Skip to content

Service path

Commercial Registration

The commercial registration is the official entry issued by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce that gives an activity its legal standing in the Kingdom of Bahrain. It passes through three stages: issue at formation, management throughout the life of the company through amendments and renewals, and closure through liquidation when trading stops. Top Delmon manages all three stages.

Last updated:

Formation and starting out

Company formation

Issuing a new commercial registration entry in a company name, then obtaining the licence, setting the address and clearing the approvals of the competent authorities.

For: Anyone starting a new activity with one or more partners, or a foreign investor entering the Bahraini market.

Details

Sole establishment

Issuing a commercial registration in the name of one person, available to Bahraini nationals and resident GCC nationals.

For: Anyone starting out alone who wants the simplest legal form.

Details

Virtual CR (Sijili)

A commercial registration that needs no commercial address, available for specific activities only.

For: Anyone whose activity needs no business premises and who wants to keep start-up costs down.

Details

Managing a live registration

Amending a commercial registration

Adding or removing an activity, changing the name or address, amending the capital, changing partners or authorised signatories, and transferring ownership.

For: An existing company updating its registered details.

Details

Renewing a commercial registration

Renewing the registration entry, the activity and Chamber of Commerce membership, and reactivating a suspended registration.

For: Every live registration, on a regular cycle.

Details

Clearing violations

Lifting violations recorded against the registration, which block every transaction until they are cleared.

For: Anyone whose transaction has stalled, or who has found a violation recorded against their registration.

Details

Liquidation and cancellation

Closing the registration officially with all its branches, or converting a suspended registration into a cancelled one.

For: Anyone who has decided to stop trading for good.

Details

The difference between the three forms

ItemCompanySole establishmentVirtual CR (Sijili)
OwnersOne person or moreOne person onlyOne person
NationalitiesDepends on the activityBahraini or resident GCC nationalBahraini nationals only
Commercial addressRequiredRequiredRequiredNot required
Legal liabilityTied to the ownerSeparate from the ownersTied to the ownerTied to the owner
Incorporation contract and capitalNot requiredRequiredNot requiredNot required

Every commercial activity carries its own conditions: the nationalities allowed to own it, the legal form available to it, and the authorities required to license it. The activity is reviewed before any procedure begins, so the correct form is set from the start.

Common questions

The entry registers the company itself, while the licence is the permission to carry on the activity in practice. The entry is issued first without a licence, and the licence follows once the address is set and the approvals of the competent authorities are in place.

No. Changing the trade name does not affect the registration number.

Yes. Reactivation is possible for up to three years from the suspension date.

Yes. Changing the type of entity is available in both directions, from a sole establishment to a company and from a company to a sole establishment.

No. A licensed professional office is authorised by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to file on behalf of its client through its own account, with no formal power of attorney required.

Contact us

Send us the activity and the nationality of the owners, and we will set the correct legal form and the steps required.

WhatsApp us