In force
Saudi Enforcement Law
نظام التنفيذ
The Enforcement Law covers general provisions, jurisdiction, the enforceable instrument, enforcement procedures, enforcement disputes and objections to enforcement procedures, and penalties. It replaces the 1433 AH Enforcement Law.
- Articles
- 65
- In force
- 65
- Amended
- 0
- Issued
- 3/11/1447 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم (م/237) وتاريخ 1447/11/3هـ · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم (746) وتاريخ 1447/10/26هـ
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
The new Enforcement Law was issued on 3/11/1447 AH and published on 14/11/1447 AH. It provides that it takes effect 180 days after publication, that is from 17/5/1448 AH, corresponding to October 28, 2026. Until it takes effect, the Enforcement Law issued in 1433 AH remains the one applied to enforcement requests.
Browse Enforcement Law by topic
Enforcement Court and Its Jurisdiction18 articlesEnforcement Document7 articlesEnforcement Request and Disclosure of Assets9 articlesCompulsory Enforcement and Travel Ban7 articlesSeizing Assets and Auctions14 articlesImprisoning the Debtor and Direct Enforcement5 articlesEnforcing Custody and Visitation Judgments5 articlesEnforcement Disputes and Appeals10 articlesEnforcement Offenses and Penalties12 articles
Articles of the Saudi Enforcement Law
الباب الأول: أحكام عامةArticles 1–3
- Article 1The article defines the terms used in the Enforcement Law, such as the court, the competent department, the competent force, direct enforcement and enforcement expenses.
- Article 2The article explains that the Enforcement Court consists of first-instance and appeal circuits, or first-instance circuits only, and says where judgments are appealed where the court has no appeal circuits.
- Article 3The article obliges all competent authorities, including those supervising or registering assets, to respond to the Enforcement Court's orders and decisions within 3 working days of being notified, unless a special provision exists.
الباب الثاني: الاختصاصArticles 4–6
- Article 4The article sets the Enforcement Court's jurisdiction over supervising enforcement, compulsory enforcement and enforcement disputes, except for criminal penalties and the Board of Grievances' matters, without looking at the underlying right.
- Article 5The article requires the holder of an asset of the enforcement debtor, where several bodies issued attachment orders on it, to notify the body that issued the later order of the first attachment.
- Article 6The article provides that where enforcement attachments from two judicial bodies, or from a judicial and an administrative body, meet on the enforcement debtor's assets, all his assets are treated as attached for all requests, supervised by the judicial body that attached first.
الباب الثالث: السند التنفيذيArticles 7–11
- Article 7The article provides that compulsory enforcement requires an enforcement instrument for a specific right due for payment, and lists the enforcement instruments, such as final judgments, cheques, registered bills and notarized contracts.
- Article 8The article allows the holder of the right to enforce settlement agreements, notarized contracts and instruments with enforcement status whose right depends on an obligation not shown as performed in the instrument, by attaching a report from an approved expert body.
- Article 9The article sets the conditions for enforcing foreign judgments and orders in the Kingdom, including reciprocity, finality and not violating public order, and the rules for enforcing foreign arbitral awards and notarized documents.
- Article 10The article allows a debtor to ask the court to compel a creditor who refuses to collect a specific right due and established by an enforcement instrument, and if collection is impossible the court takes steps to let the debtor pay.
- Article 11The article provides that a request to enforce an instrument more than 10 years past its due date is not accepted, without prejudice to the relevant legal provisions.
الباب الرابع: إجراءات التنفيذArticles 12–43
- Article 12The article refers to the Implementing Regulations the cases in which the creditor must notify the debtor to pay the right in the enforcement instrument before the enforcement request is registered.
- Article 13The article governs registering the enforcement request with the competent department, gives the applicant 10 working days to complete any shortfall, and 10 working days to file a grievance if the request is treated as rejected.
- Article 14The article provides that the court orders the enforcement debtor to comply once the instrument meets its conditions, notifies him at once, and where notification is impossible announces the order, with effects running from the announcement.
- Article 15The article requires the enforcement debtor to disclose his assets from notification, allows the court to compel his agents, dealers and asset holders to disclose where assets are being hidden, and sets response time limits.
- Article 16The article obliges the authorities supervising or registering assets, or the entities they supervise, to set up a department for enforcement orders, build ownership databases and enable electronic links with the Ministry.
