Our frequently asked questions cover a wide range of legal topics, including legal consultations, court procedures and clients' rights, making them easier for clients to understand.
This is one of the most common questions about registering commercial establishments in Saudi Arabia, because establishments come in many types. To identify the type of the establishment you want to activate, first go to its commercial registration by logging in to the Ministry's website and searching for its details. Then, among the categories on the website, look for the Establishment Account service. Once you click it, all the information about your establishment will appear, including its type, which is determined by the commercial activity carried out in it. Note that no request to register an establishment in Saudi Arabia can be submitted without specifying the type of the establishment.
A company's commercial registration may expire for various reasons that the legislator has set out in detail, which leads many people to ask whether the company and its establishments remain active or are deactivated. The answer is that the general account is deactivated in only one case: when the establishment's commercial registration is struck off. In all other cases, you simply need to reactivate the commercial registration, either in person or through the website prepared by the Ministry in Saudi Arabia. All you have to do is log in to your company's account and provide the information requested for reactivation; once that is done, the business returns to operating normally as before. Reactivation is a routine procedure recognized under many legal systems.
Many establishment owners in Saudi Arabia wish to cancel the account of an establishment after it has been active. This also requires a number of important steps expressly set out by the Saudi legislator. First, go to the Cancel Establishment Account service on the dedicated website, Najiz. Your account will show the active establishment, and on the same page you can cancel it, after which it becomes inactive immediately. If, on the other hand, the establishment is activated under another person's name rather than your own, simply complete the cancellation request as normal, filling in the information requested during the process; the dedicated team will review your request and respond with approval or rejection.
Creating an establishment account is extremely useful, as it lets you carry out a range of matters electronically and instantly. Among the main services available are enquiring about all cases and enforcement requests registered under your establishment's name before the Ministry of Justice courts in Saudi Arabia. You can also enquire about the establishments issued under your name or your establishment's name, view all of their information and amend it where necessary. It is also possible to enquire about the real estate registered in your name and to submit requests to cancel or reactivate establishments as you wish. Overall, this service is essential and will greatly help you manage your establishments effortlessly at the click of a button — and most of its services are free and easy to use.
A very common question among establishment owners in Saudi Arabia is how long it takes, under Saudi law, to review and approve an account activation request. Despite the lengthy steps described in the previous answers, reviewing and approving an establishment account activation request in the Kingdom does not take long: it has been set at a maximum of two working days, depending on the establishment's status and the type of request. Procedures of this kind are generally processed quickly given their importance and sensitivity to companies' commercial activity. So if you submit a request to reactivate an establishment, or any similar request, you will receive a response — approval or rejection — within two days at most from the date of submission, excluding public holidays of course.
Establishments are set up by their official owner, or a representative is appointed to manage all of their affairs. This raises a number of legal questions, the most important of which is who has the right to activate the establishment's account. The answer is that the appointed statutory representative is responsible for activating the account, and must be named in the establishment's official documents. An agent is also entitled, by force of law, to make amendments, submit requests and take any other step relating to the establishment, provided that the power of attorney is legally executed and not merely verbal. The statutory representative or the agent of the commercial establishment is also entitled to use all the electronic services mentioned in the previous answers.
One of the most frequently asked questions about commercial establishments in Saudi Arabia concerns the validity period of the establishment's statutory representative and whether it can be cancelled by the system. The answer is as follows: first, the account activated for the establishment's statutory representative remains valid for one full year from the date of activation. Second, as for the validity of the account activated for the establishment's agent, this varies according to the term set for the power of attorney, which the parties are free to determine themselves. There is therefore no fixed period that applies generally; it depends on the term of the power of attorney.
One of the more complex questions asked about controlling an establishment is whether a statutory representative who is not Saudi, or who holds a nationality other than Saudi, has the right to exercise the powers associated with the establishment and to act on or amend them as needed for its business. The answer is, of course, yes: as the establishment's legal representative, they have every right to exercise its powers, including representing it before the courts should it face a problem. Nationality does not matter at all; what matters is that the power of attorney granted to them is valid and in force. With it, they have every right to represent the establishment and to carry out all work related to it, including using all the services available to it.
