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Saudi Laws
The key laws affecting individuals, companies and investors, with the Royal Decree number and date, key amendments, a plain-language summary and a link to the official text at the Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers.
Listed amendments are the key ones we have verified. The full record of every amendment is on the law's official page.
The foundation of governance in the Kingdom: the sources and system of government, principles of society and the economy, rights and duties, and the authorities of the State.
Governs the composition, membership and powers of the Shura Council, including studying laws, regulations and treaties and giving its opinion on public policy.
Governs the Kingdom's administrative division into regions, the powers of the regional emir, the regional council, and the administration of governorates and centres.
Regulates licensing and running childcare centres (birth to ten years): owner conditions, licence term, safety and care standards, violations and sanctions.
A ministerial table of violations by recruitment offices and labour-service companies and their penalties: fines, licence suspension, warnings, and classification as serious or not.
The Enforcement Law of 1447H replaces the 1433H Enforcement Law. It governs executory instruments and enforcement proceedings before the enforcement courts, disclosure, tracing, attachment and sale of the debtor's assets, and penalties. Published on 14/11/1447H, it entered into force on 17/5/1448H (28 October 2026).
The ministerial decision setting, for each breach of the Labour Law and its regulation, its classification (serious or not) and fine by establishment category and size, and whether the fine is multiplied per worker, for general violations and for sectors such as mining, maritime work, O&M and recruitment.
A national policy approved by the Council of Ministers making equal opportunity and treatment at work a pillar of development, and setting the roles of bodies in preventing and monitoring discrimination.
Lets an establishment settle its first labour-law fine at an 80% reduction if it corrects the breach and applies within 90 days of notification, before paying.
A law issued in 1447H protecting geographical indications that link a product to a region giving it its quality or reputation: registration, grievances, cancellation, enforcement and penalties.
Allow an establishment to deliver a service of defined scope and term to another using its own expatriate workers under its supervision, with a service contract and an Ajeer permit for each worker.
Set who may advertise support-labour services (domestic workers and similar) and how, ad requirements, permitted and prohibited services, and penalties.
The new Law of Eminent Domain and Temporary Taking of 1447H: expropriation procedure, inventory and valuation, compensation and eviction, and temporary taking.
Allows non-Saudis to own real estate and acquire rights in rem within the geographic scope set by the Council of Ministers, replacing the 1421H law on real estate ownership and investment by non-Saudis.
Details the Labour Law: contract documentation, wages and wage protection, hours, overtime and compensatory leave, flexible work, discipline, recruitment and employment offices, and the model work regulations.
Sets the rights and duties of agricultural workers and shepherds employed by individuals: contract, probation, hours, overtime, weekly rest, leave and the ban on using them in other work.
Guarantees the rights of persons with disabilities in education, work, health, access and services, sets out social and economic support, and the violations, penalties and review committees.
Details how child abuse and neglect cases are handled: awareness and prevention, risk assessment, urgent alternative care, and court action to move custody where needed.
Governs registering merchants and companies in the Commercial Register and the data that must be recorded and kept current, replacing the previous law.
Governs reserving, registering, protecting, transferring and cancelling trade names, with violations, penalties and appeals, replacing the Trade Names Law of 1420H.
Imposes a 5% tax on real estate transactions whatever the property's condition or use, and sets exempt transactions, when the tax falls due and is paid, and penalties for late payment and evasion.
A 1446H law requiring manufacturers, suppliers and distributors to place only safe products on the market, and governing surveillance, recalls, withdrawals, violations and penalties.
A 1446H law organising the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha): its administrative oversight and corruption-investigation powers, and its reports.
Requires private establishments to update their data and link workers to the sites where they actually work through the «establishment locations» service.
Protects those who report crimes and violations, testify, give expert evidence, and victims: concealing data and identities, the protection programme and how protection is requested and ended, and penalties for exposing or attacking a protected person.
Approves the amicable-settlement rules that precede a labour lawsuit: filing, session deadlines, the settlement record, dismissal for the claimant's absence, and referral to the labour court.