- Article 17The article provides that exchange of asset disclosure with other states is on a reciprocal basis, within the purpose of the exchange and without harming national security, subject to international agreements.
- Article 18The article provides that compulsory enforcement begins when 5 working days pass from notification without compliance, unless the debtor provides a bank guarantee, and permits a daily fine of up to SAR 5,000.
- Article 19The article allows a travel ban on the enforcement debtor at the applicant's request for up to 3 years, extendable to 6 years, and lists the cases in which the ban is lifted.
- Article 20The article provides that the court orders tracing of the enforcement debtor's assets at the applicant's request where indications of hiding or smuggling exist, and lets the applicant see data on his assets within the purpose.
- Article 21The article allows the court to question the enforcement debtor and anyone suspected of receiving smuggled assets where indications of hiding exist, requires a response within 3 working days, and permits compelled attendance.
- Article 22The article refers to the Implementing Regulations the controls and procedures for tracing assets provided for in this chapter.
- Article 23The article provides that all the enforcement debtor's assets stand as security for his debts from the date of notice or notification of the enforcement order or announcement, and allows enforcement attachment on an asset under precautionary attachment.
- Article 24The article lets the enforcement applicant sue to annul the debtor's gifts, early repayments and unusual contracts made before attachment, and declares any disposal after an attachment order void.
- Article 25The article limits attachment of the enforcement debtor's property to the amount of the debt unless the property is indivisible, and lets him designate property to be enforced against first.
- Article 26The article lists property that may not be attached or enforced against, such as public property, the home and government aid, and sets the shares of wages, salaries and pensions that may be attached.
- Article 27The article requires the body supervising or registering property to carry out attachment immediately, lets the court order the competent force to use compulsion, and leaves attachment, deposit and custody procedures to the Implementing Regulations.
- Article 28The article requires the court to refer to the investigating authority any concealment, smuggling or dissipation of the debtor's property or provision of misleading information, without stopping enforcement.
- Article 29The article allows the court to let the enforcement debtor sell his property voluntarily in a way that serves the interest of enforcement, and leaves the related rules to the Implementing Regulations.
- Article 30The article provides for sale of attached property by public auction, except voluntary sale and what the Implementing Regulations specify; the contract is formed by the award decision, which clears the property of any claim of title, and it governs the sale of securities.
- Article 31The article bars handing the sale price to the enforcement applicant before ownership is transferred, and requires the occupant of sold real estate to vacate it for the new owner unless he holds an enforceable instrument giving him a right to use it.
- Article 32The enforcement debtor bears enforcement expenses unless someone else caused them; the applicant bears them if he ends his request in two specified cases, and enforcement procedures stop if they are not paid.
- Article 33The article requires the Ministry to open bank accounts and trust funds for enforcement, and leaves to the Implementing Regulations the rules on depositing and disbursing proceeds and on banks' participation, in coordination with the Saudi Central Bank.
- Article 34If enforcement proceeds are sufficient to satisfy the rights of the attaching enforcement applicants and those considered parties to the procedures, the court orders their distribution among them as the Implementing Regulations specify.
- Article 35If enforcement proceeds are insufficient, the court records the parties' amicable agreement on distribution; if they do not agree, it distributes with priority to preferred debts, and its order may be objected to.
- Article 36If an obligation to do or refrain from doing something is not performed within 5 working days, the court takes compulsory steps including the competent force, contacting the competent authority, a travel ban and a daily fine.
- Article 37If 30 working days pass after compulsory enforcement procedures without compliance, the court, at the applicant's request, orders the debtor imprisoned for not more than 180 days, extendable.
- Article 38An enforceable instrument in personal status matters is enforced by the methods set out in the Law and the Implementing Regulations, which set the procedures for enforcing instruments involving periodic payments.
- Article 39An instrument on custody and visitation is enforced compulsorily, even using the competent force and entering homes, and re-enforced whenever necessary; direct enforcement provisions apply to those who refuse, under the Implementing Regulations.
- Article 40When enforcing an instrument on visiting a child in custody, the court must take into account what serves the child's interest and suits the circumstances of enforcement, with details left to the Implementing Regulations.
