Campaign against hiding CR details of business leased from Bahrainis

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A Joint National Campaign against Commercial Concealment has been launched by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism (MOICT) in cooperation with Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).

This is according to the directives of the Government Executive Committee, headed by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to promote a fair and competitive environment in line with the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030, through devising various initiatives and projects, and for the purpose of increasing the qualitative opportunities for the citizens. 

From this standpoint, the Ministry highlighted the necessity of not concealing the holders of leased commercial registrations (CR), through which non-Bahraini citizens are allowed to practise a commercial activity of which they are prohibited by law. This includes, for example, using the personal information, license, CR of the Bahraini (or anyone with similar status), or other paths that lead to concealment, all of which result from sub-selling or subleasing the commercial store without including the commercial store for which the CR is issued in the sale or lease contract.

The Ministry emphasised that such actions are punishable by law as per the Bahraini law and regulations. The kingdom grants the right to practise the commercial activity to the merchant in his personal capacity, and not for him to grant such right to someone else. It is also important to realise the scale of the economic damage of such harmful practices.

The Ministry confirmed that it is about to intensify the monitoring campaigns on the CR owners through its regulatory agencies and in cooperation with the competent authorities, in order to take the administrative action in this regard, such as administrative closure of the store until rectifying the legal status of the record in the CR.

If the violation continues, the law has set the punishment to imprisonment for a period not exceeding a year and a fine not exceeding BD1,000, or either of them in addition to ruling to delete the record from the CR “Deregistration” and close the commercial store where the violation was committed.

In the same context, MOICT stressed the necessity of the cooperation and coordination of all parties, particularly Bahraini merchants, to limit such practices that are harmful to the national economy and its reputation in general, due to their negative effects on its growth. Commercial concealment is considered an unfair investment that overcrowds the legitimate investment. It also disturbs the balance of legitimate and fair competition between merchants and it impacts the services, which negatively affects their quality due to the existence of an ambiguous relationship between the parties of the business process that combine the merchant, the consumer, the supplier and the distributor.

The Ministry encouraged everyone to work together to make this campaign a success in order to achieve the desired goals and bring about a strong and durable economy that proceeds according to legal principles guaranteed for all merchants, and for the Bahraini merchant first and foremost.