Regulates off-plan sales and leases: developer registration, project licensing, the escrow account holding buyers' money, the duties of developers, auditors and consultants, and penalties.
Regulates juvenile homes (observation and guidance) where juveniles are held during investigation, trial and sentence, and their care and rehabilitation programmes.
Regulates real estate contributions, i.e. raising money from contributors to develop property: licensing, subscription, management and accounts, contributors' rights, and penalties.
The Kingdom's first comprehensive civil code: contracts, obligations, liability for harm and property rights. It underpins every contractual relationship.
Regulates volunteering with public and non-profit bodies: volunteers' rights and duties, volunteer teams, and the role of the National Volunteering Committee.
Details older persons' rights and family responsibility, rules for admission to care homes, the Ministry's guardianship where there is no guardian, and penalties and procedure.
Sets which establishments and places must install security cameras, their specifications, how long recordings are kept, the ban on cameras in private areas, and fines.
Regulates licensing of tourism activities, hospitality facilities and tour operators, licensees' duties, tourists' rights and violations, replacing the Tourism Law of 1436H.
Governs government bodies' leasing of property through the e-portal: advertising, award, contract, renewal, vacating and assessing damage, replacing the 1427H law.
Regulates licensed real estate brokerage, marketing, advertising and property management, the brokerage contract, the broker's duties and penalties, repealing the Real Estate Offices Regulation of 1398H.
Regulates telecommunications, IT and digital services: licensing, users' rights, spectrum, competition in the sector and violations, replacing the Telecommunications Law of 1422H.
Creates a title register for each property showing its boundaries, owners and the rights over it, so that the register is a reliable reference for proving ownership.
Sets how judicial costs are assessed and their rates by claim value, how the claim value is determined in different cases, and rules on payment, exemption and refund.
Ten criteria from the National Anti-Concealment Programme that keep an establishment clear of suspected cover-up (tasattur), including its register, a bank account in its name, documented contracts, wage protection, e-payment and invoices.
Protects everyone under eighteen from all forms of abuse and neglect, bans employing children under fifteen and exploiting them or selling them tobacco, and sets the duty to report and the penalties.
Protects against physical, psychological or sexual abuse, or the threat of it, by anyone with guardianship, authority, a family or dependency relationship, including failure to provide basic needs, and sets out reporting, shelter and penalties.
Details disciplinary procedure: forming investigation committees in the government body, the employee's safeguards during investigation, and recommending and approving penalties.
Secures the right of older persons to live with their family with dignity, bars carers from using their money without consent or neglecting them, and sets penalties for offenders and care homes.
Explains how the work-permit fee and the levy on expatriate workers are calculated, and that residence permits linked to work permits may be issued, renewed and paid quarterly at minimum, except for domestic workers.
Sets out individuals' rights over their personal data, the obligations of those who collect and process it, and the rules for transfers outside the Kingdom.
Criminalises begging as a practice, inciting or organising it by any means, including social media, and sets penalties, deportation of non-Saudis and confiscation of proceeds.
Sets the offences for which a public employee is accountable, the disciplinary penalties from a written warning to dismissal, the investigation procedure, and when offences lapse and penalties are erased.
Imposes judicial costs on claims and applications before the courts of up to 5% of the claim value, capped at SAR one million, and sets the exempt cases and parties, refunds and reductions.
Governs enforcement of judgments and instruments before the Board of Grievances, particularly judgments against or in favour of administrative bodies: filing and registering requests, time limits, compulsory enforcement and objections.
Governs classification of contractors working with government bodies, issuing and renewing classification certificates, and penalties, replacing the Contractors Classification Law of 1427H.
Eleven frameworks and six contract forms accompanying the HR Executive Regulation: job retitling, HR planning, filling posts, medical fitness, performance management, and proving sick leave, work injury and incapacity.
