Saudi Cabinet Opens Business at 15—On Its Terms

Saudi Arabia’s Cabinet, chaired by Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, approved a commercial transactions law that allows citizens aged 15 and older to engage in business under specific conditions. The announcement names the opening, but not those conditions. Young people’s entry into commerce will follow rules set by the state’s legal apparatus.

The 271-article law brings rules for commercial sales, supply contracts, brokerage and commercial agency agreements into one framework. The Ministry of Commerce says it covers merchants, business establishments, traders’ obligations, accounting records, contracts and negotiable instruments, including bills of exchange, promissory notes and checks. It replaces the Commercial Law, the Negotiable Instruments Law and the Commercial Books Law.

Access, With Conditions

Commerce Minister Majid Al-Qasabi said the legislation complements the Civil Transactions Law and forms part of efforts to stimulate commerce and investment. The law also aims to give small and medium-sized enterprises greater legal protection and help them expand through contracts and agency arrangements. Those are stated goals. As economic and investment specialist Tahani bint Abdullah AlKhayyal put it, the practical test is whether the law makes doing business easier and strengthens legal protections.

The legislation seeks to promote fair competition and curb practices harmful to competitors. Businesses affected by such conduct can ask courts to stop it and award compensation. Commercial actors must turn to the courts for relief, while the law defines which conduct and records fall within its framework.

Some categories of merchants don’t have to keep accounting records, though the Ministry’s account doesn’t identify them. Records may be kept electronically or on paper in Arabic, with another language also allowed. Legal consultant and professor of commercial law Osama bin Ghanem Al-Obaidi said electronic documents would carry the same evidentiary standing as original paper documents.

One Framework, Many Promises

The ministry says consolidating rules previously spread across separate laws will clarify commercial rights and obligations, make outcomes more predictable and reduce disputes. It also says the law will improve business confidence and make commercial operations more efficient. The law takes effect 180 days after publication in the Official Gazette; the announcement didn’t state the publication date.

Al-Obaidi called the Cabinet decision “a significant step in modernizing Saudi Arabia’s economic legislation.” He said a single, accessible legal reference could make commercial rules easier to understand and apply, clarify contracts, unify commercial registration rules and regulate negotiable instruments. He also described the law as a way to attract domestic and foreign investment by reducing commercial risks through clearer rules, rights and obligations.

“There is no doubt that the law will strengthen the investment environment and the competitiveness of the Saudi economy,” Al-Obaidi said. His forecast, like the ministry’s claims about efficiency, remains a promise attached to a law whose conditions and implementation will determine who can use its protections.

AlKhayyal said clearer rules could help businesses understand obligations, avoid disputes and anticipate legal outcomes. She argued that small and medium-sized enterprises play a key role in diversifying the economy, creating jobs and driving innovation, and that clearer rules could help them organize operations, protect rights and compete. She also said digital services and legal-awareness initiatives could make compliance easier and reduce procedural burdens.

The Cabinet’s stated aim is broader economic participation and a stronger private sector under Vision 2030. But young entrepreneurs’ access is expressly conditional. The reform places commercial activity inside a detailed system of contracts, records, courts and official rules. Its reach will depend on how those rules work in practice.