Muscat – His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik issued Royal decree No 57/2026 on Monday concerning the postal sector, reading as follows:

Article 1 stipulates that all allocations, origins, rights, obligations and assets related to the postal sector shall be transferred from the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority to the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology.

Article 2 states that employees of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority specialised in the postal sector shall be transferred to the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, along with their financial grades. This shall be enforced in accordance with the mechanism to be agreed by the Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology and the Chief Executive Officer of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.

Article 3 says that the authority to regulate and license courier and last mile delivery services provided through digital platforms (delivery applications) is hereby shall be vested in the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology.

Article 4 stipulates that the term ‘Authority’ shall be replaced by the term ‘Ministry’, the phrase ‘Chairman of the Board’ shall be replaced by the term ‘Minister’, the phrase ‘Telecommunications Regulatory Authority’ shall be replaced by the phrase ‘Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology’, and the phrases ‘Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority’ and ‘Chief Executive Officer of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority’ shall be replaced by the phrase ‘Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology’, wherever such terms appear in the Royal Decree No 71/2012 concerning the Postal Service Regulatory Law and in the relevant laws and royal decrees.

Article 5 says that this decree shall be published in the Official Gazette and enforced from its date of issue.