• In applying the provisions of this Law, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings indicated next to each, unless the context of the text requires otherwise:

• 1- Supreme Council: The Supreme Council of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.

• 2- Member States of the Council: The member states of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.

• 3- Ministerial Committee for Industry: The committee specialized in industrial affairs.

• 4- Law (Statute): The Unified Industrial Regulation Law of the GCC countries.

• 5- Regulation: The Implementing Regulation of the Law (Statute).

• 6- Competent Authority: The ministry, authority, or entity concerned with industrial affairs in any of the Council states.

• 7- Head of the Competent Authority: The minister, head of the authority, or entity concerned with industrial affairs.

• 8- Administration: The administration concerned with industrial affairs in the competent authority.

• 9- Industrial Project: Any economic activity whose primary purpose is the complete or partial manufacturing of products by transforming raw primary materials or materials that have undergone previous transformations into finished, semi-finished, or intermediate products, or by converting semi-finished or intermediate products into finished products, including blending, separation, shaping, reshaping, assembly, packing, and packaging operations, provided that most or some of these processes are performed using machinery. It also includes knowledge-based industries and environmental industries.

• 10- Industrial Establishment: Any site where a licensed industrial project is conducted.

• 11- Knowledge-based Industries: Industrial projects that rely on intensive use of technology, intellectual property, skills, and technical expertise based on research, development, and innovation, applicable in production processes aimed at improving products, productivity, manufacturing processes, business models, and producing new products.

• 12- Environmental Industries: Industrial projects that rely on environmental management technologies, waste treatment, recycling, pollution control, enhancing resource efficiency, and reducing emissions to promote clean production and sustainable development.

• 13- Preliminary Approval: The competent authority's non-objection to completing the procedures and requirements related to issuing the industrial license.

• 14- Industrial License: A certificate granted by the competent authority allowing the holder to commence the establishment, implementation, and operation of the industrial project in the specified field.

• 15- Industrial Register: The register in which industrial projects holding an industrial license and that have commenced production are recorded.

• 16- Project Owner: Any natural or legal person holding an industrial license in any of the Council states.

• The provisions of this Law shall apply to every industrial project in the Council countries except for the following:

• 1 - Projects specified by the Regulation.

• 2 - Projects governed by international treaties or agreements.

• 3 - Projects governed by special provisions of each Council country.

• This law aims to achieve the following:

• 1 - Regulating the industrial sector, promoting industrial development, encouraging industrial investment, increasing the industrial sector's contribution to the national income, expanding industrial interlinkages, and integrating economic activities among the Council countries.

• 2 - Implementing the economic policies of the Council countries towards manufacturing, and contributing to meeting the requirements of economic development plans and programs.

• 3 - Supporting cooperation, integration, and coordination among the Council countries in matters related to industry.

• 4 - Stimulating innovation, adopting advanced technology, and localizing it in the Council countries to advance the industrial sector and enhance its competitiveness.

• 5 - Enhancing policies related to qualified national workforce in the industrial sector in accordance with the laws followed in the Council countries.

• 6 - Encouraging the digital transformation of industrial projects in the Council countries and motivating them to modernize and develop manufacturing technologies, keep pace with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and use its advanced technologies, including knowledge industries and environmental industries.

• 7 - Encouraging the use of energy-efficient machinery and equipment in manufacturing processes.

• 8 - Complying with security, health, safety, and environmental protection standards in accordance with the laws followed in the Council countries.

• 9 - Adhering to public order, customs, and traditions prevailing in the Council countries.

It is not permitted to establish an industrial project, or to change its production, expand it, develop it, merge it with others, divide it, change its location, or dispose of it wholly or partially except based on an industrial license issued in accordance with the provisions of this law..

1 - The applicant for the industrial license must obtain the preliminary approval for the industrial project from the administration, in accordance with what is specified by the regulation, and the preliminary approval shall be valid for one year, renewable as deemed appropriate by the competent authority.

2 - The application for the industrial license shall be submitted to the administration on the designated forms, complete with all required data, documents, and studies as specified by the regulation. If the administration deems it necessary to obtain any additional information, the applicant must be notified accordingly. If such information is not provided within one week from the date of notification, the application shall be considered null and void.

3 - The administration shall decide on the application within a maximum period of thirty days from the date of its complete submission, and shall notify the applicant of the response within no more than seven days from the issuance of the decision. If the decision is to reject the application, it must be justified. The lapse of the decision period on a complete application without a response shall be considered an implicit rejection. Anyone whose application is explicitly or implicitly rejected may appeal the decision in accordance with the provisions of Article Twenty-Two of this Law.

4 - The administration shall issue the industrial license according to the unified form attached to the regulation, and the license shall specify the time period designated for the commencement of production.

The competent authority may cancel the preliminary approval or the industrial license in any of the following cases:

1- At the request of the project owner.

2- Suspension or failure to complete the procedures and requirements for issuing the industrial license.

3- Failure to implement the industrial project or stopping its completion within the specified period for starting production.

4- If it is proven that the industrial license was obtained based on incorrect data.

5- Failure to implement the industrial project according to the information on which the license was granted.

6- If the competent authority proves that the industrial project does not meet the conditions and standards on which the industrial license was granted.

7- If the industrial project stops production for more than one year without obtaining the approval of the competent authority.

• The project owner is obligated to the following:

• 1- Commence and continue the industrial project activities for which the benefits and exemptions were granted in accordance with the specified conditions.

• 2- Not to waive or transfer the benefits and exemptions in any way to another person without obtaining prior approval from the competent authority.

• 3- Provide the data requested by the competent authority about the industrial project in full.

• 4- Use the production supplies subject to customs exemption for the purposes for which they were exempted throughout the duration of the licensed industrial project, and maintain a record for these supplies.

• 5- Notify the administration within thirty days from the date the industrial project ceases operations wholly or partially, stating the reasons for that..

• 6- Specify the registration certificate in the industrial register.

• 7- Annually submit to the administration the information specified by the regulation, according to the prepared forms.

• 8- Commit to ensuring that the industrial project’s products comply with the approved national or Gulf standard specifications, and exert all possible efforts to apply the specifications used in global markets.