Decree Blog

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Investment Promotion issued earlier this month a regulation to govern the licensing of the national product brand that requires obtaining a licence before using the brand.

According to article 3, the brand can only be used in regard to products that achieve a minimum percentage of 20% local content. Article 8 also specifies the formula for calculating the percentage of local content by taking into account the ex-works price of the product and the value of the non-originating materials.

The licence is issued for a renewable period of 3 years. The penalties for violating the regulation include imposing a fine not exceeding 500 Rial Omani, suspending the licence for a period not exceeding 1 year, and revoking it.

You can read the regulation in full in English on the link below:

The National Centre for Statistics and Information recently issued a new Executive Regulation of the Statistics and Information Law. The Statistics and Information Law was issued in 2019 replacing the Statistics Law of 2001, and this new regulation replaces the old Statistics Law Regulation of 2004.

The Ministry of Labour recently issued a new System for Job Performance Measurement that applies to civil servants. This system requires all civil servants to set objectives and key results to be achieved during a specific period of time that are tied to the strategic goals of the entity and as agreed with their respective line managers. The system identifies five grades for the evaluation of civil servants, and stipulates that the names of those achieving the highest scores are published within the government entity in question.

The Ministry of Labour has been trialling this system under a programme named “Ejada” since the beginning of 2022. The issuance of this system marks its graduation from being a trial and its official adoption as a requirement on all civil government units.

The Ministry of Interior published in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette Ministerial Decision 16/2023 Issuing the Financial System for the Expenses, Disbursements, and Tenders of the Elections of the Members of Majlis Al-Shura and the Municipal Councils. This new system provides an alternative procurement process to that stipulated by the Tender Law and gives the Ministry of Interior new powers including the power to directly award contracts relating to works, services, and supplies for the elections up to the value of 245,000 Rial Omani without going through a tender.

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Investment Promotion (MOCIIP) recently issued a regulation to determine the “beneficial owner” of companies operating in Oman. This regulation is applicable to all types of companies except for public joint stock companies, which are instead regulated by the Capital Market Authority. The companies in question have until the end of this month to satisfy the provisions of this regulation. So what does this regulation mean for your business?