Electronic payment now mandatory for all Bahrain businesses
TDT | Manama
Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com
Every business in Bahrain must give customers a way to pay by card or phone from today, as the Ministry of Industry and Commerce brings in rules that make e-payment a requirement for every trade licence.
Each firm must open one bank account in its own name, lodge the details on the ministry’s Sijilat register and channel all takings through that account; personal accounts are not allowed.
Any payment outside the registered account will break the law.
Penalties in Article 20 of the Commercial Registry Law run from a six-month freeze on the licence to daily fines of up to BD1,000 for a first breach, rising to BD2,000 for a second within three years.
Daily fines may add up to BD50,000, and a one-off levy can reach BD100,000.
The rule applies to sole traders and companies alike, whatever the number of branches.
The ministry says the change will make cash flows easier to trace, protect buyers from online fraud and nudge the market towards cash-free trade.
By tying payments to business accounts it also hopes to strengthen checks on value-added tax and other dues.
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