Law of Municipal Licensing Procedures

Purpose and scope

• Governs municipal licensing procedures; no activity may be carried on without a municipal licence and a licence from the competent government body as the activity requires (Article 2).
• The ministry issues, amends, renews, cancels and suspends municipal licences (Article 3), and the competent body sets the requirements for activities it supervises and licenses them (Article 4).

Key rules, rights and obligations

• The ministry issues the municipal licence within ten working days of the application once all steps are complete, and any refusal must be written and reasoned (Article 5).
• Where the licence requires specific obligations, preliminary approval must be issued once the conditions are met (Article 5), and the competent body issues its preliminary approval within ten working days (Article 12).
• The regulation sets the licence term by activity, and it is renewed for similar terms after checking compliance (Article 9).
• Each municipality and class A municipality has a coordination office to ease procedures between bodies (Article 10), and the licence application goes first to the body supervising the activity (Article 11).

Violations, penalties and common problems

• The ministry collects municipal fees and fines, and the competent body collects its own under its laws (Article 6).
• Common problems: operating before the licence is issued, letting it expire without renewal, and carrying on a different activity from the one licensed.

Procedures and key deadlines

• Committees in municipalities hear objections to refusal, suspension, non-renewal or cancellation of a licence, objections to municipal fines and penalties, and complaints about harm from licensed activities (Article 13).

An advisory summary prepared by Al-Bayan Al-Wadih Law Firm. It is not an official text and does not replace the law, its implementing regulations, or advice from a specialised lawyer. The official published text and its amendments prevail.