The Board of Directors of the General Investment Authority approved the deletion of paragraph (3) of Article 8 of the Executive Regulations of the Foreign Investment Law issued on 12/5/1435 AH, which previously stated: “New license applications from companies seeking to engage in the same activity shall be treated as an expansion of an existing project,” This is part of a new series of measures recently taken by the Authority to facilitate all necessary avenues for the growth and prosperity of international companies seeking to expand and develop their investments in the Kingdom.
According to ”SPA,” a statement issued by the Authority yesterday explained that the Board of Directors approved the repeal of that clause based on the Authority’s review of the content and purpose of such a clause, and in light of feedback received from companies wishing to expand their investments in the Kingdom by granting them greater flexibility andfacilities in this regard, as well as within the framework of the general trend toward providing more incentives, services, and facilities to improve the investment environment and to attract and localize investments that add value to the Saudi economy.
Dr. Ayed Al-Otaibi, Director of the Investment Systems and Procedures Development Department at the Authority, said: This amendment will provide investment companies with more options and comes within the framework of the periodic and ongoing review aimed at enhancing the level of services provided to investors and bringing about further improvement and development in investment procedures in general, and to provide further incentives and encouragement to attract and localize high-quality investments that add value to the Saudi economy.
Al-Otaibi added that, after reviewing this paragraph, the General Investment Authority found that its retention in the regulations is inconsistent with the Authority’s primary role, which is to regulate and attract investments to the Kingdom without interfering in the private contractual relationships between companies engaged in investmentin the Kingdom, expecting these amendments to take effect in the coming days, i.e., after their publication in the Official Gazette in accordance with the procedures followed in this regard.
