In force
Saudi General Warehouses Law
نظام الإيداع في المخازن العامة
The law governing deposits in general warehouses. The text is set out in 28 articles.
- Articles
- 28
- In force
- 28
- Amended
- 0
- Issued
- 10/5/1427 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم م/29 بتاريخ 10 / 5 / 1427 · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم 113 بتاريخ 9 / 5 / 1427
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse General Warehouses Law by topic
General Warehouse Licensing3 articlesWarehouse Keeper's Obligations and Liability4 articlesDepositor's Rights and Obligations2 articlesStorage Receipt and Pledge Document7 articlesEndorsing the Storage Receipt and Pledge Document3 articlesLoans Secured by Pledged Goods5 articlesPenalties for Violating the General Warehouses Law1 articleJurisdiction and Law Enforcement5 articles
Articles of the Saudi General Warehouses Law
- Article 1The article states the Law's purpose: setting rules for the work of the general warehouse, clarifying the nature of the goods stored, and defining the warehouse's rights and obligations and the storage fee.
- Article 2The article defines the Law's key terms: the general warehouse, deposit in warehouses, the storage receipt and the pledge document.
- Article 3The article provides that the preliminary license to establish a general warehouse is issued by the city's amanah or municipality, and the license to carry on the activity by the Minister of Commerce or his delegate, under the Implementing Regulations' rules.
- Article 4The article bars the warehouse keeper, whether an individual or a company, from commercial activity or speculating in goods of the type he keeps; the bar covers a partner owning 10% or more and exempts state-owned companies.
- Article 5The article allows the general warehouse to provide loans secured by a pledge of the goods kept with it, and to deal in the pledge documents representing them after the pledgor's consent.
- Article 6The article obliges the depositor to give the general warehouse correct details of the goods' type, specifications and value, and gives the depositor the right to inspect them and take samples after coordinating with the warehouse keeper.
- Article 7The article makes the warehouse keeper responsible for guarding the deposited goods with the utmost care, within the limit of their value recorded in the deposit documents, and not liable for damage or shortage caused by force majeure or an inherent defect.
- Article 8The article allows the warehouse keeper to ask the Board of Grievances for permission to sell goods threatened with rapid damage he had no part in, if the depositor refuses to take them or dispose of them after being notified by registered letter.
- Article 9The article obliges the warehouse keeper to take out cooperative insurance on the goods deposited with him.
- Article 10The article provides that the depositor receives from the general warehouse the storage receipt with a pledge document containing all its details, and the warehouse keeps a true copy of both.
- Article 11The article allows fungible goods to be replaced with goods of the same nature, type and quality if the storage receipt and pledge document so provide, with the rights passing to the new goods, and the documents to be issued for part of a bulk quantity.
- Article 12The article allows the storage receipt and pledge document to be issued in the depositor's name or to his order, allows the endorsement of either or both to others, and requires the endorsement to be recorded with the warehouse keeper immediately.
- Article 13The article states that endorsing the pledge document separately creates a pledge over the goods, endorsing the storage receipt transfers their ownership, and where the pledge document was endorsed to someone else, ownership passes subject to the pledge.
- Article 14The article requires the endorsement of the storage receipt and pledge document to be dated, and the separate endorsement of the pledge document to include the debt details, creditor and endorser's signature, and to be recorded in the warehouse's books.
- Article 15The article allows the holder of the storage receipt, separated from the pledge document, to pay the secured debt before it falls due, and if payment is impossible or refused, to deposit it with a local bank, whereupon the goods are released.
- Article 16The article allows the holder of the pledge document, separated from the storage receipt, to ask the Board of Grievances for permission to sell the pledged goods if the debt is not paid when due; the Board determines the method of sale and notifies the warehouse keeper and the owner of the receipt.
- Article 17The secured creditor satisfies his right from the price of the goods in priority over all creditors after deducting taxes, fees and the expenses of sale, storage and keeping, and any surplus is deposited in a bank if the receipt holder is absent.
- Article 18The holder of the pledge document may have recourse against the debtor or endorsers after the goods are sold and their price proves insufficient, within 10 days of the sale; recourse against endorsers lapses if enforcement is not started within 30 days.
- Article 19The article provides that if the goods suffer a defect or damage covered by an insurance policy, the holder of the storage receipt or pledge document has over the insurance amount the rights and privilege he had over the goods.
- Article 20A person who loses the storage receipt may ask the Board of Grievances for an order to deliver a copy of it, and a person who loses the pledge document may ask for an order to pay the debt that has fallen due, with proof of ownership and a guarantor or sufficient security.
- Article 21The guarantee provided when a storage receipt or endorsed pledge document is lost expires one year after the Board of Grievances issues the order to deliver a copy of the receipt or to pay the debt that has fallen due.
- Article 22The article allows the warehouse keeper, if the depositor does not recover the goods when the deposit term ends, to ask the Board of Grievances after warning him for permission to sell them and satisfy his right from the price.
- Article 23The article punishes operating a general warehouse without a license with up to three years' imprisonment and a fine of SAR 5,000 to 1,000,000, and other violations and disclosure of secrets with up to three months' imprisonment and a fine of up to SAR 100,000.
- Article 24The article makes the Board of Grievances competent to decide disputes arising from the application of the General Warehouses Law.
- Article 25The article gives employees appointed by the Minister of Commerce and Industry from among Ministry and municipal staff the capacity of judicial police officers in applying the Law.
- Article 26The article assigns investigation and public prosecution of violations of the General Warehouses Law, before the Board of Grievances, to the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution.
- Article 27The article tasks the Minister of Commerce and Industry with issuing the Implementing Regulations of the General Warehouses Law within ninety days of its entry into force, and the decisions needed to implement it.
- Article 28The article provides that the Law is published in the Official Gazette, takes effect ninety days after publication, and repeals anything that conflicts with its provisions.