Scope of License
On becoming a member of the Made in Saudi Program, members will be automatically granted a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sub-licensable except where expressly permitted by owner of this Certification Trademark, royalty-free License to use the Certification Trademark for the permitted purpose in a manner and form as per Brand guidelines, in accordance with these by-laws until duration of Made in Saudi membership. A licensee shall use the Certification Trademark in relation to products that are identified on its list of products that qualify the test of value added requirements. This license does not extend to the products that do not meet value added requirements of Made in Saudi program.
Obligations of Licensee
Becoming a licensee of Certification Trademark brings range of obligations, as detailed below. These obligations include following:
a. The Licensee, except for the limited rights granted do not have any other right whatsoever to claim ownership and/or use Certification Trademark for any other purposes, imitate, adopt it in different variations, modify in any manner and form, and/or attempt to register it in any jurisdiction outside the Kingdom.
b. The Certification Trademark shall be used strictly in a form as provided in Brand guidelines.
c. The Certification Trademark shall not be used on any products that do not qualify the definition of Saudi products and the value added requirements as detailed in this document.
d. The members of Made in Saudi program and hence licensees of this Certification Trademark shall comply with all the laws of the Kingdom applicable to it and shall not involve in any acts or practices that may damage the reputation of the Certification Trademark either locally or in other countries.
e. The Licensee shall immediately inform the owner of Certification Trademark if its qualification as a member or the value added threshold in its product is changed.
f. This License shall not entitle the Licensee to transfer or assign, entirely or partially, in any way any part of its rights or obligations in the license.
g. The licensee has only limited rights and do not grant any right whatsoever to claim ownership and/or use Certification Trademark for any other purposes, imitate, adopt the trademark in different variations, modify in any manner and form, and/or attempt to register it in any jurisdiction whether in or outside the Kingdom.
h. The Licensee shall remain bound to use the Trademark in the form stipulated by the Licensor from time to time and shall observe any reasonable direction given by the Licensor as to the representation of the Trademark and their manner and disposition on the services or products.
i. The Licensee shall be responsible for ensuring that as required under the applicable laws of Kingdom or other countries relating to labelling, advertising, marketing, and other such compliance related matters.
j. The Licensee shall keep record and information in relation to use of Certification Trademark on its products for purpose of monitoring.
k. The Licensee shall also keep record of any complaints received over use of Certification Trademark on its products and shall provide details of such complaints to the Licensor.
l. The licensee shall ensure that it has established procedure to meet its obligations and that its employees, distributors, agents, are aware the terms of the use of Certification Trademark.
m. Every licensee is obliged to use the Certification Trademark in relation to qualified products during its membership period in Made in Saudi program and shall immediately stop using the trademark upon termination of membership in Made in Saudi program.
n. The Licensee shall be obliged to provide a product list to the Licensor that it wishes to promote with the Certification Trademark. As long as the products qualifies as Saudi products within scheme of Made in Saudi program and as also explained in this document, members will be authorized to promote it with Certification Trademark.
o. The Licensee shall give to the Licensor prompt written notice, as soon as it becomes aware of infringement of Certification Trademark or of any claim (including the institution of legal proceeding) made against the Licensee by a third party, arising out of or based upon the Licensee’s use of the Certification Trademark.
p. The Licensee shall not use and/or apply for the registration of the Certification Trademark and any other Trademark which is confusingly and/or deceptively similar or identical to Certification Trademark, and/or apply for registration of any Domain Name which is similar to Certification Trademark, except with the prior written permission of the licensor.
Duration of the Made in Saudi Program Membership and License
Membership to the Made in Saudi program can be maintained as long as members remain eligible for membership under relevant rules. Saudi Exports reserves the right to cancel the membership if there is change of status in eligibility of member in accordance with the scheme of Made in Saudi program or for non-compliance with the Made in Saudi program terms and conditions or violation of these by-laws. As long as an entity remains a member of Made in Saudi program, it will be considered as a licensee. The requirements of maintaining registration of Certification Trademark and other formalities under the GCC Trademark Law and its implementing regulations will be complied by the owner of Certification Trademark.
