Consumer Protection Law

The following terms and phrases, wherever they occur in this Law, shall have the meanings assigned thereto, unless the context requires otherwise:

Law: Consumer Protection Law.

Regulations: The Implementing Regulations of the Law.

Competent authority: The authority responsible for the enforcement of the Law; the preparation and development of consumer protection policies, regulations and rules in the Kingdom and oversee their implementation; and carrying out market surveillance activities.

Relevant authorities: Any government body exercises powers or perform functions in relation to consumer protection and market surveillance.

Consumer: A natural person who seeks to acquire goods or services for personal, family or household use.

Economic operator:  A natural or legal person, private or public, who carries out a commercial, industrial, professional or craft activity, and provides a service to the consumer or produces a product, manufactures, imports, exports, sells, rents, displays, distributes or markets it with the aim of providing it to the consumer or entering into a transaction or a contract therewith by any means, including electronic means.

Service provider: Any economic operator who provides a service to the consumer within the context of his trade, business, craft, or profession, either for a fee or free of charge.

Products: Any industrial, agricultural, animal, intellectual, technical, transformative or digital product provided to the consumer, whether new or used products, including the raw materials of the substances and components of the product.

Service: Any material or intellectual activity provided to the consumer by the service provider.

Business premises: The place of business of the economic operator and any movable premises where the economic operator carries out his activity on a usual basis, including websites and other premises.

Place of business: The economic operator's address as registered in the Commercial Registry, his national or residential address, or the address indicated on the online platform where he makes products or services available to consumers.

Price:  The price of sale or rent or use of the product or service, as the case may be.

Defect: A deficiency in the quality, quantity, efficiency or a difference in the shape, size, or components of a product or service resulting from an error in its design, manufacture, production, or provision to the consumer, which may lead to harm or deprive him, in whole or in part, of benefiting therefrom, provided that the defect has not resulted directly or indirectly from the action of the consumer.

Advertising: Any form of communication intended to market or promote products or services, or to enhance the reputation and position of an economic operator in the market.

Discounts:  The display products or services with the intent of selling or offering them at lower prices, by any means.

Contests: Any act aimed toward consumers directly or through media or any other means, which attracts consumers by offering them the chance to win money or prizes.

Corrective measures: Actions taken to prevent, correct or eliminate infringements of the Law and its Regulations.

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1. ​​This Law applies to the relationship between the consumer and the economic operator with regard to a product or a service offered or made available in the Kingdom. This Law shall apply irrespective of the trading methods and means thereof, including consumer contracts concluded at distance.
2. A contract concluded at distance by a consumer residing in the Kingdom is deemed to be concluded at the place of residence of the consumer.
3. The level of protection for consumers using electronic commerce shall not be less than that afforded in other forms of commerce.

1. When preparing, studying, implementing, interpreting laws, regulations (and the like), decisions and procedures in relation to consumer protection, or when exercising powers related thereto, the competent authority and the relevant authorities are expected to give special attention to the protection of consumers who, due to objective or subjective reasons, such as age, disability,  psychological or mental state and other conditions that negatively affect their decision and choice, are especially susceptible to detriment.
2. The economic operator is expected to give special attention to the protection of consumers who are more susceptible to detriment if the reasons referred to in Paragraph 1 of this Article are known to him or the nature of the work requires such knowledge.
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Economic operators shall, depending on the nature of the product or service, provide consumers with the following information:

A.   The type, batch, serial number, code, or other element allowing for the identification of the product.

B.    The name or trademark of the product or service.

C.    The quantity of the product or service.

D.   The composition of the product or main components of the service.

E.    The weight or measure of the product or service.

F.     The geographical origin of the product.

G.   The price of the product or service.

H.   A certificate of manufacture of the product, or a license to provide the service which requires obtaining a certificate or license.

I. ​ Identity information including: trade name or trademark, license data (if any), place of business, telephone number and electronic communication means of:

1. The manufacturer, his representative, or the importer.
2. The distributor or agent.
3. The economic operator or any other person that the consumer may turn to for additional information or to file a complaint.

