Article 31 of the Saudi Emergency Law

This article addresses a practical question: if an official or body is given powers under the Emergency Law or emergency orders, do those powers replace the usual powers or are they added to them? The text answers that they are additional to them.

In detail:

• The provision covers powers conferred directly and powers delegated by others, whether their source is the Law itself or the emergency orders, which under Article 1 are the orders issued on the basis of Article 12 of the Law.
• The person keeps their other powers established under any other law or regulation in force, and they do not lapse because of the state of emergency.
• The exception: if the emergency order provides otherwise, what is in the order is followed, for example by restricting a particular power or setting another way of exercising it.

The purpose is that a state of emergency should not lead to a vacuum or paralysis in the work of public bodies, and that those tasked keep their usual tools alongside the temporary exceptional tools the Law grants to meet the emergency event as Article 2 defines it, such as disasters, epidemics, wars and terrorist operations.

The article comes among the Law's final provisions and is followed by Article 32, which makes the Law effective from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette. Anyone affected by a decision issued under an emergency power who wants to know its basis can consult a lawyer who specializes in administrative cases.