In force
Saudi Handicrafts and Manual Industries Law
نظام الحرف والصناعات اليدوية
Covers general provisions, definitions, the objective, registration in the National Register of Craftspeople, the craft license, duties and prohibitions, financial, technical and marketing support, violations and penalties, and final provisions. It takes effect 120 days after publication in the Official Gazette.
- Articles
- 18
- In force
- 18
- Amended
- 0
- Issued
- 2/3/1447 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم (م/49) وتاريخ 1447/3/2هـ · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم (157) وتاريخ 1447/2/25هـ
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Handicrafts and Manual Industries Law by topic
Articles of the Saudi Handicrafts and Manual Industries Law
الفصل الأول: أحكام عامةArticles 1–3
- Article 1The article defines the key terms of the Handicrafts Law, including the craftsperson, the National Register of Craftspeople, the craft license, the Commission and the Ministry.
- Article 2The article defines a craft or handicraft as an activity based mainly on manual work and divides it into artistic or heritage production and service crafts.
- Article 3The article sets out the Handicrafts Law's objectives: regulating and developing the activity, protecting it from disappearing, strengthening its competitiveness and marketing its products locally and abroad.
الفصل الثاني: القيد في السجل الوطني للحرفيين، والترخيص الحرفيArticles 4–6
- Article 4The article allows a craftsperson to apply for entry in the National Register of Craftspeople as the Regulations specify, and prohibits practicing a craft commercially or trading in craft products as a main activity without a Commission license.
- Article 5The article refers to the Regulations the controls for craftspeople who represent the Kingdom in conferences, events and exhibitions, and prohibits such representation before those controls are met.
- Article 6The article requires entry in the National Register of Craftspeople to obtain a craft license, makes its issuance and renewal a Commission decision, and refers the other conditions, term and types to the Regulations.
الفصل الثالث: الواجبات والمحظوراتArticles 7–8
- Article 7The article requires craftspeople and those who trade in handmade craft products to comply with the quality standards for craft and handicraft products that the Ministry adopts.
- Article 8The article prohibits importing the handmade craft products that the Regulations specify, or making models of them.
الفصل الرابع: الدعم المادي والفني والتسويقيArticles 9–11
- Article 9The article allows the Heritage Commission to grant incentive awards to craftspeople under controls its board adopts, within the appropriations and financial resources available to it.
- Article 10The article tasks the Heritage Commission, with the public and private sectors, with establishing, equipping and supervising centers, villages and complexes for craftspeople, training them and marketing their products, and with coordinating to classify crafts as small enterprises.
- Article 11The article provides that the Heritage Commission encourages the establishment of specialized associations in the field of crafts and handicrafts.
الفصل الخامس: المخالفات والعقوباتArticles 12–16
- Article 12The article assigns supervision, inspection and detection of violations of the Law to employees the Minister of Culture names by decision, who have law-enforcement capacity, and allows the Ministry to use public and private bodies for this.
- Article 13The article provides for one or more committees formed by decision of the Minister of Culture to consider violations of the Law and impose penalties, with a three-year term and a right to file a grievance against their decisions before the Administrative Court.
- Article 14The article requires the Commission to warn those who violate specified provisions and give them a period to correct; if they do not, the committee imposes a fine not exceeding SAR 20,000 or measures such as removal, suspension and cancellation.
- Article 15The article allows the maximum fine in Article 14 to be doubled on repetition, and defines repetition as committing the same violation within three years of a final decision establishing it.
- Article 16The article refers to the Regulations the procedures for re-entry in the National Register of Craftspeople after removal, and for obtaining the craft license again after cancellation.
الفصل السادس: أحكام ختاميةArticles 17–18
- Article 17The article requires the Minister of Culture to issue the Law's Implementing Regulations within no more than 120 days of publication in the Official Gazette, and they take effect when the Law does.
- Article 18The article provides that the Handicrafts Law takes effect 120 days after its publication in the Official Gazette and repeals any provision that conflicts with it.