Criminalises obtaining others' property by fraudulent means such as lies, deception and illusion, and misappropriating or dishonestly disposing of property entrusted by work, trust, partnership or agency, punishing incitement, complicity and attempt.
Explains the decision to Saudize grocery stores and supermarkets and its targeted jobs, including cashier, checkout supervisor, customer service, section supervisor and branch manager, and available support programmes.
Govern licensing of recruitment offices and companies and labour-service providers: licence conditions and bank guarantee, internal policies, duties to clients and workers, and cancellation and withdrawal of licences.
Governs privatisation and public-private partnership projects: approving and implementing bodies, tendering and award, partnership contracts and their term, and grievances.
Bans practising accounting and auditing without a licence, and sets the certified accountant's duties, liability, sanctions and offences, replacing the Certified Accountants Law of 1412H.
Regulates marketing, import, manufacture and maintenance of medical devices and supplies, licensing establishments, post-market surveillance and violations.
The earlier Diplomatic Jobs Regulation; the Ministry states it still applies to non-diplomatic government staff abroad, while diplomats are governed by the regulation issued by decision 48564 of 30/3/1445H.
Applies to staff appointed on the wages item of the general and independent budgets, dividing them into groups (including cleaners and similar) and governing their pay and conditions.
Governs chambers of commerce and their federation: membership, the general assembly, the board and its elections, resources and oversight, and services to businesses.
Sets the Saudi Central Bank's objectives and powers in monetary policy and supervision of financial institutions, replacing the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency Law of 1377H.
Governs the social security pension and support for families in need: who qualifies and how it is calculated, the duty of those able to work to seek work, refusal and suspension, and penalties for obtaining it unlawfully.
Sets municipal violations, their penalties and the table of violations, and the procedure for enforcement and grievances, replacing the 1422H regulation.
A ministerial set of minimum work-environment standards for every private establishment: no discrimination or pressure on workers, prayer and rest areas, toilets, seating, security and cameras, and rules for women-only and men-only premises.
Criminalises enabling a non-Saudi to run, for their own account, an economic activity they are not licensed for by using a Saudi's name, licence or commercial register, punishing both parties and accomplices, and sets violations and their penalties.
Regulates notary public offices, licensed notaries and marriage officiants, their powers, notarization procedure, and the evidential and executory force of notarized documents.
Protects the environment and limits pollution: environmental permits, impact assessment, protection of vegetation and wildlife, violations and penalties, replacing earlier environmental laws.
The main regulation for state employees: work environment and hours, appointment, promotion, transfer, assignment and secondment, leave, training and scholarships, duties, and end of service.
Approves the explanatory memorandum on the contractual relationship in exceptional circumstances and force majeure under Article 74(5) of the Labour Law.
Governs pledges of movable property securing debts: the pledge contract and the secured debt, the pledge's effect, preserving the pledged property, enforcement and sale, and extinction of the pledge.
Imposes income tax on resident companies to the extent of non-Saudi shareholdings, on resident non-Saudi individuals doing business, and on non-residents through a permanent establishment, and governs the tax base, withholding, returns and penalties.
Regulates subdividing property into separate units, owners' rights in units and common parts, owners' associations, and managing and maintaining jointly owned property.
Allows non-Saudis to obtain permanent or fixed-term privileged residency on conditions, with benefits such as living with family, doing business and owning property, and the cases of cancellation.
A circular asking public bodies to monitor Saudization compliance by their O&M contractors, with the national programme supporting project management and O&M.
Implements the GCC Unified VAT Agreement in the Kingdom: registration, supplies and imports of goods and services, invoices, returns, payment and refunds, and penalties.
Governs security rights over movable property to secure obligations, their effect against third parties through registration, their priority and enforcement.
Sets Saudization ratios for each occupational group in government O&M contracts: administrative, engineering and specialist, supervisory, technical, operational and craft, and low-skilled.
Requires establishments to adopt rules protecting workers from misconduct: exploitation, threats, harassment, blackmail, insults and humiliation, and governs complaints, investigation, penalties and confidentiality.
