Legal
agreements
Most
agreements take the form of a master franchise or license holder. These deals
are often done on the basis of covering the entire Kingdom. However, some international
brands have settled on agreements which regionalize the Kingdom into East, West
and Central, thus dealing with 3 major parties rather than one. Another trend
is to conclude a deal with prominent local parties with the objective of covering
the whole Gulf rather than just Saudi. It
is important to note that both the brand and the franchise agreement need to be
registered. Brand registration is an approximate 120 day exercise from the day
of publication in the Government Gazette. The period leading up to publication
depends on the quality of legal firm selected. The agreement registration follows
a route from the Saudi Embassy in the brand's country of origin to the Ministry
of Commerce in the Kingdom. Potential brands wishing to enter the market would
be well advised to judge potential local parties on their ability to assist with
and progress these procedures. | 