Among the questions most often asked about the administrative side of establishments in Saudi Arabia is whether a company manager who is not a Saudi national has rights over the establishment account — that is, whether they may use all of its services — provided they are listed in the company's register as manager. The answer is very clear: since they are legally listed in the company's commercial registration, they are fully entitled to carry out all work related to it, whether they are Saudi or hold any other nationality. What matters is that they have the legal right to manage the company, and this right automatically extends to all administrative work related to the establishment, including activating or cancelling it as necessary and carrying out any act connected with the establishment.
Continuing with establishments in Saudi Arabia and the powers granted to the manager, whether Saudi or of another nationality, this question asks whether any restrictions can be placed on the powers held by the representative of the establishment or company, or its statutory representative, as is done in articles of association in Saudi Arabia. The answer is that establishment accounts in the Kingdom do not currently accept procedures of this kind. Put more clearly, establishment accounts in the Kingdom currently provide enquiry services only, and no one can carry out any procedure through them. This applies only for the time being, however; these accounts may be developed in the future, at which point such procedures may become possible.
Lawyers ask many questions about licenses, and a common one is whether they may plead if their license has expired or is being renewed. Under Saudi law, a license and card are considered automatically and completely cancelled when they expire or when the holder is struck off the roll. Alternatively, they remain suspended — in particular when the lawyer's name is transferred to the roll of non-practicing lawyers — provided they have not expired. Put more clearly, in the situation described, the license will remain suspended until it is renewed, at which point it becomes valid again and the lawyer may use it to plead before the courts normally; otherwise it remains suspended until renewal.
Practicing law has never been easy, which is why the Saudi legislator has introduced many updates to advance the profession and develop lawyers' skills. Among the most effective programs in this area is the recent decision concerning the 100 training hours allocated to trainee lawyers in order to obtain a license to practice law. A common question is whether this decision applies to all lawyers. The answer is that, once in force, the 100-hour training program will apply to everyone registered on the roll of trainees under the Law of Legal Practice. As a trainee lawyer, you will therefore be subject to this requirement in order to obtain a license to practice law as a trainee lawyer, after which you will have the right to plead.
If you are a lawyer in Saudi Arabia who has taken the examinations to obtain a license to practice law, you may now be asking how to obtain the certificate. One of the most frequently repeated questions is how to obtain the trainee lawyer certificate once the application has been accepted and the license issued. It is very simple: go to the Najiz portal, where you can view your training certificate and print it by clicking the Judicial Licenses icon on the website. If you encounter a technical problem, simply call the unified number provided for this purpose, which you will also find on the website. Alternatively, through the Najiz portal you can create a request containing an enquiry or complaint explaining the problem you encountered when requesting the certificate.
Following all the developments in the lawyers' regulatory framework in Saudi Arabia, practicing law is now subject to many conditions designed to advance the profession and make it more developed and professional. Some lawyers face problems as a result, and one of the best known is that their names are not listed — hence the question of what to do when some lawyers' names do not appear in the enquiry service on the Ministry's portal. If you are a licensed lawyer facing this problem, go to the dedicated website, Najiz, open the section for updates, then create a complaint or enquiry request describing the problem. Once the website's specialists have reviewed your problem, you will receive a solution and be informed of all the steps you need to take.
The Ministry of Justice in Saudi Arabia issues a number of different licenses for specific purposes, and people often ask what the statutory representative license it issues is. If you are not familiar with this type of license or its purpose, here is an explanation. Simply put, the statutory representative license is issued by the Ministry of Justice in Saudi Arabia under the title "License to Plead on Behalf of a Private Legal Entity". It includes the statutory representative's full name, identity and expiry date, the name of the legal entity and the date of the license, and may also contain other additional information. The statutory representative must carry this license while practicing in order to prove their legal capacity.