Defines night work as work between 11 pm and 6 am, requires employers to provide health services and arrangements for night workers, and lets a worker unfit for nights move to normal hours.
Establishes the Capital Market Authority, the Exchange and the securities depository centre; regulates brokers, portfolio managers, investment funds, offerings and takeovers; criminalises fraud and insider trading; and sets up the Committee for the Resolution of Securities Disputes.
Requires the Saudi Building Code to be applied gradually to construction in the public and private sectors, and sets responsibilities, violations and penalties.
Restricts work in women's lingerie and cosmetics shops and sections to Saudi women, and in other women's-goods activities to Saudis, in open and closed markets and standalone shops.
Restricts to Saudis in Asir activities including tow trucks, car transport and towing, light trucks, freight offices, insurance offices, private girls' education, malls, and travel agencies.
Restricts to Saudis in Najran activities including real-estate offices, malls, charities, sales outlets at car dealers and showrooms, spare parts, menswear and perfumes.
Saudizes sales outlets in the Northern Borders at car dealers and showrooms, charities, malls, fruit and vegetable markets, mobile carts and livestock markets.
Saudizes in Madinah work in closed malls, civil associations, hotel and tourism jobs, and occupations including light-vehicle driver, order taker, security and safety officer, data-entry clerk and secretary.
Records each citizen's civil status: births, deaths, marriage, divorce and name changes, the national ID and family register, reporting deadlines and penalties.
The earlier Social Insurance Law of 1421H, still marked «in force» by the Bureau of Experts; it is relevant to participants' rights under the transitional rules of the new 1445H law.
Governs how government bodies contract for goods, services and works: procurement methods, submission, opening and evaluation of bids, award, the standstill period and grievances, and contract performance and penalties.
Requires medium-sized establishments to obtain the «Mowaamah» certificate for a disability-friendly workplace if they want each worker with a disability to count as four in Nitaqat.
Bans smoking at work in all establishments under the Labour Law, including halls, offices, factories, warehouses, dining rooms, lifts, toilets, corridors and work vehicles, and sets requirements for designated smoking areas.
Guarantees judicial independence and governs the Supreme Judicial Council, the hierarchy and jurisdiction of the courts (Supreme Court, courts of appeal and first-instance courts), judges' appointment, promotion and discipline, and notaries public.
Protects fair competition and bans anti-competitive practices such as agreements between competitors and abuse of dominance, and requires economic concentrations to be notified to the General Authority for Competition before completion.
Governs ships, their registration, ownership and rights over them, maritime employment, charter, carriage of goods and passengers by sea, maritime incidents and marine insurance, in 391 articles.
Details the Bankruptcy Law procedures: protective settlement, financial reorganisation, liquidation and small-debtor procedures, claims lists, the trustee and the creditors' committee, and ending a procedure.
Governs how a juvenile (aged seven to under eighteen) is arrested, investigated and tried, the measures that replace punishment, and placement in an observation home instead of prison.
Set when the state pays a beneficiary's care and rehabilitation fees at private day centres: the centre's final licence, a Ministry eligibility notice, and how fees are counted.
Defines harassment as any sexual word, act or gesture affecting a person's body or honour or offending their modesty by any means, including technology, sets penalties and aggravating circumstances, and requires workplaces to adopt preventive measures.
Regulate licensing and running private disability rehabilitation centres and encourage the private sector to take part in care, with review every two years.
Restricts work in sales outlets to Saudi men and women in activities including ready-made and children's clothing and menswear, cars and motorcycles, furniture, household utensils, optics, watches, and electrical and electronic appliances.
Defines terrorism and terrorist-financing offences, and governs arrest, detention and investigation, the Specialised Criminal Court's jurisdiction, penalties and asset freezing.
Criminalises money laundering and requires financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions to apply due diligence, keep records and report suspicious transactions, and governs seizure, confiscation and international cooperation.
