Amman Chamber of Commerce Postpones Shop Closing Hours Implementation to Early 2025

Amman, October 24 (Petra) — The Amman Chamber of Commerce has announced the postponement of the implementation date for the closure of shops in several commercial sectors, initially planned to take effect on November 1, to the first quarter of 2025.

Following a meeting held at the Chamber’s headquarters, Chamber President Khalil Haj Tawfiq stated that discussions took place between the Board of Directors of the Amman Chamber of Commerce, representatives from the Jordan Chamber of Commerce, and union and employers’ association heads. The meeting focused on reviewing developments related to determining shop closing hours for specific sectors.

Haj Tawfiq noted that the Chamber reached an agreement with the Greater Amman Municipality through their joint committee to delay the implementation until new regulations are finalized. This process, which will take approximately two months, includes a survey of merchants in the affected sectors to gauge satisfaction levels and identify the most preferred closing times.

The Chamber recently submitted a new proposal offering multiple closing times to accommodate the varying preferences across sectors, with proposals ranging from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The decision to postpone also aims to give the Chamber time to consider requests from additional sectors that have expressed interest in being included in the unified closing hours. An electronic opinion poll and a field survey will be conducted to gather feedback from these sectors.

Haj Tawfiq stressed that the new regulations, which will be developed in partnership with the Greater Amman Municipality, the Chamber, and sector representatives, will be flexible and aim to ensure compliance without burdening businesses with fines or additional taxes. The final draft of the regulations will be reviewed by the legal committee before being implemented.