In force Last amended 23/4/1442 AH
Saudi Commercial Papers Law
نظام الأوراق التجارية
The Commercial Papers Law of Saudi Arabia. This page presents the official Arabic text of each article with plain-English explanations.
- Articles
- 121
- In force
- 121
- Amended
- 4
- Issued
- 11/10/1383 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم 37 بتاريخ 11 / 10 / 1383 · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم 692 بتاريخ 26 / 9 / 1383
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Commercial Papers Law by topic
Articles of the Saudi Commercial Papers Law
الباب الأول: الكمبيالةArticles 1–86
- Article 1The article sets out the eight particulars a bill of exchange must contain, including the word "bill of exchange", the amount, the name of the drawee, the due date and the drawer's signature.
- Article 2An instrument lacking the particulars of Article 1 is not a bill of exchange, except where the due date, place of payment, drawee's domicile or place of issue is missing, each of which has a substitute rule.
- Article 3The article permits three ways of drawing a bill of exchange: to the drawer's own order, on the drawer himself, or for the account of another person.
- Article 4The article permits stipulating that a bill of exchange be paid at the domicile of a person other than the drawee, whether in the drawee's town or in another.
- Article 5If the amount of a bill written in words differs from the amount in figures, the words prevail; if the amount is written several times and differs, the smaller amount prevails.
- Article 6Article 6 provides that any stipulation of interest on the amount of a bill of exchange is treated as if it had not been written.
- Article 7Article 7 determines the capacity of a person bound by a bill of exchange under the law of their domicile, requires a Saudi to be 18, and upholds the obligation of a person lacking capacity who signs in a country that treats them as fully capable.
- Article 8Article 8 makes the obligations of non-merchant minors and persons with no capacity arising from their signatures on a bill of exchange void as to them only, and they may rely on this against every holder, even one in good faith.
- Article 9Article 9 provides that signatures on a bill of exchange that do not bind their signers, such as forged, fictitious or incapable persons' signatures, do not affect the validity of the other signatories' obligations.
- Article 10Article 10 makes a person who signs a bill of exchange on behalf of another without authority, or who exceeds the limits of their authority, personally bound, and if they pay it, they acquire the rights of the person they claimed to represent.
- Article 11Article 11 makes the drawer of a bill of exchange guarantee its acceptance and payment, and allows the drawer to stipulate exemption from guaranteeing acceptance but not payment.
- Article 12Article 12 allows a bill of exchange to be transferred by endorsement even if not expressly drawn to order, bars endorsement where the drawer writes "not to order", and permits endorsement to the drawee, the drawer or any other obligor.
- Article 13Article 13 requires an endorsement to be free of any condition, treats a condition attached to it as if not written, makes a partial endorsement void, and treats an endorsement to bearer as a blank endorsement.
- Article 14Article 14 sets out how an endorsement is written on a bill of exchange or an attached paper and signed by the endorser, permits a blank endorsement, and states the holder's options in that case.
- Article 15Article 15 makes the endorser guarantee acceptance and payment of the bill of exchange unless otherwise stipulated, and lets the endorser prohibit re-endorsement, in which case the endorser does not guarantee to those who receive the bill by a later endorsement.
- Article 16Article 16 treats the possessor of a bill of exchange as its lawful holder if they prove their right by an unbroken series of endorsements, and protects a holder from having to give up a lost bill unless they obtained it in bad faith or by gross fault.
- Article 17Article 17 provides that endorsement transfers all rights arising from the bill of exchange, and bars a defendant from raising against the holder defenses based on their personal relationship with the drawer or earlier holders unless the holder intended to harm the debtor.
- Article 18Article 18 regulates endorsement for collection with words such as "value for collection": the holder exercises the bill's rights but may endorse it only as agent, faces only defenses available against the endorser, and the agency does not end on the principal's death or loss of capacity.
- Article 19Article 19 regulates pledge endorsement with words such as "value in security" or "value in pledge": the holder exercises the bill's rights, an endorsement by the holder counts as agency, and the debtor may raise personal defenses against the endorser only if the holder intended to harm the debtor.
- Article 20Article 20 provides that an endorsement after the due date has the effects of an earlier endorsement, that one after protest for non-payment or after the protest deadline has the effects of an assignment of a right, and that backdating an endorsement is forgery.
