Law of Commercial Data

Purpose and scope

• Regulates trade descriptions, meaning any statement on the number, quantity, weight, price, production or expiry date of goods, their country of origin, ingredients, maker, or patents or awards they carry (Article 1 as amended).

Key rules, rights and obligations

• A trade description must be at least in Arabic and true in every respect, whether on products, shops, packaging, invoices or advertisements (Article 2).
• Awards, medals or certificates may be mentioned only by those who actually earned them (Article 3), and a seller's name may not appear on imported goods without a clear statement of origin (Article 4).
• A manufacturer may not use its main factory's name on goods made elsewhere without saying so (Article 5), and the minister may ban imports lacking descriptions that affect their value (Article 6).

Violations, penalties and common problems

• The penalty is a fine of up to one hundred thousand riyals, doubled for a repeat with closure of the shop for up to one year (Article 7).
• The competent court may confiscate, sell or destroy seized goods and publish a summary of the judgment at the violator's expense (Article 11 as amended).
• Common problems: hiding the country of origin, altering expiry dates, and claiming false awards or certificates.

Procedures and key deadlines

• Ministry of Commerce officers record violations (Article 8), and the Public Prosecution investigates and prosecutes before the competent judicial body (Article 9).
• Those affected may claim compensation and may go to court at any time, even before filing a case, for precautionary measures (Article 12).

An advisory summary prepared by Al-Bayan Al-Wadih Law Firm. It is not an official text and does not replace the law, its implementing regulations, or advice from a specialised lawyer. The official published text and its amendments prevail.