The commercial registration: renewal and amendment
The commercial registration is renewed annually, and the company’s other transactions with the relevant authorities depend on it remaining valid. This guide sets out the renewal dates and documents, the procedure for amending the registration details, and the route to liquidation and striking off.
What the registration establishes
The commercial registration establishes that the company exists in law, and fixes its trade name, legal form, licensed activities, address and the partners' shares. Every other authority dealing with the company begins from this document, so work permits, the insurance file and residencies all hang on a valid registration.
The annual renewal
The registration is renewed before its term ends. The procedure itself is completed in one working day where the company's file is in order. What it costs to delay, however, reaches beyond this transaction alone.
- Period
- One working day from the point the documents are complete.
- Notice
- The expiry is entered in the follow-up calendar and notice issues sixty days ahead.
- Fee
- 166 BHD a year on the ordinary route, a prescribed government fee. Its items are in the formation fee table.
- Effect
- A lapsed registration halts the company's dealings with the other authorities.
What blocks a renewal
What stalls a renewal may have nothing to do with the registration itself, but with an obligation standing elsewhere:
- Unsettled monthly fees with the Labour Market Regulatory Authority.
- Unmet conditions for a regulated activity, or a lapsed regulatory licence.
- A commercial address no longer valid, or not matching the recorded activity.
- Open insurance or financial obligations against the company.
Amending the registration
Ordinary amendments run on a routine track: changing the commercial address, the contact details, or adding an approved activity once its conditions are met. Adding an activity varies in period by the activity itself, since some pass straight through while others need a regulator's approval.
What crosses into expertise work
Not everything touching the registration is routine. Converting the legal form, changing partners or their shares, and liquidating and striking off the registration all call for study, notarisation and the settling of obligations. They therefore sit outside the subscription and are quoted in writing after the case has been studied.
This guide is a general account. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce is the final reference for any condition or fee, and conditions may change without prior notice.
When is a commercial registration renewed, and how long does it take?
Before its term ends, and it is completed in one working day where the company’s file is in order.
What does renewing a commercial registration cost?
166 BHD a year on the ordinary route. Some regulated activities carry additional fees.
What stalls a renewal?
What stalls it may have nothing to do with the registration itself, but with an obligation standing elsewhere: unpaid monthly fees, a standing violation, or an incomplete social insurance file.
What follows if a registration expires unrenewed?
An expired registration halts the company’s transactions at the other authorities, so its effect reaches past this one transaction.
Reviewing a registration before renewal
Send your commercial registration number, and we review what stands in the way of renewal, in obligations or in conditions, before the date falls due.