Allows a Saudi mother's daughter to work in women's-goods shops, and her sons and daughters to work in selling and repairing mobile phones, as employees of the shop owners, without allowing them to own shops except as the law permits.
Counts a full-time employee seconded from a university or government body to a private establishment as one in its Saudization ratio, without bringing them under the social insurance system.
Establishes the Alimony Fund under the Minister of Justice to ensure court-ordered maintenance reaches beneficiaries without delay, and sets its resources and management.
Details the Law of Arbitration: the competent court, appointment, challenge and withdrawal of arbitrators, applications to the competent court, and deposit and enforcement of awards.
Governs the relationship between employers and domestic workers (housemaids, drivers and similar): contract, probation, hours, rest, leave, wages, end-of-service award, duties and penalties.
Requires professional accreditation to practise engineering and licensing for engineering offices and firms, and sets violations, penalties and appeals.
Protects public utility networks such as water, electricity, telephone and sewage from damage and encroachment, requires plans to be obtained before digging, and sets penalties.
Aims to provide comprehensive, integrated healthcare to the whole population fairly and accessibly, and sets the state's responsibilities, the Health Services Council and beneficiaries' rights.
Establishes the General Authority of Endowments to care for, develop and protect awqaf, act as trustee of those entrusted to it and supervise other trustees, replacing the Supreme Council of Awqaf Law.
Governs establishing and registering civil associations and foundations, their general assembly, board and elections, funds and oversight, dissolution, and challenges to ministry decisions.
Imposes an annual fee on undeveloped white land within urban boundaries owned by natural or legal persons, to increase the supply of developed land and curb hoarding, with the right to object to fee decisions.
Recognises the binding force and enforceability of electronic transactions, records and signatures, and governs electronic contracting, electronic signatures, certification and its providers, and violations.
Defines cybercrimes and their penalties, including unlawful access, interception, blackmail, defamation and invasion of privacy through devices and networks, online fraud, and content harmful to public order.
Governs the Public Prosecution (formerly the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution): its formation, its powers to investigate crimes, prosecute before the courts and oversee prisons, and its members' affairs and discipline.
Details criminal procedure: bringing and ending the public action, seizure, arrest and search, investigation, detention and challenges to it, trial and appeals.
Bans running any activity before obtaining the municipal licence and the competent authority's licence, and governs issuing and renewing licences and grievances against refusal, cancellation and municipal fines.
Governs the execution of imprisonment and detention, the Supreme Council of Prisons, treatment and discipline of prisoners and detainees, and prison-related offences.
Governs administrative claims before the Board of Grievances courts, including claims against government bodies and challenges to administrative decisions.
The Kingdom's oldest commercial code (1350H), still partly in force: traders, commercial acts, partnerships, brokers and carriage, bills, the old bankruptcy rules and maritime trade; later laws have replaced many of its parts.
Makes insurance in the Kingdom cooperative through licensed joint stock companies, and governs their formation and supervision, insurance dispute committees and penalties.
Regulates creating a registered real estate mortgage, its effects on the mortgagor, mortgagee and third parties, priority and tracing rights, and how a mortgage ends.
Regulates and supervises home finance, licensing of financiers, government support, the secondary market, and court jurisdiction over finance disputes.
Governs finance lease contracts for assets between lessor and lessee: essential terms, the parties' duties, the register of contracts, recovery of the leased asset on default, and violations.
Governs licensing, activities and central-bank oversight of finance companies: real estate finance, finance leasing, business and consumer finance, beneficiaries' rights and penalties.
Regulates the valuation profession in its branches, including real estate: registration and licensing, the accredited valuer's duties, the Saudi Authority for Accredited Valuers, and sanctions.
Sets the activities covered, such as printing, publishing, distribution, newspapers and online publishing, their licensing, content rules, violations and grievances.
Prohibits publishing or disclosing classified documents and information by public officials and those treated as such, and sets penalties and complicity.
Prohibits trafficking in any person in any form, such as by coercion, threat, fraud or exploiting need for forced labour or exploitation, and sets penalties, aggravating circumstances and victim protection.
