H EDr Mahad bin Said bin AliBa’owain, Minister of Labour (MoL) , has issued Ministerial Decision No 8/2021 to Omanise some professions in the private sector.

Article 1 of the decision limited the practice of all the following professions and activities in private sector establishments to Omanis – 

• Financial and administrative professions in insurance companies and companies operating in insurance brokerage activities.
• The professions of selling, accounting, money exchange, administration and arranging goods in shops operating in malls. 
• Account auditing professions in auto agencies.
• All sales professions dealing in new and used vehicles.
• All accounting professions in the activities of selling new and used vehicles in car agencies.
• The activity of selling spare parts for new vehicles belonging to auto agencies.

The decision states that expatriate workforce licences and work practice licences issued for the professions and activities specified in Article 1 will be valid until their expiry date.

The decision was issued on January 20 and will come into effect six months after the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

Decision to regulate the profession of driving

H EDr Ba’owain has also issued Ministerial Decision No 9/2021 that regulates the profession of driving.

The decision states that practising the profession of driving vehicles – of whatever type – should be for Omanis which include – 

1- Transportation of fuel 

2- Transportation of agricultural materials 

3- Transportation of foodstuffs

It is permissible to authorise the recruitment of a non-Omani workforce for one of the activities stipulated in Clauses 2 and 3 of this article as a distributor of goods for small and medium enterprises owned by Omani employers full-time, which is registered with the Authority of Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Riyada), and insured at the Public Authority for Social Insurance (PASI), provided that the vehicle is commercial and registered in the name of the institution.

The decision was issued on January 20 and will come into force six months following the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.