Scientific and Technical Office License in Saudi Arabia

Introduction: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia seeks to attract foreign investment by creating numerous opportunities and facilities for investors, with the aim of economic expansion and strengthening the Kingdom's economic infrastructure. Among these facilities is facilitating the issuance of licenses for scientific and technical offices for foreign investors who have agents, distributors, and consumers of foreign companies' products within the Kingdom. We will discuss this topic in detail below:

Scientific and Technical Office Licenses and Their Types
Scientific and technical office licenses are issued by the relevant authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This service is provided to foreign companies that have a Saudi agent or authorized distributor in the Kingdom and wish to open an office that provides scientific and technical services to agents, distributors, and consumers of the company's products.

Types of Scientific and Technical Offices:
Includes licensing for offices operating in the following fields:

Software and electronic systems development
Research, engineering, design, and innovation
The authority responsible for issuing scientific and technical office licenses is the Saudi Food and Drug Authority.

Documents for Obtaining Scientific and Technical Office Licenses in Saudi Arabia
Documents required for obtaining scientific and technical office licenses:

A copy of the participating establishment's commercial registration, certified by the Saudi Embassy.
A copy of the authorized power of attorney for the Saudi agent or distributor.
Scientific and technical office licenses are applied for through the website - the e-services portal, and the service is completed within a maximum of two business days.

Requirements for Obtaining a License
Requirements for Obtaining Scientific and Technical Office Licenses:

The office may conduct a market study for the company's type of activity and prepare reports on this study for the headquarters. The office shall submit an annual summary of its activities to the Ministry of Investment.
The office is prohibited from executing any contracts or engaging in commercial or investment activities in the Kingdom, directly or indirectly. It is also prohibited from charging any fees for training Saudi technicians.

The Financial Fee for Obtaining Scientific and Technical Office Licenses for an Establishment
The financial fee for issuing a license is 2,000 Saudi Riyals per year, up to a maximum of five years.
The fee for the first year of subscription to services provided by the Ministry of Investment's Investor Relations Centers is SAR 10,000. Subsequently, the fee for service subscriptions is SAR 60,000 per year. The payment period for the service fee is 60 days from the invoice date. If payment is not made within this period, the service will be deemed void and the user must reapply.