Executive Regulation of the Protection from Abuse Law

Purpose and scope

• The Executive Regulation of the Protection from Abuse Law, governing receipt of reports, classification of cases, protection centre procedures, referral to the Public Prosecution and preventive measures; it replaces the earlier regulation issued in 1440H (Article 13).

Key rules, rights and obligations

• The ministry carries out social and psychological assessment and rehabilitation, and supervises shelters (Article 2).
• The reporter's identity is kept confidential and disclosed only with their written consent, except in specified cases (Article 5).
• Every reporter is presumed to act in good faith unless proven otherwise (Article 6).
• A case is critical if it causes physical harm needing immediate intervention or proven by a medical report, or if serious or continuing harm to life or safety is feared (Article 8).

Violations, penalties and common problems

• Anyone shown to have known of abuse without reporting it bears responsibility (Article 3).
• Repeated false reports are referred to the security authorities and the Public Prosecution, and the person harmed may claim compensation before the competent court (Article 6).
• If the act is a crime or another crime is uncovered, the protection centre informs the security authorities for referral to the Public Prosecution (Article 10).

Procedures and key deadlines

• Any employee dealing with the public who learns of abuse through work must inform their manager immediately, and every body must inform the ministry as soon as it knows (Article 3).
• The domestic violence reporting centre receives reports from all regions, records them and refers them to the competent protection centre (Article 4).
• The protection centre acts on a report immediately by contacting and assessing the person, with steps depending on the risk-level indicator (Article 7).
• In critical cases the regional governor and the security authorities are informed (Article 8).

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.