Visit The Syria Report Subscribe to our mailing list
EN ع
  • Twitter
Syria Report
  • All articles
  • News
  • Analysis & Features
  • Reports & Papers
  • Regulations
  • Directory
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
Home1 / administrative_license2

Posts

Explained: Residential Properties and Commercial Records for Intellectual Professions

29-11-2022/in Analysis & Features, HLP /by Rand Shamaa

The Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection, the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment, and the Union of Syrian Chambers of Commerce are currently working to issue a circular targeted at people working from home. The circular is meant to assist them in obtaining commercial registration based on their home’s location without converting their home’s legal status from residential to commercial. 

However, the issue appears complex and demands a great deal of coordination to address several intersecting problems. 

In early November, the director of companies at the Ministry of Internal Trade told the semi-official newspaper Al-Watan that the Union of Syrian Chambers of Commerce would define what comprises “intellectual professions.” The Ministry of Local Administration will grant administrative licences for housing units being used by such professionals, while the Ministry of Internal Trade will grant commercial registrations. 

Intellectual professions

It is not completely clear what the various ministries mean by “intellectual professions.” Official media outlets gave examples like graphic design and journalism but excluded others, such as electronic marketing because it was previously subject to specific licensing requirements. The director of companies told Al-Watan that the soon-to-be-issued circular would include a list of the various intellectual professions needing a licence. 

Administrative licence 

The Directorate of Companies gives “an administrative licence to practise a profession,” a precondition for starting work in any commercial or industrial profession. The essential requirements for obtaining the licence include: providing a commercial register, ownership, or lease document for a commercial real estate property and already having another administrative licence from the administrative unit where the commercial real estate is located. In turn, the administrative licence from the local administrative unit also requires a commercial register.

Commercial register

Under Trade Law No. 33 of 2007, a commercial register is a tool for making a company known. It allows the public to obtain information about that company. It is granted by the Ministry of Internal Trade’s commercial registry secretariat if the applicant has a set of documents, most importantly, ownership or commercial real estate lease contracts.  

The Minister of Internal Trade issued two official letters in late September 2021 requesting that the Union of Syrian Chambers of Commerce and the Ministry of Local Administration ease requirements for granting commercial registers to people conducting intellectual professions from their homes. However, until today no commercial registers have been granted without commercial properties. 

Commercial properties and residential properties

Commercial real estate is any non-residential real estate used or intended for commercial, professional, industrial, or scientific use, whether or not the property is invested and complete.  

The Damasus Governorate Council issued Decision No. 62 in March 2005, allowing residential properties to be used for practising intellectual professions, so long as this usage doesn’t lead to the property changing from residential to commercial. The decision was never implemented. 

According to the director of companies, the new circular will also include conditions that these residential properties not be converted to commercial ones. One of those conditions is that no partners or employees of the professional should be in the home and that the commercial register should not be exploited to practise commerce. 

The circular will not be made compulsory, he added. However, people working in intellectual professions may be liable for fines should there be any complaints against them related to working from home. 

https://hlp.syria-report.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Logo-300x81.png 0 0 Rand Shamaa https://hlp.syria-report.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Logo-300x81.png Rand Shamaa2022-11-29 19:18:062022-11-30 12:17:24Explained: Residential Properties and Commercial Records for Intellectual Professions

Read also

  • Explained: Limitation of Real Estate Disposal
  • Explained: How the General Directorate of Cadastral Affairs Stores Documents
  • Explained: General Directorate of Cadastral Affairs
  • Explained: Law No. 33 and Documenting Real Estate Ownership in Informal settlements
HelpAbout usContact usAdvertise with The Syria ReportTerms & conditions
Copyright © 2022 The Syria Report – all rights reserved. Your use of this website is subject to our legal terms & conditions
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Ok

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.