JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia has approved new laws for commercial registration and trade names, aiming to streamline business operations and improve the overall working environment. The endorsements were announced at the weekly Cabinet session in Riyadh on Sept. 17, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Kingdom’s trade industry witnessed 104,000 commercial registrations in the first quarter of 2024, marking a 59 percent year-on-year growth, as the Ministry of Commerce issued 65,363 permits during the same period in 2023. Some 44 percent of those awarded in the first three months of the year were assigned to women, according to the quarterly business sector bulletin. The spike in numbers brings the total number of certificates issued to more than 1.45 million across all country regions. The Minister of Commerce, Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, commented that approving the commercial register and trade name regulations aims to facilitate business operations and reduce burdens on commercial establishments by providing a single national business registration. “It also organizes the procedures for reserving and registering trade names to protect and enhance their value, aligning with the economic and technological advancements outlined in Vision 2030,” Al-Qasabi said in a post on his X account. The Minister of Municipalities and Housing, Majed Al-Hogail, said that issuing the new commercial registration and trade names systems is a key enabler for businesses to facilitate operations and enhance transparency. He added in his post on X: “This step reflects an ambitious vision toward a more advanced and prosperous business environment under Saudi Vision 2030.” Abdulrahman Al-Hussein, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, stated that the new commercial registration system has been designed based on the best international practices. Explaining the advantages of the new commercial registration system, Al-Hussein said that these include that business owners can now have a single registration, regardless of the number of activities or businesses they manage across the country. He added that the business registers will remain valid for an unlimited or unspecified period as long as the owners fulfill the requirement of annually updating the information of their establishments. The spokesman further emphasized that every business is required to have a designated bank account for handling all its financial transactions. Regarding existing sub-registers, Al-Hussein said that their owners will have a five-year grace period to resolve their status by either transferring or canceling their registrations. The Cabinet also approved the real estate transaction tax system along with various decisions taken by the Ministerial Council.