Consumer Complaint Management
The license shall have in place mechanism to address queries and complaints from Consumers in transparent, efficient, and timely manner. Made in Saudi program considers consumers as a key stakeholders and consumer has right to remain satisfied that they are buying or consuming the Certification Trademark branded products with the quality, nature, or characteristics as they would reasonably expect with the use of Certification Trademark.
Monitoring and Evaluation of Compliance
a. The reputation of the Certification Trademark is of high concern to the licensor and there will not no tolerance in relation to compliance with the by-laws.
b. In compliance with the laws of the Kingdom, the licensor is required to undertake monitoring of the compliance of licensees with the by-laws. For this reason, an ongoing Auditing Program will be run during lifetime of this program.
c. The Audit will be conducted by the Licensor including specialists in the relevant sectors and licensee will be obliged to cooperate with the licensor in relation to the provision of documentary records.
d. The licensor will be authorized to conduct Audit anytime with or without providing written notice to the licensee on its premises. In the event of complaints from the consumers, the cost of Audit will be borne by the licensee.
e. The Auditors will disclose its identity to the Licensee and request for a dedicated focal person during Audit process.
f. Depending on requirements of Audit and complexity of details involved, the Audit team acting to the best of professional capacity and neutrality will prepare a written Compliance Report and submit it to the licensor. For purpose of transparency, such Compliance Report will be shared with the Licensee for submission of comments or objections within 10 working days, which shall be responded by the licensee within 20 working days of receipt.
Dispute Resolution
a. In case of adverse decision based on Compliance Report, the licensee shall be provided opportunity to file departmental appeal with the competent authority of licensee. Upon such request from Licensee, the licensor shall provide details of competent authority to the licensee.
b. The competent authority shall provide full opportunity to the licensee to clarify its position and in its sole discretion, at cost of licensee, may also appoint independent Auditor having required specialty on points of dispute to provide Independent Compliance Report.
c. The licensee shall also have right to make objection on the impartiality or expertise of the nominated independent Auditor and may propose a list of potential Auditors.
d. Taking into consideration the submission from licensee, decision of competent authority shall be final in this regard.
e. Depending on the complexity of the issues framed, the competent authority may provide reasonable time frame to the Independent Auditor for preparation of Compliance Report.
f. Based on all submissions, the competent authority shall take appropriate decision or further instructions to licensee in interest of maintaining the reputation of the Made in Saudi program.
Termination of License
The license will be terminated in the following events:
a. A member no more remains a member of Made in Saudi program for any reason.
b. Termination by the Licensor for non-compliance with by-laws and rules of Made in Saudi program.
c. Member failure to comply with value added requirement and upon providing such written notice to the licensor for termination of Made in Saudi membership.
d. Termination of Made in Saudi program by the licensor.
e. If there are circumstances that through any act or omission of the licensee there is likelihood to damage the reputation of Certification Trademark or the Made in Saudi program as whole or of the Kingdom.
Effect of Termination
Following termination of a license, the licensee shall:
a. immediately or within a time frame as proposed by licensor, cease to use the Certification Trademark in any manner whatsoever and will not at any time thereafter use any other name or sign or domain name that is deceptively similar to the Certification Trademark.
b. immediately remove from public display any sign, label or poster incorporating the Certification Trademark within control of licensee.
c. from the date of termination, licensee shall not hold itself in any way associated with Made in Saudi program or Certification Trademark licensee.
d. delete all social media posts that may lead to impression that it remains a member of Made in Saudi program and a licensee.
e. take permission, under special circumstances, from the licensor to sell the unsold products already branded with Certification Trademark, and in such case the licensee shall be bound to strictly follow the instructions from the licensor.
f. notify all its employees, distributors, agents, and any other parties acting in its behalf that it has ceased to be the licensee of Certification Trademark.
g. not be free from obligation to maintain the reputation of Certification Trademark and Made in Saudi program and it shall not act in a manner that may disparage the reputation of Certification Trademark.
Amendment in Certification Trademark
Licensee in its own discretion may amend the Certification Trademark and in the event that it is altered, all licensees will be obliged to use only the modified version. Licensor may provide reasonable time frame to the licensees for adopting amended trademark taking into account the circumstances of licensees.
Registration of Certification Trademark
Saudi Exports as a rightful owner of the Certification Trademark will register this Trademark as a Certification Trademark with the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) and take all reasonable steps to maintain the registration of it.