No licence, no trade under new market rules

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain traders and craftsmen will soon need both a municipal licence and an officially assigned site to operate in public and popular markets under sweeping new rules introduced across all four municipal areas.

The matching decisions, issued as Decision No. 1 of 2026 by the Capital, Muharraq, Northern and Southern municipal councils, give those covered six months from the date the rules take effect to regularise their status.

The regulations apply to public, central and popular markets established by municipalities, including the Capital Municipality, and classify them as public facilities designated for trading specific goods.

Under the new framework, no one may sell, buy, run a commercial activity or practise a craft inside these markets unless licensed to use a site allocated by the municipality.

Each municipality will form a markets committee chaired by its director-general. The committee will also include a municipal council member nominated by the council chairman, along with heads of the property and markets, legal affairs, revenue, building licences and regulation, and purchasing departments. The committees will oversee licences, site allocations, withdrawals and reallocations in accordance with tender, auction, government purchasing and sales laws, as well as applicable financial regulations, after approval from the Undersecretary for Municipalities Affairs. Applicants must be Bahraini nationals, must not be employed in the public sector and, where required, must be registered in the Commercial Register. They must also submit a certificate confirming they have no outstanding dues owed to the relevant municipality, the Capital Municipality or any other municipality. The rules also prevent traders from holding more than one site in the same market unless they submit the highest bid and satisfy economic conditions set out in auction terms.

Applications must be submitted to the director-general of the relevant municipality, who will forward them to the markets committee. The committee must issue a decision within 15 days of receiving a complete application. Rejections must be justified, while no response within the period will be treated as an implied refusal.

Licensed traders and craftsmen will be required to personally operate their sites, although they may employ registered workers. They must pay all fees, taxes and public charges, maintain licence and worker records, and avoid subletting, exchanging or relinquishing sites either wholly or partially.

They must also remain within the allocated boundaries, make no unauthorised changes to the site and begin operations within 30 days of receiving the licence. Failure to do so will result in cancellation unless an excuse is submitted at least 15 days before the deadline and approved by the committee, after which operations must begin within a further 15 days.

The decisions were signed by Saleh Tarada, Abdulaziz Al Naar, Sayed Shubbar Al Wadaei and Abdulla Abdul Latif, and will come into force the day after publication in the Official Gazette.