Article 44 of the Saudi Healthcare Professions Practice Law

This is the effective date article, and it sets when the Law begins to apply. It contains two provisions:

1. Publication: The Law is published in the Official Gazette.
2. Start of effect: The Law takes effect sixty days after the date of its publication.

So the Law does not apply from the day it was issued or the day it was published, but after sixty days have passed from publication. This period allows healthcare practitioners, healthcare facilities and the bodies concerned to see the Law's provisions and prepare to apply them.

The article does not state the publication date itself, so to learn the actual date the Law began to take effect, refer to its date of publication in the Official Gazette and then count sixty days from it.

It is preceded by Article 43, which provides that the Minister issues the Law's Implementing Regulations, which are published in the Official Gazette, and issues the decisions and instructions needed to implement the Law. So both the Law and its Regulations are tied to publication in the Official Gazette.

The importance of the effective date appears in practice when determining which law governs a particular event, especially events that occurred near the date the Law began to take effect. Anyone who needs to determine that in a particular case may consult a lawyer specialized in healthcare practice and medical malpractice cases.