The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has issued Ministerial Decision 184 of 2026, adding seven commercial activities to the list a business can be registered under. The categories sit inside the GCC’s unified classification of economic activities, and the decision took effect on the day it was issued, 17 September 2026.
Six of them are on the water
- Selling and delivering consumer orders by sea.
- Water taxi.
- Floating leisure operations.
- Displaying advertising in marine areas.
- Floating repair and maintenance services.
- Marine exercise and training.
All six fall under the Ministry of Interior through the Coastguard Directorate General. A commercial registration on its own does not let you operate them.
The seventh
Manufacturing motorised retractable shading systems from aluminium and tensioned fabric, filed under the plastics and metals industries and overseen by the Public Authority for Industry.
Who this is for
If you have been running a boat or an on-water service with no classification that matches what you actually do, there is now a heading to register under. In practice it is two steps: register the activity with Commerce, then clear the supervising body — the Coastguard for the six marine categories, the Public Authority for Industry for the shading one.
Photo: fishing boats moored at the shore. By radiant guy, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr.
Source: Al-Qabas, 22 September 2026.
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