The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion sometimes cancels inactive commercial registrations under its supervision. The cancellation of inactive or expired commercial registrations is attributed to several important regulatory and legal reasons, in accordance with the Commercial Register Law and its Executive Regulations.
This process is carried out in coordination with relevant entities such as the Royal Oman Police, the Tax Authority, the Ministry of Labour and other concerned bodies, in order to ensure the correctness of procedures and protect the rights of all parties.
The main objective of this step is to stop distorting market statistics and the actual size and activity of the private sector. This makes it necessary to remove them in order to improve the accuracy of economic and administrative indicators relied upon by government entities and investors.
This step also enhances market transparency, since the presence of inactive records may lead to misleading data about companies actually operating in the Omani market, which negatively affects investor confidence and hinders economic planning.
In addition, it reduces administrative and regulatory burdens, allowing inspection teams and government departments to focus more on active establishments and their compliance with laws, rather than dealing with old records unrelated to actual business activity.
At the level of business owners, this process enables them to settle their legal matters and avoid accumulating fines.
According to data from the Ministry, it has cancelled more than 42,000 commercial registrations since the 1970s to date. Also, the Ministry has provided multiple channels for renewing commercial registrations, as well as for those wishing to cancel them, either by visiting the Ministry or through available electronic portals.
The Ministry follows up on lists of registrations scheduled for cancellation prior to deletion and publishes proposed cancellation lists for 30 days as part of legal procedures. This grants investors the opportunity to review the status of their registration and take action before final cancellation.
Investors may also apply for voluntary cancellation if they have ceased operations and wish to officially terminate their commercial activity, by completing a voluntary cancellation form in coordination with the ministry and relevant authorities, after confirming that no obligations remain.
The cancellation procedures were implemented after a thorough review of the actual status of commercial registers, in accordance with the Ministry’s public statement and after verifying that they are free of any obligations to the Tax Authority, the Ministry of Labour and the Royal Oman Police.
This contributes to correcting legal situations that have accumulated over many years, especially when data held by government entities is inaccurate, which affects indicators of the size of the private sector, the growth of small and medium enterprises and labour market data.
It is also considered a burden on updating processes and electronic integration among government entities.
This step also helps register holders avoid paying accumulated fines or being bound by financial or administrative obligations and grants them the ability to open new registers without legal obstacles.
In addition, this step supports the National Team for Combating Concealed Commercial Activities by eliminating registers that are being used to conduct commercial activity despite having originally expired.
In conclusion, the cancellation of inactive commercial registrations aims to recalibrate business data, raise the level of market transparency and enhance the reliability of economic and administrative indicators relied upon by various government entities.
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