Governs collecting, keeping and sharing credit information on consumers and businesses through credit bureaus, the data subject's right to access and correction, and violations.
Sets out the forms of commercial fraud in products and related violations, the procedure for seizure, testing, investigation and trial, and the penalties, replacing the Anti-Commercial Fraud Law of 1404H.
Governs establishing and registering cooperative societies, their general assembly and board, funds and distribution of surplus, dissolution and liquidation.
Organises the Board of Grievances as an independent administrative judiciary: its formation, the Administrative Judicial Council, its courts (the High Administrative Court, administrative courts of appeal and administrative courts) and their jurisdiction, and its judges.
A unified GCC law allowing anti-dumping duties and countervailing and safeguard measures on imports that harm Gulf industry, with investigation, appeals and sanctions.
Governs licensing of public warehouses and the warehouse receipts and pledge documents that let a depositor sell or pledge goods held in store, and penalties.
Establishes the General Commission for Guardianship over the property of minors and those of similar status, and sets its powers, the management and investment of their property, the duty to report a death where an heir is a minor or absent, and penalties.
Governs licensing to practise health professions, practitioners' duties, professional liability and medical error and compensation, the Sharia Health Panel, and penalties.
Governs civil aviation in the Kingdom: airspace sovereignty, aircraft registration, airports, air transport and carrier liability, search and rescue, and violations.
Defines narcotics and psychotropic offences, from smuggling and dealing to possession and use, their penalties, aggravating and mitigating circumstances, jurisdiction and international cooperation.
Requires the entities set by the regulation to use private security guarding, and governs licensing of guarding companies, staff requirements, violations and penalties.
Protects inventions, integrated-circuit layout designs, plant varieties and industrial designs in the Kingdom: conditions, application and examination, term of protection, licensing and infringement.
Protects literary, artistic and scientific works, including software, and sets out authors' moral and economic rights, their transfer, the term of protection, exceptions and penalties.
A unified GCC law on applying the customs tariff, prohibitions and restrictions, import, export and clearance procedures, duty-suspension regimes, and violations and smuggling penalties.
Defines what may and may not be registered as a trademark, and governs registration, publication, renewal, cancellation, transfer, pledge and licensing of marks, with offences and penalties.
Requires licences for activities that disturb, endanger or harm health or the environment, bars transfer of the licence, requires the holder to manage the premises, and sets penalties.
A GCC law for a single patent valid across member states through the GCC Patent Office: patentability, examination, rights and the grievances committee.
Makes cooperative health insurance compulsory for private-sector workers and their families, establishes the Council of Health Insurance, and sets the services covered, the duties of employers and insurers, and penalties.
Defines who is a bribe-taker, including public officials and those treated as such in companies and associations, and punishes the briber and intermediary, trading in influence and breach of duty.
Requires traders to keep regular commercial books in Arabic showing their financial position, at least the general journal, the inventory book and the general ledger, and penalises breaches.
Governs bills of exchange, promissory notes and cheques: issue, endorsement, payment, recourse against those liable and limitation periods, and criminalises bounced cheques.
Governs pensions for civilian state employees: who is covered, pensionable service, pension calculation, gratuity for those not entitled to a pension, and heirs' rights.
Restricts commercial agency in the Kingdom to Saudi nationals and wholly Saudi companies, requires agents to be entered in the Ministry of Commerce's agencies register, and penalises unlawful practice.
The core law of public employment: merit as the basis for selection, and the rules on appointment, duties, salaries, allowances, promotion, leave and end of service.
A collection of judicial legislation with all its updates: judicial laws and regulations, each showing its status (in force or repealed), issuing instrument, issue and publication dates, and the legislation document (Arabic).
Publisher: Ministry of Justice, Legal Portal (laws.moj.gov.sa)
Library content is simplified general information for awareness only. It is not legal advice and does not replace the official text. Laws change: always check the official source and consult a lawyer before acting. Library data last reviewed: .
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