- Article 21Article 21 allows the holder or any possessor of a bill of exchange to present it to the drawee for acceptance until its due date, and regulates the conditions the drawer and endorsers may set on presentment for acceptance.
- Article 22Article 22 requires a bill of exchange payable at a fixed period after sight to be presented for acceptance within one year of its date, allows the drawer to shorten or lengthen this period, and allows endorsers to shorten it.
- Article 23Article 23 allows the drawee to request a second presentment for acceptance on the day after the first, does not accept a claim that this request was refused unless it is recorded in the protest document, and does not oblige the holder to hand over the bill.
- Article 24Article 24 sets the form of acceptance of a bill of exchange, written on it with the word "accepted" or similar words and signed by the drawee, requires dating the acceptance in certain cases, and lets the holder record an undated acceptance by protest.
- Article 25Article 25 requires acceptance of a bill of exchange to be unconditional while allowing it to be limited to part of the amount, treats a modification of any other term as a refusal of acceptance, and keeps the acceptor bound by what the acceptance states.
- Article 26Article 26 treats the drawee's striking out of their acceptance before returning the bill as a refusal of acceptance, presumes the striking out happened before return unless the contrary is proved, and binds the drawee to acceptance notified in writing.
- Article 27Article 27 provides that where the drawer designates a place of payment other than the drawee's domicile without naming who is to pay there, the drawee may name that person at acceptance, failing which the acceptor must pay at the place of payment.
- Article 28Article 28 makes the drawee who accepts a bill of exchange bound to pay its value on the due date, and gives the holder, even if the drawer, a direct action against the acceptor for everything that may be claimed under Articles 60 and 61.
- Article 29Article 29 requires the drawer of a bill of exchange, or the person for whose account it is drawn, to provide funds for payment with the drawee, without relieving a drawer drawing for another's account of personal liability toward endorsers and holders.
- Article 30Article 30 sets when funds for payment of a bill exist, makes acceptance a presumption of them, puts the burden of proving them on the drawer alone, and discharges the drawer to the extent of funds proved to have lasted to the protest deadline.
- Article 31Article 31 passes ownership of the funds for payment of a bill of exchange by operation of law to its successive holders, and gives the holder the same rights even if the funds are less than the value of the bill.
- Article 32Article 32 sets the order of holders of bills of exchange falling due on the same date when they compete for funds for payment that are not enough for all of them.
- Article 33Article 33 obliges the drawer, or whoever acts for the drawer by law on bankruptcy, to hand the holder of a bill of exchange the documents needed to obtain the funds for payment, at the holder's expense.
- Article 34Article 34 sets out the holder's right to the funds for payment of a bill of exchange when the drawer or the drawee goes bankrupt, according to the nature of those funds.
- Article 35Article 35 allows payment of all or part of the amount of a bill of exchange to be guaranteed by a surety (aval), who may be any person, even one who signed the bill.
- Article 36Article 36 sets the form of the surety (aval) and where it is written, who is treated as the person guaranteed if no name is given, and allows it to be given on a separate paper.
- Article 37Article 37 makes the surety's obligation the same as that of the person guaranteed, valid even if the guaranteed obligation is void for a reason other than a defect of form, and transfers the bill's rights to the surety if he or she pays it.
- Article 38يجوز أن تسحب الكمبيالة مستحقة الوفاء لدى الاطلاع أو بعد مدة معينة من الاطلاع أو بعد مدة معينة من تاريخ إنشاء الكمبيالة أو في يوم معين. ولا…
- Article 39Article 39 makes a bill of exchange payable at sight payable as soon as it is presented, requires presentment for payment within one year of its date, and allows this period to be altered.
- Article 40Article 40 sets the start of the maturity period of a bill payable at a fixed period after sight, and the rule for an undated acceptance where no protest is made.
- Article 41Article 41 sets the rules for calculating the maturity date of a bill drawn for one or more months, and the meaning of the beginning, middle and end of the month and of half a month.
- Article 42Article 42 makes the calendar of the country of payment the one used to fix the maturity of a bill of exchange where it differs from that of the country of issue, unless a contrary intention is clear.
- Article 43Article 43 requires the holder of a bill of exchange to present it for payment on its due date, and treats presenting it to a legally recognized clearing house as presentment for payment.
