Article 15 of the Saudi Emergency Law

This article gives the National Emergency Management Authority a means of obtaining the information it needs, and imposes a corresponding obligation on a range of entities.

Who is bound?

• Public entities, which under Article 1 are ministries, authorities, departments, public institutions and the like, including entities belonging to the regulatory and judicial authorities.
• Private entities, such as companies and establishments.
• Any other entity the Supreme Emergency Council specifies.

What are they bound to do? To provide the Authority with any information or documents it requests.

For what purposes?

• Planning or preparing for the emergency event.
• Identifying the risks related to it.
• Evaluating, and developing, response plans and recovery plans.

Note that the obligation does not depend on a state of emergency having been declared; its purposes include planning and preparedness, which are activities that precede the occurrence of the event. The obligation is also tied to the Authority's request and to the purposes stated in the text.

This is consistent with the Authority's role in Article 11 as the main reference for emergency management affairs. Article 16 follows, classifying information and documents obtained under the law as classified under the Law of Penalties for Publishing and Disclosing Classified Documents and Information unless they are available to the public, which reassures private entities that what they provide is protected. An establishment that has received a request from the Authority and needs to understand its limits can consult a lawyer who specializes in administrative cases.