In force
Saudi Agriculture Law
نظام الزراعة
Regulates agricultural activity in Saudi Arabia. It concerns farmers, agricultural businesses and the authorities that supervise the sector.
- Articles
- 37
- In force
- 37
- Amended
- 0
- Issued
- 10/8/1442 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم (م/64) وتاريخ 1442/8/10هـ · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم (431) وتاريخ 1442/8/3هـ.
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Agriculture Law by topic
Definitions and Aims of the Agriculture Law6 articlesAgricultural Register and Agricultural Licenses4 articlesAgricultural Product Card and Inspection3 articlesPesticides and Veterinary Preparations1 articleAgricultural Waste and Emergencies2 articlesPlant Resources and Organic Farming2 articlesLivestock3 articlesLive Aquatic Resources and Fishing3 articlesAgricultural Quarantine and Epidemic Control5 articlesAgriculture Violations and Penalties9 articlesPesticide Crimes and Animal Abuse4 articles
Articles of the Saudi Agriculture Law
- Article 1The article defines the terms of the Agriculture Law, such as the agricultural sector and its resources, wild organisms, production inputs, the agricultural registry, licenses, facilities and organic farming.
- Article 2The Agriculture Law aims to regulate, manage, protect, develop and sustain the agricultural sector, contribute to food security and rural development, and regulate its activities.
- Article 3The article makes the Ministry the authority that issues the agricultural registry, licenses, approvals and certificates for agricultural activities, facilities, import and export, and prohibits practice without them.
- Article 4The article prohibits trading in or offering agricultural sector products for sale without a product card from the Ministry or a service provider, and leaves the covered products to the Implementing Regulations.
- Article 5The article gives the Ministry or a service provider supervision, oversight and inspection of agricultural and veterinary facilities and obtaining documents and samples, with coordination where needed.
- Article 6The Ministry, in coordination with the Food and Drug Authority, handles approvals for veterinary preparations and for importing, exporting and registering pesticides, and sets conditions for their use and regulates their trade.
- Article 7The Ministry determines how to treat and dispose of agricultural and veterinary waste and infected resources; this may be done for a fee, with the owner compensated for resources destroyed.
- Article 8The Minister, in coordination with the relevant authorities, takes the necessary measures in any crisis, emergency, disaster or imminent danger threatening the agricultural sector, people or public health.
- Article 9The Ministry prepares plans to encourage and attract the private sector to take part in agricultural activities and services, and provides the necessary information, in line with national policies and the Implementing Regulations.
- Article 10Agricultural services are provided by the Ministry or by service providers, in accordance with the provisions, controls and conditions set out in the Implementing Regulations.
- Article 11A service provider may not assign any of its rights arising from the license, or dispose of the license, without the Ministry's approval.
- Article 12The Ministry regulates plant resources, including licensing their activities and shops, banning varieties, regulating good practices, banning or restricting water-intensive crops, and temporary bans on planting.
- Article 13The Ministry supervises organic farming and requires practitioners to hold an organic certification, the Authority prepares inspection, labeling and import requirements, and describing a non-organic product as organic is prohibited.
- Article 14The Ministry regulates animal resources, including licensing activities and shops, biosecurity conditions, import and export, taking custody of stray animals, and registering, tagging and immunizing animals.
- Article 15The article requires government bodies and everyone connected with animal resources to cooperate with the Ministry, by providing information, applying measures, reporting diseases and mandatory registration and tagging.
- Article 16The Ministry follows diseases and epidemics affecting agricultural sector resources in other countries, and the Kingdom's representations abroad inform it of the information they have as quickly as possible.
- Article 17The Ministry regulates live aquatic resources and fishing and production work, and may designate and regulate aquaculture project sites, regulate fishing ports, and help fishermen.
- Article 18Foreign fishing or diving ships may not extract any kind of live aquatic resource in the Kingdom's marine areas except under a license from the Minister.
- Article 19The General Directorate of Border Guard, in cooperation with the Ministry, monitors fishermen, their equipment and fishing methods, applies its instructions, and catches fishing violations.
- Article 20The Ministry regulates quarantine procedures for the agricultural sector and wild organisms to limit diseases, and may establish quarantine centers and operate them directly or through a service provider.
- Article 21The article requires anyone who discovers an infectious disease, pest or epidemic to report to the Ministry at once, allows declaring quarantine areas and banning movement in them, and the Ministry bears compensation for the consequences of measures.
- Article 22The article prohibits moving or trading infected or suspected resources or products without the Ministry's approval, allows taking custody of them, and bars sending samples abroad without approval.
- Article 23The article lists violations of the Law: concealing information or giving it misleadingly to the Ministry or inspectors, obstructing inspectors' work, and violating license conditions and controls.
- Article 24The text regulates Ministry inspectors in catching and investigating violations, the duty to give them access, their powers of stopping, inspection, sampling, custody and closure, and assigning some tasks to companies.
- Article 25A violator of the Law or Implementing Regulations is punished by a fine of up to SAR 15 million, license suspension of up to a year, license cancellation, or facility closure of up to a month; the Minister issues violation tables.
- Article 26The article allows the Ministry to impose a fine of up to SAR 100,000 and a daily fine, establishes committees to decide violations and objections, and allows a grievance before the Administrative Court.
- Article 27The article gives the Article 26 committee power to order the violator to remove the violation, impose a daily fine, double the fine for repeats within 3 years, publish the decision, and request confiscation.
- Article 28Anyone who manufactures or imports a banned or adulterated pesticide, harms animals, brings in banned resources, or obstructs inspectors is punished by up to 5 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to SAR 10 million, or either.
- Article 29The Public Prosecution, in accordance with its law, investigates the violations referred to in Article 28 of the Agriculture Law and prosecutes them before the competent court.
- Article 30Anyone who attempts to violate the Law or Implementing Regulations is punished by no more than half the prescribed penalty, and on repeat by the same penalty prescribed for the violation.
- Article 31The competent court handles the violations in Article 28 and their penalties, and may order confiscation, a daily fine, doubled penalties for repeat offenses and publication of a summary of the judgment.
- Article 32The Minister or his delegate may suspend any agricultural activity as a precaution when an urgent violation is caught, with referral within 5 days and a review of continued suspension within 10 days.
- Article 33The Minister grants a financial reward of no more than SAR 50,000 to non-inspectors who help uncover violations of the Agriculture Law and its Implementing Regulations.
- Article 34The Agriculture Law does not prejudice the laws issued within the framework of the Gulf Cooperation Council or the Kingdom's obligations under the relevant international agreements.
- Article 35The Minister may delegate some of his tasks under the Agriculture Law to public bodies linked organizationally to the Ministry or to him.
- Article 36The Minister issues the Implementing Regulations of the Agriculture Law within 90 days of the Law's publication in the Official Gazette, and they take effect from the date the Law takes effect.
- Article 37The Agriculture Law takes effect 90 days after the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.