In force Last amended 14/5/1445 AH
Saudi Environment Law
نظام البيئة
The Environment Law was approved by Royal Decree No. M/165 dated 19/11/1441 AH. It repealed several earlier laws, including those on wildlife, hunting, trade in endangered species, the general environment law, rangelands and forests, and wildlife protected areas.
- Articles
- 49
- In force
- 49
- Amended
- 1
- Issued
- 19/11/1441 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم (م/165) وتاريخ 1441/11/19هـ · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم (729) وتاريخ 1441/11/16هـ.
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Environment Law by topic
Environmental Permits and Licenses6 articlesPollution and Emissions3 articlesOzone-Depleting Substances2 articlesWastewater Discharge2 articlesVegetation Cover and Logging10 articlesMarine and Coastal Environment Protection3 articlesHunting and Wildlife6 articlesProtected Areas4 articlesEnvironmental Emergencies and Disasters3 articlesEnvironmental Inspection and Violation Reports3 articlesEnvironmental Violation Fines3 articlesEnvironmental Crimes and Imprisonment4 articlesFinal Provisions and Regulations of the Environment Law5 articles
Articles of the Saudi Environment Law
الفصل الأول: أحكام عامةArticles 1–5
- Article 1The article defines the terms used in the Environment Law, such as the competent authority, permit, license, environmental impact, wild organisms and vegetation cover lands.
- Article 2The article states the aims of the Environment Law: protecting, developing and sustaining the environment, complying with environmental principles, and regulating the environment sector and its activities and services.
- Article 3The article bars anyone from carrying out environmental activities or activities with an environmental impact except after obtaining a permit or license, as the regulations determine.
- Article 4The article requires every permit holder and license holder to comply with the Law, the regulations, the conditions of the permit or license, and the related instructions and decisions of the competent authority.
- Article 5The article tasks the competent authority with setting the controls for carrying out voluntary programs, plans and initiatives related to the environment.
الفصل الثاني: الأوساط البيئية والموارد المائية وحمايتهاArticles 6–11
- Article 6The article prohibits anything that would pollute or harm the environmental media and water resources, or negatively affect their use, as the regulations determine.
- Article 7The article prohibits exploiting, transporting, storing, selling or promoting natural resources and their products within the Kingdom's territory without a permit or license.
- Article 8The article imposes six obligations on permit and license holders whose activities may give off emissions or pollutants, including monitoring, periodic reports, environmental auditing and rehabilitation.
- Article 9The article requires whoever uses in his activity substances that harm air quality or deplete the ozone layer to take steps to carry out the phase-out plans prepared by the competent authority.
- Article 10The article prohibits dealing in ozone-depleting substances and the devices containing them without a permit or license, and absolutely prohibits importing used devices containing them.
- Article 11The article prohibits dumping, discharging or injecting wastewater or treated liquid components into underground wells or any environmental medium without a permit, as the regulations set out.
الفصل الثالث: أراضي الغطاء النباتيArticles 12–20
- Article 12The article prohibits owning forest, rangeland and national, wilderness and geological park lands by any transfer of ownership, and prohibits encroaching on them by expansion or new construction.
- Article 13The article provides for establishing national, wilderness and geological parks by decision of the Minister on land free of private rights, and allows the competent authority to invest in them and regulate that investment.
- Article 14The article requires any person to obtain a permit before extracting or exploiting sand, gravel, rock or clay, as the regulations set out.
- Article 15The article requires a license to reclaim and level agricultural land and vegetation cover lands, without prejudice to Article 14 on the sand and gravel extraction permit.
- Article 16The article prohibits any activity or work within vegetation cover lands, or in urban lands with vegetation cover supervised by the competent authority, without a permit or license.
- Article 17The article requires the license holder and permit holder, when using vegetation cover lands in their activities, to take environmental considerations into account and use the soil rationally.
- Article 18The article prohibits cultivation or tree planting within vegetation cover lands without obtaining a license.
- Article 19The article prohibits anything that harms vegetation cover lands or disturbs their natural balance, including cutting trees, leaving waste, lighting fires outside designated places and prohibited grazing.
- Article 20The article prohibits producing, transporting, storing, selling or promoting local firewood or charcoal without a permit or license, as the regulations set out.
الفصل الرابع: البيئة البحرية والساحليةArticles 21–22
- Article 21The article prohibits harming the marine and coastal environment, including digging, filling, dredging, construction and prospecting without a permit or license, and using harmful substances and tools.
- Article 22The article requires the operator of marine transport means to keep a special record of preventive measures and the emergency plan relating to pollution prevention, as the regulations set out.
الفصل الخامس: الحياة الفطريةArticles 23–28
- Article 23The article tasks the competent authority with specifying the endangered wild organism species whose killing, hunting, or trade in them, their derivatives or products is prohibited.
- Article 24The article prohibits, without a license, trading in, transporting, selling and possessing wild organism species the competent authority specifies, and keeping live animals of them in controlled places or using them in shows.
- Article 25The Article prohibits importing, exporting or re-exporting, for non-commercial purposes, species of wildlife or their products or derivatives that the competent authority specifies, without the competent authority's approval.
- Article 26The Article prohibits killing or harming live wild animals, and as an exception allows killing them in specific cases set out in the regulations.
- Article 27The Article prohibits hunting live wild animals, and allows hunting specific species under a license, provided the specified species, places and times are respected and no lures or mass-capture methods are used.
- Article 28The Article prohibits bringing any biological control agent into the Kingdom, or using one, without a license, in accordance with the regulations.
الفصل السادس: المناطق المحميةArticles 29–32
- Article 29The Article provides that protected areas are established by Council of Ministers decision on the competent authority's proposal, on land free of private rights, and allows the competent authority to invest in them.
- Article 30The Article prohibits carrying out any activity within the boundaries of protected areas without a permit or license, in accordance with the regulations.
- Article 31The competent authority, in coordination with the Ministry of Interior, sets the controls for entering protected areas and using them for grazing, ecotourism, research and the like, depending on the nature of each area.
- Article 32The Article prohibits anything that harms protected areas or disturbs their natural balance, and lists eight acts prohibited in particular, such as cutting trees, lighting fires and leaving waste.
الفصل السابع: الطوارئ والكوارث البيئيةArticles 33–34
- Article 33Employees of the competent authority are exempt from liability for environmental damage caused by an unintentional, non-negligent error during pollution clean-up in emergencies, while the injured party's right to compensation remains.
- Article 34The Minister may take the necessary measures and steps to respond to any environmental emergency, disaster or imminent danger, and to prevent them from worsening, in coordination with the relevant authorities.
الفصل الثامن: المخالفات وضبطها وإيقاع العقوباتArticles 35–44
- Article 35The Article lists four acts that are violations of the Law: dumping untreated wastewater, ship discharges of pollutants, disposal of hazardous waste, and trading in, killing or hunting endangered wildlife.
- Article 36The Article regulates environmental inspectors in detecting and proving violations, giving them powers to take samples, recover seized items and hold vehicles and tools, prohibits obstructing them, and allows some tasks to be assigned to specialized companies.
- Article 37The Ministry of Interior, in coordination with the competent authority, carries out security monitoring of environmental compliance, apprehends violators and refers them, and supports environmental inspectors on request.
- Article 38Violators of the Environment Law and its regulations are punished by a fine of up to SAR 20 million, suspension of the license or permit for up to six months, or its cancellation, with further powers for the violation committees.
- Article 39The competent authority imposes fines of up to SAR 100,000, committees formed by the Minister consider other violations, penalties and objections, and their decisions may be challenged before the Administrative Court.
- Article 40Imprisonment of up to ten years and a fine of up to SAR 30 million, or either, for committing the acts in Article 35, or for repeating within a year the cutting of plants or killing of live wild animals.
- Article 41The competent court considers the violations in Article 40 and imposes their penalties, and may confiscate seized items, hold a vessel for up to 90 days, impose daily fines, double fines on repetition and order publication of the judgment.
- Article 42The Public Prosecution, in accordance with its law, investigates the violations referred to in Article 40 and prosecutes them before the competent court.
- Article 43The violator must remove the effects of the violation, carry out rehabilitation and pay compensation, as determined by the regulations.
- Article 44An activity may be suspended as a precaution for up to 15 days to avoid an environmental disaster, with referral of the violation within 5 days and a decision on continuing the suspension within 10 days.
الفصل التاسع: أحكام ختاميةArticles 45–49
- Article 45The Article requires lending funds to take into account the environmental aspects and considerations of the projects they finance or lend to.
- Article 46The Law applies where there is no special legal provision, its provisions and regulations are the minimum for environmental protection, and it does not affect the Kingdom's international obligations or GCC laws.
- Article 47The Article lists the matters that the regulations determine, including environmental protection requirements, permits and licenses and their fees, noise pollution, environmental assessment studies and the basis for calculating compensation.
- Article 48The Minister issues the regulations within no more than 180 days of the Law's publication in the Official Gazette, and they take effect from the date the Law comes into force.
- Article 49The Environment Law takes effect 180 days after the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.