- Article 44Article 44 allows the paying drawee to ask for the bill signed as paid, bars the holder from refusing partial payment, and regulates the effects of partial payment.
- Article 45Article 45 bars forcing the holder to collect a bill before maturity, places the consequences of early payment on the drawee, and discharges a person who pays on the due date without valid opposition.
- Article 46Article 46 requires a bill stipulated payable in money not in circulation in the Kingdom to be paid in money in circulation there, and sets the rate used and the holder's option if the debtor is late.
- Article 47Article 47 allows any debtor on a bill not presented for payment on its due date to deposit its amount with the body designated by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, at the holder's expense and responsibility.
- Article 48Article 48 limits opposition to payment of a bill of exchange to three cases: its loss, the bankruptcy of its holder, or an event affecting the holder's capacity.
- Article 49Article 49 allows payment of a lost bill of exchange to be claimed on another copy of it, and requires an order from the competent body and a surety if the accepted copy is lost.
- Article 50Article 50 allows a person who has lost a bill of exchange and cannot present another copy to obtain an order for its payment, provided the person proves ownership and has it registered.
- Article 51Article 51 requires the owner of a lost bill, if payment is refused after demand, to record that in a protest document drawn up on the day after the due date and notified to the obligors.
- Article 52Article 52 allows the owner of a lost bill to obtain a copy of it by going back through the endorsers to the drawer, and payment on the copy may be requested only by order of the competent body and with a surety.
- Article 53Article 53 puts payment made on the due date by order of the competent body on the debtor's account, and discharges the surety after three years if no claim or action is made.
- Article 54Article 54 requires refusal to accept or pay a bill of exchange to be recorded in an official document called a protest, and sets its contents, registration and the publication of non-payment protests.
- Article 55Article 55 sets the deadlines for protests for non-acceptance and non-payment, the effect of a protest for non-acceptance, and the cases of the drawee's suspension of payment or bankruptcy.
- Article 56Article 56 requires the holder to notify the drawer and the endorser who endorsed to the holder of non-acceptance or non-payment within four working days, and regulates the chain of notices and the consequence of delay.
- Article 57Article 57 allows the drawer or an endorser to relieve the holder of making a protest by a "recourse without expenses" or "without protest" clause, and sets the scope of its effect and who bears protest expenses.
- Article 58Article 58 makes the drawer, acceptor, endorser and surety of a bill jointly and severally liable to its holder, who may claim against them individually or together in no particular order.
- Article 59Article 59 gives the holder a right of recourse against the drawer, endorsers and others if the bill is not paid at maturity, and before maturity in specified cases, and allows guarantors to request a grace period.
- Article 60Article 60 sets what the holder claims on recourse, namely the principal amount and expenses, less the official discount rate if recourse is before maturity.
- Article 61Article 61 allows a person who paid a bill of exchange to claim from his or her guarantors the whole amount paid and the expenses incurred.
- Article 62Article 62 gives a person who pays a bill on recourse the right to receive it with the protest document and a receipt, and regulates the paying endorser's rights and those of a person who pays the unaccepted portion.
- Article 63Article 63 bars granting any grace period for paying the value of a bill of exchange or for taking any procedure relating to it, except in the cases provided for in the law.
- Article 64Article 64 extends the time limits for presenting a bill and making a protest in case of force majeure, obliges the holder to give notice, and allows recourse without presentment or protest if the event lasts more than 30 days.
- Article 65Article 65 moves a claim for payment of a bill and its procedures from an official holiday to the next working day, and explains how its time limits are calculated.
- Article 66Article 66 allows a person with a right of recourse to satisfy it by drawing a re-draft payable at sight on one of the guarantors, and explains what its value includes and how its amount is fixed.
- Article 67The Article allows the holder of a bill of exchange on which a protest for non-payment has been made to place a precautionary attachment on the movables of any party liable on it, by an order from the authority designated by the Minister of Commerce and Industry.
- Article 68The Article allows naming someone to accept or pay a bill if needed, and acceptance or payment by intervention for any debtor exposed to recourse; the intervenor must give notice within two working days.
- Article 69The Article sets when acceptance by intervention takes place, restricts the holder's recourse before maturity where someone is designated to accept or pay, and lets the holder refuse acceptance by intervention in other cases.
