SAUDI ARABIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Dana Halwani and Leanne Farsi, Derayah LLPC
Administration of justice The past decade has seen considerable change to the administration of justice in Saudi Arabia, which was initiated under the Judiciary Regu - lation (Royal Decree No M/78 of 19 Ramadan 1428 Hejra corresponding to 1 October 2007). The Board of Grievances used to have jurisdic - tion in commercial disputes, but this was trans - ferred to the newly formed Commercial Courts in October 2017, and the definition of commer - cial disputes was widened to include construc - tion cases and commercial property disputes. Labour disputes used to be administered by the Ministry of Labour’s Commission for the Settle - ment of Labour Disputes, but this jurisdiction was transferred to the new Labour Courts in October 2018. Commercial Courts Furthermore, the Commercial Courts Regula - tion (Royal Decree No M/93 of 15 Sha’ban 1441 Hejra corresponding 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 ser - vices of the private sector for functions such as mediation, notification and judgment delivery. Electronic filing procedures have been intro - duced, and several court-related procedures may be performed online, such as the exchange of judgments, memoranda and objections. Parties seeking to litigate commercial claims are subject to a limitation period of five years from the date on which the cause of action arose.
example, the sections on employment contracts and insurance merely confirm that they are gov - erned by the existing statutes. Article 104 of the Civil Transactions Regulation confirms the established rule that clear contract terms must be applied as written, reflecting the Islamic law maxim “the contract is the law of the parties” ( Al Aqd Shari’at Al Muta’aqdin ). Courts may only seek to ascertain the parties’ common intention if the contract’s wording is unclear. In such situations, judges may have regard to, for example: • custom; • the circumstances and nature of the transac - tion; and • equality in bargaining power. Courts and Tribunals Saudi Arabia has courts that are administered by the Ministry of Justice, and specialised tri - bunals. 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 most - ly 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 gov - ernment or government agencies are party; • the Committee for the Resolution of Securi - ties 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 Insur - ance Disputes.
713 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook