Article 12 of the Saudi Handicrafts and Manual Industries Law

This article opens the provisions on violations by stating who carries out supervision, inspection and detection of violations, in two paragraphs:

Paragraph 1: the competent employees

• Supervision, inspection and detection of the violations set out in the Law are carried out by employees named by decision of the Minister; under the definitions, the Minister is the Minister of Culture.
• These employees have law-enforcement capacity, that is, the legal capacity that entitles them to detect violations.

Paragraph 2: using other bodies

• The Ministry may use any public or private body to carry out supervision, inspection and detection.
• Provided that this is not in conflict with the relevant laws, regulations and decisions.

In practice, this means law-enforcement capacity does not attach automatically to any employee; it belongs to those the Minister names by decision. Using other bodies is also optional for the Ministry and limited by non-conflict with the laws.

Article 13 completes the picture: it provides for forming one or more committees by decision of the Minister, of three members including a legal adviser and a specialist in crafts and handicrafts, to consider violations and impose penalties, with the right to file a grievance against their decisions before the Administrative Court. The competent employees detect the violation, and the committee considers it.

Anyone who faces a violation report under this Law can consult a lawyer who specializes in administrative cases.