SAUDI ARABIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Dana Halwani and Leanne Farsi, Derayah LLPC
Courts and Tribunals Saudi Arabia has courts that are administered by the Ministry of Justice, and specialised tribunals. The General Courts (also known as the Sharia Courts), the Commercial Courts and the Labour Courts are under the administration of the Ministry of Justice. Other specialised tribunals (whose names mostly explain their scope of jurisdiction fully) include the following: • the Administrative Court, also known as the Board of Grievances, which has exclusive jurisdiction over disputes to which the government or government agencies are party; • the Committee for the Resolution of Securities Disputes, which deals with disputes falling within the ambit of the Capital Markets Regulation and its Implementing Rules; • the Committee for Banking Disputes; and • the Committee for the Settlement of Insurance Disputes. Administration of justice The past decade has seen considerable change to the administration of justice in Saudi Arabia, which was initiated under the Judiciary Regulation (Royal Decree No M/78 of 19 Ramadan 1428 Hejra corresponding to 1 October 2007). The Board of Grievances used to have jurisdiction in commercial disputes, but this was transferred to the newly formed Commercial Courts in October 2017, and the definition of commercial dis - putes was widened to include construction cases and commercial property disputes. Labour disputes used to be administered by the Ministry of Labour’s Com - mission for the Settlement of Labour Disputes, but this jurisdiction was transferred to the new Labour Courts in October 2018. Commercial courts Furthermore, the Commercial Courts Regulation (Roy - al Decree No M/93 of 15 Sha’ban 1441 Hejra corre - sponding to 8 April 2020) came into force on 16 June 2020, and brought about further innovations to the Commercial Courts. Greater emphasis is placed upon mediating commercial disputes instead of resorting to litigation, and Article 6 provides that, where both
parties to a commercial transaction are merchants, they may utilise alternative forms of dispute resolution. Electronic procedures Commercial Courts may now engage the services of the private sector for functions such as mediation, notification and judgment delivery. Electronic filing procedures have been introduced, and several court- related procedures may be performed online, such as the exchange of judgments, memoranda and objec - tions. Parties seeking to litigate commercial claims are sub - ject to a limitation period of five years from the date on which the cause of action arose. Exceptions to this rule exist, such as where the court deems that the plaintiff has a valid excuse for bringing the claim after the expiry of the limitation period. The past few years have also seen a shift from court proceedings being held in person to being held on online platforms, in no small part in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even after regular governmental services resumed in June 2020 following the initial lockdown in the Kingdom, hearings are now mainly held online. Evidence The Evidence Regulation regulates civil and commer - cial transactions. It contains provisions controlling the presentation, examination and interpretation by the courts of evidence, and regulates admissions, oral testimonies, cross-examinations, the taking of oaths, expert evidence and written and digital evidence. Experts Where technical or complex financial issues are raised, it is common for the judges to appoint an expert or experts as advisers to the tribunal. The tribunal has discretion over who it appoints as an expert, although as per Article 110 of the Evidence Regulation, should the parties agree on the selection of one or more experts, the court shall abide by their agreement. The court also has discretion over whether or not it accepts or disregards all or part of the expert’s find - ings; however, ordinarily, the determination of techni - cal or complex financial issues falls to the expert.
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