines the levels of their compliance with the law.
He pointed out the submission of a commercial agency registration request is being done online through the 'Invest Easy' portal with the aim of facilitating the process of registering investors and following up their transactions easily, or through service-providing offices (Sanad, law firms and auditing offices ).
Al Dabouni noted that the total commercial agencies submitted during the first half of 2023 , reached 853 commercial agencies, including 183 new commercial agencies, 458 renewed commercial agencies, 38 amended commercial agencies, and 174 canceled commercial agencies.
The commercial agency is protected in accordance with the regulations and laws in force internationally, through what is agreed upon in the contracts concluded between the foreign principal and the local agent.
As for the protection of the local agent, Al Dabouni clarified that the Commercial Agencies Law has cancelled the protection matter after the amendments of the Commercial Agencies Law No. 26/77 and the issuance of the Competition Protection and Prevention of Monopoly Law No. 67/2014, with an emphasis on the importance of the local agent’s commitment to what was stipulated in Article (9) of the Commercial Agencies Law No. 26/77, which emphasized that agents must provide consumers with all the guarantees provided by the original producer or supplier of the commodities that, the commercial agent undertakes to sell, distribute or promote.
He also stressed on the importance of adhering to the condition of contracting with the original producer (factory) or supplier in the country of origin, without an intermediary, as indicated in Article (6) Clause (C) of the Commercial Agencies Law 26/77.
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