Penal Law for Forgery Crimes

Purpose and scope

• Criminalises forging seals, marks, stamps, official and private documents, and financial and commercial papers, and sets out the methods of forgery, including making a document or seal with no original, or an imitation or altered one (Article 2).

Key rules, rights and obligations

• Knowingly using a forged item carries the same penalty as the forgery (Article 19).
• An attempt is punished with up to half the maximum (Article 20), an accomplice by agreement, instigation or assistance with the penalty for the crime (Article 21), and items used in or obtained from the crime are confiscated (Article 22).
• The law also applies to certain crimes committed abroad, such as forging public documents and financial and commercial papers (Article 26).

Violations, penalties and common problems

• Forging a document attributed to a public body: one to five years in prison and a fine of up to five hundred thousand riyals (Article 8); a private document: up to three years and up to three hundred thousand riyals, or either (Article 9).
• A public official forging a document within their competence: one to seven years and a fine of up to seven hundred thousand riyals (Article 12).
• Forging commercial, financial or banking papers or insurance documents: one to five years with a fine (Article 13); a false medical report or certificate: up to one year and up to one hundred thousand riyals, or either (Article 14).
• Forging attendance records: up to three months and up to thirty thousand riyals (Article 16); knowingly using an expired judgment or power of attorney to suggest it is still valid is also a crime (Article 17).
• A private firm whose manager or staff commits forgery for its benefit and with its knowledge is fined up to ten million riyals and barred from government contracts for two to five years (Article 23).

Procedures and key deadlines

• The court exempts an offender who reports their crime before it is discovered and before the forged item is used (Article 25).
• Check powers of attorney, deeds and certificates on official platforms before relying on them.

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.