MC

The National Program for Combating the Commercial Concealment announces that restaurants and cafes are obligated to provide e-payment systems starting today, Tuesday. This comes within the implementation of the fifth stage of the initiative that obliges the retail stores and outlets to provide e-payment systems, in order to enable the consumers to use such systems at all shops and outlets, so that to reduce cash payment.

The said program continues to implement the stages of obliging the commercial establishments to provide e-payment systems. The stages of this program have just covered 50 commercial activities, including 70% of the retail sector, provided that the remaining 30% of all retail activities to be obliged on Muharram 6, 1442 AH, corresponding to August 25, 2020 AD, in cooperation and coordination with the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Municipal and rural Affairs and SAMA.

The previous stages included obliging gas stations and their relevant services, the second stage auto workshops, spare part shops and related activities, the third stage included personal service activities, such as clothes and carpets laundries, men's and women's barber’s shops, while the fourth stage included groceries and food supplies.

The fifth stage, starting today, includes restaurants, those preparing for parties, fast food, seafood, public and special cafes, buffets, cafeterias, mobile food trucks, juice and ice cream shops.

The National Program for Combating the Commercial Concealment explains and defines the roles of the authorities involved in the application of these procedures, and it does set up the necessary mechanisms for controlling cash payment and tracking its sources and methods of spending at all selling outlets, thus contributing to the transformation from cash payment to e-payment system.

The Ministry of Commerce will play its role in monitoring the provision and use of e-payment systems at all selling outlets. MC will receive and respond to all consumers’ complaints and reports in the event that this service is not available, or refraining from using it. Meanwhile, stern measures and legal penalties will be imposed on the establishments not committed to these regulations.

This reflects the implementation of the recommendations approved by the noble royal decree relevant to combating the commercial concealment, also this would unify the efforts among various governmental sectors, and this would reflect the importance of forming the national program for combating the commercial cover-up, whose main objective is to regulate the financial transactions, so that to limit the transfer of funds illegally, based on the commercial cover-up.

It is worth mentioning that the authorities participating in this initiative of the National Program for Combating the Commercial Concealment work together to unify efforts and to have joint coordination to implement the recommendations of this program, where each party undertakes the implementation of the assigned tasks, according to mechanisms that would achieve the goals of the program, besides monitoring and measuring the performance of each party during a specific time period covering all stages.