Algeria’s Law 26-12: Digitizing the Commercial Register for Online Sellers

What Law 26-12 Actually Changes

On June 8, 2026, Algeria’s new framework for commercial activity took effect. Law No. 26-12, published in Official Journal No. 44, modifies and completes Law No. 04-08 of August 14, 2004 — the two-decade-old text that governed how businesses register and operate. The law had already cleared the upper house earlier in the spring, when the Council of the Nation adopted the text on commercial-activity conditions, before final promulgation in June.

The most consequential provisions are procedural. A new Article 4 bis requires every merchant to update their commercial register entry within one month of any change to registry information or corporate status. Article 10, as modified, lets representatives of the Centre National du Registre de Commerce (CNRC) stationed at unified service counters — the guichets uniques created under Law 22-18 of July 24, 2022 — draw up, sign, and deliver commercial-register documents that were previously handled only by center personnel. Article 8 expands the list of people barred from registration to include those convicted of financing terrorism or proliferation of weapons and those on national or international sanctions lists.

The enforcement side has teeth. Under Article 37, failing to keep a register current can bring fines of 10,000 to 500,000 dinars for individuals and 300,000 to 700,000 dinars for legal entities, according to Algérie Éco’s breakdown of the new rules. Non-compliance triggers a three-month notice to regularize; if that lapses, authorities can order administrative closure of the premises, and continued default can lead to radiation from the register entirely.

The Digital Filing Layer: Sidjilcom and the Interconnected Register

Law 26-12 is the legal spine, but the reader-facing change for online sellers is the digitization layer running alongside it. The CNRC has been generalizing its Sidjilcom platform as the single online entry point for most register procedures — inscription, activity-nomenclature lookups, certificates, deposit of social accounts, and legal notices. Algérie360’s rundown of the register overhaul lists eleven modernization measures, and several matter directly to a first-time online entrepreneur.

Registration fees can now be paid electronically by bank card or Edahabia card, and stamp duty can be settled through the fiscal “Tabiâkoum” platform, so a filing no longer forces a trip to a physical counter to hand over cash. The register is being interconnected with the tax administration, the social-security fund (CNAS), customs, and the national statistics office, which means a single identity flows across agencies instead of being re-keyed at each one. The reform also introduces a public registry of beneficial owners of legal entities, aligning Algeria with Financial Action Task Force recommendations on anti-money-laundering transparency. As l’Algérie Aujourd’hui reports on the new commercial-activity rules, the direction of travel is a faster, more traceable, and more automated register.

Two of the eleven measures explicitly touch the online economy: a revision of Law 04-08 itself, and an adjustment of Law 18-05, the 2018 e-commerce law. That pairing is the signal for anyone selling on Facebook, Instagram, or a standalone storefront — the register and the e-commerce rulebook are being wired to talk to each other.

Why This Opens a Door for Algeria’s Online Sellers

Thousands of Algerians already sell online without a commercial register, largely because the old paper-and-counter process felt heavier than the revenue it protected. Law 26-12 changes that calculus in two directions at once. It raises the cost of staying informal — a live register with a one-month update rule and five-figure fines is a stronger nudge than the previous regime — while lowering the friction of going formal through Sidjilcom’s electronic filing and card payment.

Formalization is not just about avoiding penalties. A registered online seller gets a common identification number that unlocks a business bank account, access to payment-service providers, eligibility for the auto-entrepreneur and micro-enterprise support schemes, and the ability to issue compliant invoices to corporate buyers. For a seller whose customers increasingly expect a real invoice and a traceable return policy, the register is the entry ticket to the formal digital economy, not a bureaucratic tax on it.

What Algerian Online Sellers Should Do About It

1. Register through Sidjilcom now, before enforcement tightens

Treat the June 8, 2026 effective date as a starting gun, not a distant deadline. Create your file on the CNRC’s Sidjilcom platform, choose the correct activity code from the online nomenclature, and pay the registration fee and stamp duty electronically via card, Edahabia, or the Tabiâkoum fiscal platform. The whole point of the reform is that most of this no longer requires a physical counter visit — so the seller who moves early captures the convenience before the three-month regularization notices under Article 37 start circulating. Do not wait for an inspection to force the issue.

2. Build the one-month update habit into your operations

Article 4 bis makes register accuracy a continuous obligation, not a one-time event: any change to your registry information or corporate status must be declared within one month. For an online seller, that means a new address, a new activity line, a change in legal form, or a shift from sole trader to company all start a 30-day clock. Put a recurring reminder in your calendar and keep your Sidjilcom credentials handy. A lapsed update is exactly the kind of low-effort violation that fines of 10,000 to 500,000 dinars are designed to catch.

3. Reconcile your commercial register with Law 18-05 e-commerce duties

Registration is necessary but not sufficient. Law 18-05 already requires online merchants to publish identifying information, terms of sale, and pricing to consumers, and Law 26-12’s adjustment of that text means the register and the e-commerce rulebook are converging. Once you hold a register number, display it on your storefront, publish clear sale terms, and make sure the identity on your Sidjilcom file matches the name customers see. Don’t treat the register and your public-facing shop as two separate worlds — regulators increasingly read them as one.

4. Use the interconnected register to your advantage, not just to comply

Because the register now links to the tax administration, CNAS, customs, and the statistics office, a single registration cascades into the rest of your obligations and entitlements. Use that to open a business bank account, enroll in the auto-entrepreneur or micro-enterprise schemes where you qualify, and issue tax-compliant invoices that let you sell to companies, not only individuals. The interconnection cuts both ways — it makes you visible to the tax authority, but it also makes you legible to banks, payment providers, and corporate clients who will not transact with an unregistered seller.

Where This Fits in Algeria’s 2026 Digital Economy

Law 26-12 is best read not as a standalone e-commerce measure but as the plumbing upgrade beneath Algeria’s push to formalize online commerce. The 2018 e-commerce law set the rules of conduct; the 2026 reform rebuilds the register those rules attach to and puts it online through Sidjilcom. Together they narrow the gap between the large informal online marketplace and the formal economy that banks, payment-service providers, and tax authorities can actually see.

For the individual seller, the near-term implication is concrete: registration is now mostly a screen-and-card exercise rather than a counter-and-cash one, and staying outside the system carries a clearer price. For the wider ecosystem, an interconnected, beneficial-owner-transparent register is the kind of trust infrastructure that payment providers and lenders need before they extend credit or settlement services to small online businesses. The sellers who formalize first will be the ones positioned to plug into whatever financing, payment, and marketplace tools arrive on top of that infrastructure next.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources & Further Reading

• La loi sur les activités commerciales entre en vigueur — Express DZ
• Algérie : des changements dans les règles d’exercice des activités commerciales — Algérie Éco
• Le registre de commerce se simplifie en 2026 : les 11 nouveautés à connaître — Algérie360
• Nouvelles règles pour l’exercice des activités commerciales — l’Algérie Aujourd’hui
• Conseil de la Nation : adoption du texte de loi relatif aux conditions d’exercice des activités commerciales — Algérie Éco