Practicing law is a profession many people aspire to, especially young people in Saudi Arabia, most of whom hope to plead before the courts and defend people's rights. As a result, there are many questions about how to study law and which path a student should take to specialize in law. If you are a young man or woman aspiring to become a lawyer, you must obtain a bachelor's degree in Islamic Sharia, in law, or in regulations (Anzima). No other specializations are accepted, whatever bachelor's degree you hold, so make sure you enroll in one of these specializations so that you can become a lawyer in the future.
A license to practice law is like any other license in Saudi Arabia: it has a start date and an end date, or expiry date, after which it is no longer valid and must be renewed so that the lawyer can continue practicing properly and lawfully. One of the most common questions about licenses to practice law is therefore the period set by the Saudi legislator within which you must apply to renew your license. Saudi law answers this clearly: a lawyer whose license is expiring must submit a renewal application at least three months before the expiry date stated on it, so that their practice is not affected and they do not have to stop working while waiting for the new license to be issued.
One of the best-known questions about the legal profession concerns the conditions for obtaining a license. These are as follows: the applicant must be a Saudi national (noting that non-Saudis may also practice law in certain cases); must hold a degree from a College of Sharia or a bachelor's degree in regulations from a Saudi university, or an equivalent qualification from outside the Kingdom — a diploma in regulations studies from the Institute of Public Administration is also accepted; must have at least two years of experience in the legal profession, or one year for holders of a master's degree; must be of good conduct and character; must not have served a prison sentence or been convicted of a crime; and, finally, must reside in the Kingdom.
Continuing with the practice of law in Saudi Arabia and the related licenses, a frequently repeated question from those interested in practicing law in the Kingdom is which diploma a person may use to apply for a lawyer's license so as to practice and plead before the courts like any other lawyer. Saudi law has answered this: no qualification, whatever its type, is accepted for registration on the roll of lawyers in the Kingdom except the higher diploma in regulations from the Institute of Public Administration and a bachelor's degree in law or Sharia from a Saudi university. Any other certificate or diploma outside this scope is not accepted and does not entitle you to apply to practice law.
Notarization is a profession closely linked to the practice of law. It too requires many conditions to be met before a person can practice it lawfully in Saudi Arabia; if any condition is missing, the application is void. Like the legal profession, it also requires a number of licenses so that your practice as a notary is legally valid and you do not face problems later. One of the most common questions about notarization is whether a notary's license requires a letter from the Ministry to a health center. The answer is yes: one of the essential conditions, which cannot be waived, is to attach a medical examination from a government hospital. The process is very simple and inexpensive.
The notarization profession also raises many questions, particularly from those wishing to practice it and from students of Sharia and law in Saudi Arabia, and many of these concern the financial side. As is well known, practicing as a notary, in the Kingdom and in most parts of the world, remains relatively inexpensive, particularly in terms of application costs. One of the most common questions concerns fees — specifically whether there are fees for the licenses issued to notaries in Saudi Arabia, and whether these are annual or paid only once in a notary's career. The Saudi legislator has expressly provided for annual fees, which the notary must pay every year when the license is issued.
Moving from one lawyer to another is very common in the legal profession, for reasons that vary from person to person — for example, to engage a more experienced lawyer. Many legal systems around the world impose certain conditions before a person can change the lawyer handling their case, and people often ask whether Saudi law does the same, with some suggesting that a certain period must pass before you can move to another lawyer. The answer is no: Saudi law does not require any specific period before you can change your lawyer or move from one lawyer to another; you can do so at any time.
Under Saudi law and most legal systems, one of the things a lawyer can do is apply to practice as a notary. Many lawyers wish to enter this field, for which the Saudi legislator requires a number of conditions to be met, both in terms of the lawyer's academic qualifications and financially. This has not always been easy to understand, and trainee lawyers who wish to become notaries still have many questions, which is entirely normal — we will clarify them simply. One of the questions most often asked is whether a trainee lawyer is eligible to apply to practice as a notary or whether this is not possible at all. If you are a lawyer asking the same question, the answer is that, as a trainee lawyer, you have every right to apply to enter the notarization profession.
