In force
Saudi Judicial Costs Law
نظام التكاليف القضائية
The Judicial Costs Law of Saudi Arabia. This page presents the official Arabic text of each article with plain-English explanations for residents and businesses.
- Articles
- 23
- In force
- 23
- Amended
- 0
- Issued
- 30/1/1443 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم (م/16) وتاريخ 1443/1/30هـ · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم (65) وتاريخ 1443/1/23هـ
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Judicial Costs Law by topic
Articles of the Saudi Judicial Costs Law
- Article 1The Article defines the key terms of the Judicial Costs Law, such as judicial costs, the case, requests, the competent department and the Implementing Regulations.
- Article 2The Article makes the Judicial Costs Law apply to all cases and requests before the courts, and excepts six categories of cases and requests.
- Article 3The Article imposes judicial costs on a case of no more than 5% of the value of the claim with a maximum of SAR 1 million, and refers the criteria for assessing them to the Implementing Regulations.
- Article 4If a case is struck out, treated as if not filed, or ruled inadmissible for not being properly drafted and is then heard again, additional costs of 25% are imposed, borne by the plaintiff.
- Article 5The Article imposes costs on a person seeking annulment of an arbitral award of 1% of the amount awarded if their request is rejected, with a maximum of SAR 1 million.
- Article 6The Article imposes separate costs on the case of an intervening party seeking judgment for themselves, and spreads costs among multiple plaintiffs or defendants according to each one's share of the claim.
- Article 7The Article imposes costs of no more than SAR 10,000 on specified requests, including appeal, cassation, reconsideration, recusal and correction requests.
- Article 8The Article imposes costs of no more than SAR 1,000 on requests for certified copies, inspection and replacement copies, and does not apply to requests by the parties while the case is being heard.
- Article 9If a request changes the value of the case, up or down, its costs are calculated on the new value, while the costs set for the request itself remain.
- Article 10No new costs are imposed on a case if a ruling of lack of jurisdiction is made and the case is brought before the competent court, or if the judgment is quashed and the case sent back.
- Article 11The competent department sets the amount of costs and notifies it on filing; it may be objected to within 15 days before the court president or their delegate, whose decision is final.
- Article 12Non-payment of costs does not prevent filing and deciding a case or request, except cassation and reconsideration requests, whose applicant has 30 days to pay or loses the right.
- Article 13The losing party bears the judicial costs or a share of them, the plaintiff bears the share for any part they were not entitled to, and on settlement costs are split equally unless agreed otherwise.
- Article 14If a case ends in judgment without the judicial costs being collected, the final assessment issued by the competent department is an enforceable instrument, collected as the Implementing Regulations provide.
- Article 15Judicial costs are reduced to a quarter if settlement is made before the court after the first hearing ends and before judgment, subject to the equal sharing rule.
- Article 16Judicial costs paid are refunded if they proved not to be due or the payer benefits from an exemption; the Article lists seven cases, including judgment in the payer's favor.
- Article 17The Article exempts three categories from judicial costs: prisoners and detainees in non-criminal financial cases, workers in claims arising from work contracts, and government bodies.
- Article 18If judgment is given in favor of a party exempt from judicial costs, the party against whom judgment is given must pay those costs, subject to Article 17.
- Article 19The collected judicial costs are deposited in the current account of the Ministry of Finance at the Saudi Central Bank.
- Article 20The Minister of Justice determines by decision the competent department in the court for collecting judicial costs and refunding them where grounds for refund exist.
- Article 21The Article permits the Minister of Justice to license the private sector to carry out supporting work for applying the Law, and refers licensing provisions, work procedures and supervision to the Implementing Regulations.
- Article 22The Ministry of Justice must prepare the Implementing Regulations within 60 days of the Law's issuance, to be issued by a decision of the Council of Ministers.
- Article 23The Judicial Costs Law takes effect 180 days after its publication in the Official Gazette.