Article 36 of the Saudi Civil Defense Law

This article specifies when the Civil Defense Law begins to apply, and contains two provisions:

1. Publication: the Law is published in the Official Gazette, so that people and the bodies concerned know of it.
2. Taking effect: the Law is not applied immediately on publication, but six months after the date of its publication.

The apparent reason for this period is to give bodies and individuals time to prepare for what the Law imposes. The Law is based on many bodies taking part in civil defense work, and it sets penalties for violating its provisions and regulations, so it was appropriate to give a period in which those concerned learn their obligations before they become enforceable.

The start of effect is counted from the date of publication, not from the date the decree was issued. The article does not state the publication date itself, so it should be checked in the Official Gazette when the day of taking effect needs to be determined precisely.

This article completes the final provisions of the Law; Article 35 provides that the Law repeals everything that conflicts with its provisions. As for amendments later made to the Law by royal decrees, each amendment has its own date, and this article does not deal with them.

The article imposes no direct obligation on anyone, but it matters to someone who needs to know which law applies to an event on a particular date, and a lawyer specializing in administrative matters can be consulted on that.