- Article 70The Article requires acceptance by intervention to be written on the bill itself and signed by the intervenor, naming the person for whom it is made; otherwise it is considered made for the drawer.
- Article 71The Article makes the acceptor by intervention liable as the person for whom intervention was made is liable, lets that person and their guarantors pay and take back the bill, and discharges the acceptor if the bill is not presented in time.
- Article 72The Article allows payment of a bill by intervention whenever the holder has a right of recourse at or before maturity, provided the full amount is paid by the day after the last day for protest.
- Article 73The Article requires the holder to present the bill to all who accepted it by intervention or were designated to pay it, if they are domiciled at the place of payment, and to protest on time, failing which some parties are released.
- Article 74The Article provides that a bill holder who refuses payment by intervention loses the right of recourse against anyone who would have been discharged by that payment.
- Article 75The Article requires payment by intervention to be evidenced by a receipt on the bill naming the person for whom it is made, failing which it is treated as made for the drawer, with the bill and protest handed to the payer.
- Article 76The Article gives the person paying by intervention the bill's rights against the person for whom payment was made and those liable to them, bars re-endorsement, discharges later endorsers, and prefers the payer who discharges the most parties.
- Article 77The Article allows a bill to be drawn in several identical, numbered copies, and lets the holder request copies at their own expense through the endorsers up to the drawer, unless the bill states it is a sole copy.
- Article 78The Article makes payment on one copy of a bill discharging, while the drawee stays liable on each copy it accepted and did not take back, and an endorser stays liable on the copies they signed and did not take back.
- Article 79The Article requires the person who sends a copy for acceptance to state on the other copies who holds it, obliges that holder to hand it over, and makes recourse conditional on proof by protest if the holder refuses.
- Article 80The Article lets a bill holder make exact reproductions with all endorsements and particulars plus a note that copying ends there, and gives the reproduction the original's rules on endorsement and aval.
- Article 81The Article requires the possessor of the original to be named in the reproduction and to hand it to the holder, makes protest a condition of recourse if refused, and voids endorsements on the original after a restriction to the reproduction.
- Article 82The Article provides that where the text of a bill is altered, signatories after the alteration are liable on the altered text and signatories before it on the original text.
- Article 83The Article makes a negligent holder lose rights against the drawer, endorsers and others except the acceptor once presentment or protest periods lapse, and limits the drawer's benefit to proof that cover was provided.
- Article 84The Article sets the periods after which bill claims are not heard: three years against the acceptor, one year for the holder's claims against the drawer and endorsers, and six months for endorsers' claims.
- Article 85The Article provides that the bar periods for bill claims run from the last procedural step once a claim is brought, and do not run if a judgment is issued for the debt or the debtor acknowledges it in a way that renews it.
- Article 86The Article, as published, provides that interruption of the periods has no effect except as regards the person against whom the step interrupting them was taken.
الباب الثاني: السند لأمرArticles 87–90
- Article 87The Article lists the mandatory particulars of a promissory note: the order clause, an unconditional promise to pay a fixed sum, maturity, place of payment, payee, date and place of issue, and the maker's signature.
- Article 88The Article provides that a note lacking a mandatory particular is not a promissory note, except where the maturity date, place of payment or place of issue is missing, as the Article explains.
- Article 89The Article makes the bill of exchange rules on endorsement, aval, payment, protest and the bar on hearing claims apply to promissory notes, to the extent they are not inconsistent with the note's nature.
- Article 90The Article makes the maker of a promissory note liable like the acceptor of a bill, and requires a note payable at a fixed period after sight to be presented to the maker for a dated, signed endorsement or a protest.
الباب الثالث: الشيكArticles 91–121
- Article 91The Article lists the mandatory particulars of a check: the word check, an unconditional order to pay a fixed sum, the drawee's name, place of payment, date and place of issue, and the drawer's signature.
- Article 92The Article provides that an instrument lacking a check particular listed in Article 91 is not a check, unless the missing particular is the place of payment or the place of issue.
- Article 93The Article requires checks issued in the Kingdom and payable there to be drawn on a bank, and treats instruments drawn on anyone other than a bank as invalid checks.
- Article 94The Article bars issuing a check unless the drawer has funds with the drawee that can be disposed of by check at the time of issue, and requires the drawer to prove cover if denied; lack of cover does not void the check.