The legal profession is an honorable one: your first duty as a lawyer is to defend, protect and safeguard people's rights, which naturally makes you a person of values whose conduct, principles and morals must be those of a principled person, a good citizen and a good human being. Among the things that tarnish the legal profession worldwide are behaviors that breach public morals, such as bribery, embezzlement and other crimes. These lead people to ask many questions about the character of lawyers, including whether a lawyer's name is struck off the roll if they are accused of a crime involving honor or integrity, or both. The answer is clear: yes, any lawyer who commits such a crime is struck off the roll and is subject to legal proceedings.
The technological development the world has seen extends to all services, whatever their type or content. Most organizations now offer their services online to reduce the pressure on them, making the work easier both for themselves and for citizens, who no longer have to visit repeatedly to request information, update their details or request a service. The same is true in the legal field, although the nature of legal work makes it somewhat different, which leads many people to ask whether this also applies to legal services in Saudi Arabia — in particular, whether a citizen can apply for a service by attending the General Directorate of Law Practice in person. The answer is, of course, no. Put more clearly and precisely, applications are not accepted in any form except through the Najiz portal, through which you can carry out the various legal services you need, with a very small number of necessary exceptions.
A percentage not exceeding 5% of the value of the claim, up to a maximum of one million riyals.
Sums of money that the person liable must pay to the competent department, in accordance with the provisions of the Law and its Implementing Regulations.
Court fees are calculated on the basis of the new assessed value.
Yes. The fees for claims that have been struck off or dismissed, where reconsideration is sought, are assessed at 25% of the fees for the first hearing of the claim, and the claimant bears the additional fees for the reconsideration even if judgment is given in their favor.
The person liable for the fees may object to the assessment within fifteen days from the date of being notified of it.
Non-payment of the fees does not affect the registration of the request or the determination of the claim in any court of first instance. For appeals in cassation and petitions for reconsideration, however, the applicant is given thirty days to pay the fees; otherwise their right to the request lapses and the judgment becomes final.
Where the amount of the fees is disputed, the person liable may object within fifteen days from the date of notification. Note that the court fees payment instrument is considered an enforceable instrument and is collected in accordance with the Implementing Regulations of the Law.
The fees are borne by all the parties who lose the case; the mechanism for apportioning them among those parties will be clarified when the Implementing Regulations of the Court Fees Law are issued.
The parties to the case bear the court fees equally, unless otherwise agreed.
If the case ends in judgment without the fees having been collected, the final assessment issued by the competent department is considered an enforceable instrument and is collected as determined by the Implementing Regulations. Court fees collected are deposited in the Ministry of Finance's current account with the Saudi Central Bank.
No. The legislator has excluded claims and requests falling within the jurisdiction of the personal status courts, except for appeals in cassation and petitions for reconsideration.
The length of litigation does not affect court fees; the fees depend on the judgment and the requests made.
Yes.
The Court Fees Department, which determines the value of the claim or requests in accordance with the Law or its Implementing Regulations and notifies the claimant or applicant when the claim or request is registered. The final assessment issued by the Department is considered an enforceable instrument and is collected as determined by the Implementing Regulations.
No, except for petitions for reconsideration.
The beneficiary will be notified that fees apply to the claim when submitting the statement of claim, and the payment invoice will be issued once the judgment becomes final. For requests relating to the case, an invoice is issued as soon as the request is submitted, although payment may be deferred until the judgment becomes final. Payment is made through the SADAD system.
On Thursday, 14/8/1443 AH.
The party against whom judgment is given bears the court fees set for the claim and related requests, or a portion of them, unless the Law or its Implementing Regulations provide otherwise, without prejudice to the right of the parties concerned to claim compensation. If the claimant is not entitled to part of their claims, they bear the portion relating to that part.