J.      Any other information requirements specified by the Regulations.​

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1. ​The information provided to consumers shall be clear, accurate, adequate and not misleading.
2. The information provided to consumers shall be in writing through the use of advertisements, wrappings, labels, warnings, instructions for use or by any means appropriate to its content.
3. The information may be provided on an electronic medium in such a way that it may be printed free of charge.​
   

​Any information provided to consumers, whatever type, medium and form, shall be in the Arabic language; other languages may be used in addition to Arabic.​​

1. The economic operator who makes a product available to consumers shall clearly place the price on the product itself or in a prominent position where the product is displayed.
2. Special rules will be issued by the Regulations for economic operators who use the universal product bar code and optical scanners.
   

1. ​​The price of the product or service as indicated must be in Saudi Riyals and include all applicable taxes and the costs of any product or service of which the acquisition or use is made unavoidable at the time of buying the product or service.
2. Where the nature of the products or services is such that the price cannot be calculated in advance, the economic operator shall inform the consumer about the manner in which the price is to be calculated.
   

1. It is prohibited to require from the consumer within the same business premises different prices or tariffs for identical products or services. 
2. Without prejudice to the application of other sanctions, in case of breach of the provision of Paragraph 1 of this Article, the consumer will be entitled to obtain the product or service at the lowest price or tariff, unless the economic operator can prove an obvious and unintentional error.
   

1. Whenever the price of a product or tariff of a service is reduced outside the context of sales campaigns, the economic operator shall indicate, in addition to the reduced price or tariff, the lowest price applied by the economic operator during a period of time not shorter than 30 days prior to the application of the price or tariff reduction.
2. The Regulations may set out rules for the discount of products which are liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly.
   

The economic operator shall provide the consumer with a copy of the standard contract free of charge at any time the consumer so requests.​​

The proof of the fulfilment of the obligations to inform the consumer lies with the economic operator.​​

​Misleading commercial practices are prohibited.  A commercial practice shall be regarded as misleading if it contains false information, or in any way, including overall presentation, deceives consumers; or if it omits relevant information, or provides information in unclear or unintelligible manner or fails to indicate its commercial nature. The misleading or deceptive nature of the commercial practice can be decided by reference to any of the following elements:

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1.    Sending advertising to a consumer by using his electronic mail address is allowed only if the consumer has given his explicit and prior consent to receive advertising by electronic mail from this economic operator.

It is prohibited to include in an advertisement a message targeted to children that is grossly detrimental to their well-being, or advertise products that are incompatible with their age groups.​

1. ​​Where economic operators operate a telephone line for the purpose of contacting them, consumers shall not pay more than the applicable basic phone rate.
2. Where economic operators operate electronic communication means, artificial intelligence or webpage for the purpose of contacting them directly or indirectly, consumers are not bound to make any payment.​

1. ​Discounts are allowed as long as they do not contain misleading practices according to the Law.
2. Terms and conditions for announcing and performing sales campaigns shall be set by the Regulations.
   

1. ​​Subject to the provisions of relevant laws, it is prohibited to lock up strategic products or services that are intended for sale in any way, whether by hiding or refraining from offering or from selling them on the market.
2. A decision by the head of the competent authority shall identify the types of strategic products and services, together with their availability controls and time periods.
3. Economic operators who hold strategic goods for non-personal use shall notify the competent authority of the stored products and their quantities.​​
   

In emergency situations or during natural disasters or other exceptional circumstances that cause an abnormal increase in prices, the head of the competent authority may take temporary measures to curtail price increases after obtaining approval from the Council of Ministers. The Regulations shall specify the reasons to be relied on in evaluating the abnormal increase in prices and the measures taken to curtail this increase.​

​Article 35:  Consumer contracts concluded off-premises

Article 55: Availability of spare parts and repair services

The economic operator shall make spare parts and repair services available during the during the period specified in the Regulations (as determined by the nature of the product or service) , and inform the consumer of such period.

The Regulations shall specify further provisions required for the implantation of this obligation.

Article 56: Information on the availability of spare parts and repair services

At the time of contracting, the economic provider shall inform the consumer of the period necessary to provide spare parts.   

