Loading…
Loading…
Royal Decree 27/2026 converts the GCC-level Common Industrial Regulatory Law — a multilateral instrument adopted by the GCC Supreme Council — into binding Omani national statute, superseding the previous national implementing instrument (RD 61/2008 was the original GCC enactment; this decree is the updated national-law transposition). The law imposes a prior-licensing requirement on all industrial projects in Oman: any new facility, or any existing facility undergoing material modification in capacity, location, activity, or ownership, must obtain an industrial licence before commencing operations.
The scope is broader than the predecessor text. In addition to conventional manufacturing (physical transformation of raw materials into products), the law explicitly encompasses:
The exceptions are narrow: projects governed by international treaties and projects subject to explicit special national-law provisions are carved out. This structure mirrors the GCC Common Customs Law architecture (implemented simultaneously via RD 28/2026) — a binding common standard with narrow treaty-based exemptions.
The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion (MOCI) is the administering authority for industrial licensing in Oman under the law.
This decree is Oman's contribution to the GCC-wide effort to converge industrial regulation across the six member states. The underlying common law architecture originated at the GCC Supreme Council level; each member state issues its own royal decree transposing it into national law. The practical effect is that an industrial licence holder in Oman operates under substantially the same regulatory framework as counterparts in the UAE, KSA, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait — reducing intra-GCC compliance friction for manufacturers operating multi-site production across the Gulf.
For foreign investors and multinationals building Gulf manufacturing capacity, the common licensing framework reduces the regulatory-due-diligence divergence between GCC locations. This is materially relevant for the battery-materials and green-hydrogen supply chains growing in the Oman SEZ/FZ ecosystem (Salalah FZ LFP plant, Hydrom Duqm green-ammonia), which increasingly compete with UAE and KSA industrial-zone offerings.
Three Royal Decrees were issued simultaneously on 11 February 2026:
Together with the substantive SEZ/FZ Law (RD 38/2025, filed), these four instruments constitute a comprehensive restating of Oman's industrial and investment-zone regulatory architecture in 2025-2026. RD 27/2026 provides the horizontal licensing framework; RD 38/2025 and RD 39/2026 provide the special-zone substantive law and institutional governance respectively.