Saudi Ministry Warns That Businesses Must Have Licenses To Operate E-stores

Category: BUSINESS

In Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development explained that businesses that wish to sell their products online must obtain a registration certificate from the Ministry of Commerce or a freelance license from the Freelance Platform, which is run by the Ministry of Human Resources.

Both ministries in the Kingdom emphasized that online stores must comply with e-commerce requirements and the e-commerce law to protect the rights of consumers.

For individuals engaged in e-commerce activities, the e-Commerce Council stressed the importance of obtaining a certificate of business registration in order to continue to practice legally.

In order to respect consumer rights, the Council said that business registration certificates could be issued online. Saudi Gazette reported that if the applicant's business activity requires a license from another governmental agency, those requirements must also be met.

The Council explained that this step is important to improve the trustworthiness of e-commerce transactions, as well as to protect consumer and merchant rights, besides removing counterfeit firms.

- Recently, the Ministry has noticed several cases of non-compliance and violations of consumer rights, as well as fraud perpetrated by some online stores run by individuals without a registration certificate.

As per the Council, stores receiving an e-commerce registration certificate must impose the 13 following standards of reliability:

1. Provide a phone number for communication

2. Provide an email address for communication

3. Chat option should be available

4. Using official banking channels, provide secure e-payments.

5. Customers should be able to lodge complaints online

6. Allow customers to file complaints through social media.

7. Tell the exact time it will take to respond to a complaint.

8. Indicate the exact time it takes to process a complaint.

9. You should specify the time of delivery before completing the purchase and include this information in the invoice.

10. Provide Arabic as an option for filing a complaint.

11. Use Arabic in chat.