PHOTO
Muscat - A new decision by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) does away with the existing stipulation that corporations should be registered with a pre-defined sum as capital. This decision now lies with investors. Also, no financial statements or proof are required - like bank certificates or any such financial data or documents issued from other parties.
H E Dr Ali bin Masoud bin Ali at Sunaidy, Minister of Commerce and Industry has issued the Ministerial Decision 139/2016 listing new regulations related to registering of commercial facilities.
Article 1 of the decision states that institutions and commercial corporations can be registered without any minimum capital requirement and without providing any certificates or documents pertaining to capital. This applies to all, except joint-stock corporations.
Article 2 states that the registered institutions and commercial corporations must present financial data related to their capital, along with any other data requested by the ministry, within the first four months after the end of its business year. The ministry will apply the financial disclosure system starting next year.
In this regard, Khamis bin Abdullah al Farsi, director general of commerce in MoCI, said that the decision aims to facilitate procedures, as laid down by the ministry, making it easier for investors to conduct business, whether they are Omanis or foreigners. Firms that are subject to the Foreign Capital Investment Act can use MoCI's Invest Easy (https://www.business.gov.om/wps/portal/ecr) system to obtain the necessary licences.
Regarding firms in the contracting sector, Farsi said, "No statements will be requested during registration under the Invest Easy system."
He said that MoCI continues to simplify the procedures of registering corporations and institutions. "The decision was taken after studying various international reports on Oman's business environment and we expect that this decision will raise sultanate's position among nations," he added.
© Muscat Daily 2016