- Article 41The direct enforcement provisions apply to those of a private legal person's personnel who cause enforcement to be obstructed, and the Implementing Regulations set the rules and procedures for enforcement against such a person.
- Article 42The enforcement applicant must end his request once the right that is the subject of the enforceable instrument has been satisfied, within the period the Implementing Regulations set.
- Article 43The article lists six cases in which an enforcement request ends, and preserves the creditor's right to resume the request in four of them if there is a justification.
الباب الخامس: منازعة التنفيذ والاعتراض على إجراءات التنفيذArticles 44–47
- Article 44The article provides that all court orders and decisions are final, except as the Law specifies.
- Article 45The article lets any interested person bring an enforcement dispute about the validity of the instrument, the conditions of its enforcement or the court's jurisdiction, which the court decides under the provisions on urgent cases.
- Article 46Any interested person may submit a grievance against enforcement orders and decisions within 10 working days to the president of the court or whoever the Council designates, and the decision on the grievance is final.
- Article 47An enforcement dispute, a dispute over the original right or a grievance does not stop enforcement procedures unless the competent person decides otherwise, and a stay stops the procedures and periods.
الباب السادس: العقوباتArticles 48–58
- Article 48The competent court hears actions over enforcement offenses and imposes their penalties, except as in paragraph (1) of Article 57, while the investigating and prosecuting authority handles investigation and prosecution.
- Article 49Enforcement offenses are detected by employees of the Ministry or public bodies whom the Minister designates by decision and who have judicial officer capacity, while the court may still refer matters directly for investigation.
- Article 50Whoever conceals or smuggles property, deliberately obstructs or resists enforcement, or gives misleading information is punished by up to 3 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to SAR 1,000,000, or either; so is an accomplice.
- Article 51A public employee or equivalent who prevents or obstructs enforcement is punished by imprisonment of not more than 5 years, and the act is an offense involving breach of trust.
- Article 52A debtor proven to have dissipated substantial property is punished by imprisonment of not more than 15 years even if he is shown to be insolvent, and the offense is a major one warranting detention.
- Article 53Imprisonment of up to 3 years and a fine of up to SAR 100,000, or either, applies to a malicious enforcement applicant, someone who discloses data on the debtor's property, a breaching service provider and anyone manipulating sale prices.
- Article 54Anyone, a parent or otherwise, who refuses to comply with, resists or obstructs an enforcement order on custody, guardianship or visitation is punished by up to 90 days' imprisonment and a fine of up to SAR 30,000, or either.
- Article 55If an act constituting an enforcement offense is also an offense under another law, the more severe penalty applies.
- Article 56In the case of recidivism, the penalty imposed for enforcement offenses may be doubled up to twice the maximum; a recidivist is one who commits an offense within 3 years of a judgment becoming final.
- Article 57A violating enforcement service provider is punished by a warning, a fine of up to SAR 300,000, suspension of the license for up to a year or cancellation, through a committee the Minister forms, with a right of grievance before the Administrative Court.
- Article 58The competent court or the Article 57 committee may include in its judgment or decision publication of a summary at the convicted or violating person's expense, and require the violator to attend rehabilitation programs at his own expense.
الباب السابع: أحكام ختاميةArticles 59–65
- Article 59Where the Enforcement Law has no special provision, the Law of Sharia Procedure applies to its procedures and disputes, to the extent consistent with their nature.
- Article 60The Minister may by decision assign enforcement procedures to the competent administration, the competent body or the private sector, except imprisonment and travel ban orders, deciding disputes and grievances, and issuing judgments.
- Article 61The Ministry of Justice licenses and supervises enforcement service providers such as the judicial sales agent and the judicial custodian, and the Minister issues regulations governing their work and fees.
- Article 62Enforcement decisions and procedures are taken through approved electronic means, dispensed with where modern approved techniques achieve the purpose, and carried out by ordinary methods only if that is not possible.
- Article 63The Ministry issues the procedural guides, decisions and forms needed to apply the Enforcement Law and its Implementing Regulations.
- Article 64The Minister issues the Implementing Regulations within 180 days of the date the Law was issued, and they take effect from the date the Law takes effect.
- Article 65The Law replaces the Enforcement Law issued by Royal Decree No. M/53 dated 13/8/1433 AH and its amendments, and takes effect 180 days after its publication in the Official Gazette.
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