A commercial establishment looking to conduct a promotional offer in Oman must be aware of and comply with the provisions and terms set out in Ministerial Decision 239/2013 (the “Regulations”), the key aspects of which are set out herein.
Do you need a licence to conduct a promotional offer?
By Article 3 of the Regulations, a commercial establishment must obtain a licence from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (the “MOCI”) prior to undertaking or advertising any promotional offer. It is important to note that a licence shall only be granted to an Omani entity or a registered agent or distributor in Oman. Further, a licence application must be submitted to the MOCI at least fifteen days prior to the start of the promotional offer and must be supplemented with the following details:
- type of offer and way of running the promotion;
- periods and places in which the promotion will be run;
- a list detailing the number and type of prizes and gifts to be given to the winners; and
- date and place for raffle and mechanism of selection of the winner.
The MOCI is the responsible authority for review and approval of any such licence application. On the basis that approval is granted, the period of the promotional offer shall be a maximum of two months. However, it is within the MOCI’s discretion to grant one licence which runs for two concurrent periods, equating to four months. As Article 6 of the Regulations limits the amount of times any given promotional offer may run to four times a year, and the period for each promotional offer is two months, the maximum time in which the promotion can run is eight months per annum. If the MOCI grants a licence for an initial period of four months (i.e., two concurrent periods), the licence may be renewed for a further two months and then a further two months period after that.
Requirements on the licencee: how to effectively conduct a promotional offer?
To comply with the Regulations, a promotional offer must be displayed in a conspicuous location within the shop(s) in which the offer is being conducted, whereas only a copy of the licence needs to be displayed in each of the locations for the period of the promotional offer.
It is a requirement on the licencee to notify the MOCI of the names and addresses of the winners of any promotional offer in Oman. Additionally, the names of the winners should also be published in two daily newspapers, one of which must be in Arabic. A winner of a promotion has a period of three months from the date of newspaper publication to claim their prize, and any Oman-based winner seeking to claim their prize after the date in which three months has elapsed shall forfeit their rights to the prize. Any unclaimed prizes of Oman-based winners should be reallocated to charitable associations under the supervision of the MOCI.
In an effort to protect the interests of consumers, in addition to the Regulations, the Consumer Protection Law promulgated by Royal Decree 66/2014 (the “CPL”) and its implementing regulations by Ministerial Decision 77/2017 (the “Implementing Regulations”) (collectively the “Relevant Legislation”) provide for strict rules on commercial enterprises. By way of example, under the CPL suppliers must provide their customers with correct and true information. Suppliers are also not permitted to engage in false or misleading advertising activities by virtue of Article 20 of the CPL. When making a promotional offer, other key requirements for a commercial establishment to be aware of and comply with include as follows:
- coordinating with the Public Authority for Consumer Protection in addition to the MOCI;
- providing a statement setting out the manner of running the promotional offer; and
- providing a description of prizes, gifts and other benefits of any given promotional offer.
When conducting promotional offers in Oman it is recommended to consider all provisions and terms of the Relevant Legislation. Non-compliance with the provisions of the Regulations may see a violator prohibited from conducting promotional offers for up to one year and, more serious still, under the CPL a supplier which fails to provide its customers with correct and true information could face imprisonment of between ten days to one year and/or a fine. Any supplier which engages in false or misleading advertising activities could face imprisonment of between three months to three years and/or a fine as stipulated by the CPL.