- Article 95The Article allows a check to be payable to a named person with or without an order clause, to a named person with a not-to-order clause, or to bearer, and sets when a check counts as a bearer check.
- Article 96The Article allows a check to be drawn to the drawer's own order or for another person's account, and bars drawing it on the drawer himself except between branches of one bank, provided it is not a bearer check.
- Article 97The Article makes the drawer of a check guarantor of its payment, and treats any clause by which the drawer exempts himself from this guarantee as if it had not been written.
- Article 98The Article says a check payable to a named person circulates by endorsement unless marked not to order, in which case it passes by assignment of the right, and regulates endorsement to the drawer and the drawee.
- Article 99The Article says a bearer check circulates by mere delivery, and that endorsing it makes the endorser liable under the rules of recourse without turning it into an order check.
- Article 100The Article bars the drawee from accepting a check, allows it to certify the check by a note that cover exists, and does not allow it to refuse certification where cover is sufficient.
- Article 101The Article allows payment of all or part of a check's amount to be guaranteed by aval from a third party other than the drawee, or from one of the signatories of the check.
- Article 102The Article makes a check payable on sight, voids any contrary statement, and requires payment on the day of presentment even if presented before the date written on it.
- Article 103The Article requires a check drawn and payable in the Kingdom to be presented for payment within one month, and one drawn abroad and payable in the Kingdom within three months, from its stated date of issue.
- Article 104The Article provides that where a check is drawn between two places with different calendars, its date of issue is converted to the corresponding day in the calendar of the place of payment.
- Article 105The Article lets the drawee pay a check after its presentment period, limits the drawer's stop-payment opposition before the period ends to specific cases, and provides that death or bankruptcy does not change the check's effects.
- Article 106The Article provides that if several checks are presented together and cover is insufficient for all, their dates of drawing are taken into account, and the check with the earlier number is preferred if the book and date are the same.
- Article 107The Article governs payment in the Kingdom of a check stipulated in a currency not in circulation there: payment in local currency at the rate on the day of payment, with a choice for the holder and rules for special cases.
- Article 108The Article gives the holder of a check the right of recourse against those liable, jointly or individually, if the check was presented on time and not paid and the refusal is proved by protest or by a statement from the drawee or a clearing house.
- Article 109The Article requires refusal to pay a check to be proved in the manner set in Article 108 before the presentment periods expire, or on the next working day if the check was presented on the last day.
- Article 110The Article allows a check, other than a bearer check, to be drawn in several identical copies if drawn in one country and payable in another, each copy being numbered, failing which it is treated as a separate check.
- Article 111The Article lets the drawer and holder cross a check with two parallel lines on its face, distinguishes general and special crossing, and treats striking out the crossing or the bank's name as if not done.
- Article 112The Article restricts payment of a crossed check: a generally crossed check is paid only to a customer of the drawee or a bank, and a specially crossed one only to the named bank or its customer if it is the drawee.
- Article 113The Article lets the drawer or holder bar cash payment of a check with the words credit to account, so the drawee may settle it only by book entries, and striking out the words has no effect.
- Article 114The Article makes a drawee that does not observe the preceding rules liable for compensation for the damage, not exceeding the amount of the check.
- Article 115The Article makes a check holder lose rights against the drawer, endorsers and others except the drawee if the presentment or protest periods lapse, with the drawer benefiting only on stated conditions.
- Article 116The Article bars recourse claims by the check holder against those liable six months after the presentment period ends, and claims among those liable six months after payment or the start of the claim.
- Article 117The Article applies to checks, alongside their own rules, the bill of exchange rules in specific Articles of the Law, to the extent they are not inconsistent with a check's nature.
- Article 118The Article punishes with up to 3 years' imprisonment or a fine of up to SAR 50,000, or both, anyone who commits in bad faith one of the specified check offenses, with a heavier penalty for repeat offenders.Amended M/45
- Article 119The Article fines a drawee up to SAR 100,000 if it refuses in bad faith to pay a valid check with cover and no opposition, or knowingly declares less cover than it holds.Amended M/45
- Article 120The Article fines up to SAR 10,000 anyone who issues an undated or wrongly dated check, draws one on a non-bank, or pays or receives through clearing an undated check.Amended M/45
- Article 121The Article allows a conviction judgment under the Commercial Papers Law to order publication of the convicted persons' names, the judgment determining how.
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