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The competent authority shall oversee the market to ensure the economic operators are compliant with the provisions of the Law and its Regulations, and it shall issue the rules, controls and procedures necessary to protect consumers.​​​​

The competent authority and the relevant authorities shall manage or adhere to databases or exchange of information systems to monitor consumer incidents, complaints, and behavior as well as to collect information on market surveillance actions, corrective measures and sanctions in the area of consumer protection.​​

​1.    The Regulations shall issue the list of minor infringements for which inspectors may issue administrative penalties, the rules and procedures thereof, and the amount of fines within the limits set by the Law.

1.    The notice of imposition of penalty delivered to the economic operator shall inform them about their right to appeal and describe the procedure thereof in a clear and legible manner.

1.    Economic operators, interested parties, consumer associations, chambers of commerce and economic operators associations shall be entitled to bring an action before the competent court to seek a provisional or definitive measure to cease or prohibit a practice deemed to constitute an infringement.

In case the consumer has suffered damage as a result of a violation of his rights or an infringement of the provisions of this Law or its Regulations, the consumer shall have access to proportionate and effective remedies against the economic operator, including the termination of the contract,  replacement of the product or reduction of the price, and  he shall be compensated for the damage suffered, this shall not prejudice the imposition of any penalty or sanctions stipulated in the Law.​

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The competent court shall have the power to hear and adjudicate the disputes which may arise between the consumer and the economic operator, and it shall apply simplified and expedited proceedings when dealing with small claims, in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations.​​

1. Consumers shall have access to fair, effective, and impartial alternative mechanisms to resolve their disputes with economic operators.
2. A uniform network of ADR bodies and ODR platforms shall be set up to facilitate the out-of-court resolution of consumer disputes.  The Regulations shall specify the procedures and controls necessary therefor.
   

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1. ​​The arbitrators, mediators, experts and other specialist charge of ADR/ODR procedures must be experienced, independent and impartial.
2. ADR/ODR procedures shall be effective and fair and fulfil the requirements laid out in the Regulations regarding independence, transparency, and effectiveness and legality of the decision-making procedure.
   

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The competent authority shall - in coordination with the Ministry of Justice -  determine the requirements and procedures regarding the composition and operation of ADR/ODR entities; the administrative and technical controls for their work; the limits of their competence; the requirements and conditions of arbitrators, mediators and experts; the rights of their consumers and economic operators as well as their public and private obligations towards each of them and  the controls governing these entities.​

Quality assurance tools shall be determined by the Regulations in order to monitor and maintain the quality, reliability and efficiency of the network of ADR bodies and ODR platforms and procedures in place.​

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1.    The representative consumer associations shall be entitled:

The court of the domicile or residence of the consumer is the court competent to receive a legal action which results from a consumer dispute, also in the context of contracts concluded at distance.​

1.    A committee (or more) of no less than three members, at least one of whom must be a legal advisor, shall be established pursuant to a decision by the head of the competent authority. The committee decisions shall be taken by majority of members. A decision by the head of the competent authority shall provide for the rules of works of the said committee and the remuneration of its members and secretary.

The penalty imposed by the committee shall be proportionate with the gravity, frequency, circumstances, facts, impacts and consequent damage of the infringement, the size of the infringer's activity and the period of practicing said activity.​​

​1.    If the economic operator infringes any of the provisions of this Law and its Regulations, the infringement committee may warn the consumer and order the economic operator to make adjustments and eliminate the irregularity within a specified period.

​1.    A penalty of a fine not exceeding (3,000,000) three million Saudi riyal, shall apply when:

Economic operators and whomever have been addressed by the Law shall adjust their situation in accordance with the provisions of this Law within one year from the date of its entry into force.​​

The Minister shall issue the Regulations of this Law within (180) days from the date of publication of the Law in the Official Gazette.  The Regulations shall enter into force as of the effective date of the Law.​​

This Law shall repeal the Anti-Commercial Fraud Law, promulgated by Royal Decree No. (M/19), dated 23/4/1429 H; the E- Commerce Law, promulgated by Royal Decree No. (M/126), dated 7/11/1440 H; and any provisions conflicting therewith. This Law shall enter into force (180) days after the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.​