Court fees are refunded when it becomes clear that they were not payable by the person who paid them, or that the payer qualifies for an exemption, including:
The fees are collected once the judgment becomes final.
The length of litigation does not affect court fees; the fees depend on the judgment and the requests made.
If the court rules that it lacks jurisdiction, no new fees are payable for filing the claim before the competent court, unless the subject matter of the claim changes.
Issuing uncovered (bounced) cheques is a very serious and common legal problem worldwide, and it is also among the legal problems seen in transactions in Saudi Arabia. People therefore ask many questions about the procedures to follow when they receive an uncovered cheque, including what to do when the bank issues an objection slip confirming that a particular cheque is uncovered. The answer is that the cheque is stamped by the Saudi police, after which the holder has the right to request enforcement either in the place where the cheque was drawn or in the place of residence of the party against whom enforcement is sought.
Real estate is a very broad field covering many transactions, usually between the property owner and the buyer, along with other legal dispositions within this framework. For some real estate transactions, the Saudi legislator requires the person concerned to attend in person and does not accept a power of attorney or similar arrangements in any form. This leads people to ask questions, one of the most common being, where a decision is issued to evict a tenant from a property, whether the tenant must attend the eviction carried out by the relevant committee or may stay away. The Saudi legislator has answered this clearly and expressly in the law: the person subject to the eviction must attend the eviction carried out by the committee and may not stay away or refuse to attend.
Article 46 of the Enforcement Law is comprehensive, setting out all the procedures to be followed by the competent authorities and by the enforcement judge. Even so, many questions are still asked about it, particularly regarding the arrest of the person concerned, which authorities are competent to make the arrest, and when it is carried out. One of the most common questions is whether, when the provisions of the article are applied, the competent authority may arrest the person directly or whether an arrest order must be issued first, and when. The answer is that once the enforcement judge orders the imprisonment of the person against whom enforcement is sought, the authorities concerned must arrest and detain them.
Another common question in the field of enforcement is what to do when there are multiple enforcement requests before several enforcement courts and circuits in Saudi Arabia, and whether they can be consolidated so that a single court handles them. Answering this requires addressing several points. Once territorial jurisdiction is established, it cannot be removed except by a judicial procedure, which means the party against whom enforcement is sought cannot choose the court in which the requests are consolidated. However, the circuit that took the first enforcement measure may supervise the stages of enforcement and the distribution of the proceeds, and it may delegate the enforcement judge in another circuit to enforce against assets, as provided in Article 5 of the Saudi Enforcement Law.
Enforcement is considered highly complex by many Saudi citizens, so many questions are asked about it, including how long it takes to lift a suspension of services. This varies between legal systems, but what concerns us here is how long it usually takes in Saudi Arabia. If the enforcement circuit records a waiver, settlement or grace period, the measures are lifted electronically and directly by the circuit concerned. This covers travel bans, bans on issuing powers of attorney, SIMAH credit listings, enforcement detention, freezing of accounts, suspension of services and a number of other measures, which may continue to be implemented electronically by the authority concerned.
As noted above, the legal side of enforcement in Saudi Arabia involves a number of important procedures and measures, as well as time limits, some of which lapse once a set period has passed. Among the articles in which time plays an important role is Article 34 of the Enforcement Law, as issuing this decision is subject to a specific period. One of the questions most often asked is therefore how long the Article 34 decision takes. The answer is as follows: if two working days pass from the time the request is referred without the Article 34 decision being issued, a request to issue it may be submitted — through the Najiz portal, of course.
The Article 46 decision is another decision that is widely discussed in Saudi law and raises many questions, including how long it takes to be issued. If you are interested in the answer, it is as follows: where the Article 46 decision is issued and is not served within a maximum of twenty days, a payment notice for a public announcement is sent to the enforcement applicant. The announcement is published three days after payment, and the Article 46 decision is applied five days after the announcement is published. If any of these steps is delayed by two days, the enforcement applicant may request that the announcement be published in the newspapers, noting that this takes eight days after the announcement fee is paid.
