Article 1 of the Saudi Civil Society Associations Law

This is the definitions Article of the Law of Civil Society Associations and Organizations, and it fixes the meaning of the terms wherever they appear in it:

• The Center: the National Center for Non-Profit Sector Development.
• The Council: the board of directors of the Center.
• The Regulations: the Implementing Regulations of the Law.
• The association: the civil society association, and the organization: the civil society organization.
• The basic regulation: the basic regulation of the association or the organization, meaning its own internal rules, which differs from the Implementing Regulations of the Law.
• The fund: the Fund for Supporting Associations.
• The supervising body: the government body within whose competence the activity of the association or organization falls; for example, a health association's supervising body is the government body responsible for health.
• The competent body: the body the Council of Ministers designates.

Amendment: this Article was amended by Council of Ministers Resolution No. (618) dated 20/10/1442 AH, so that the definition "the Center: the National Center for Non-Profit Sector Development" replaced the definition of "the Ministry", and the definition "the Council: the board of directors of the Center" replaced the definition of "the Minister".

It is important to distinguish between the "supervising body", which is tied to the association's activity, and the "competent body", which the Council of Ministers designates.