Article 3 of the Saudi Notarization Law

المادة 3 من نظام التوثيق · الفصل الثاني: كتابات وكتاب العدل

The article makes establishing Notary Offices, setting their subject-matter and territorial jurisdiction and composition, and abolishing them subject to a decision of the Minister of Justice, with the head of the Notary Office supervising.

Official text (Arabic)

This article has not been amended since the law was issued.

يكون إنشاء كتابات العدل، وتحديد دوائر اختصاصها النوعي والمكاني وتكوينها، وإلغاؤها، بقرار يصدره الوزير، ويشرف رئيس كتابة العدل على كتاب العدل فيها.

This is the official Arabic wording, the only legally binding version. We do not translate the law itself; the explanation below is ours. Official source: Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers

Article 3 explained in plain English

This article regulates who has the decision in establishing and organizing Notary Offices. A Notary Office, according to Article 1, is the place where a notary works.

The article gives the Minister of Justice the power to issue a decision on the following:

establishing Notary Offices.
setting their subject-matter jurisdiction, that is, the types of transactions they handle.
setting their territorial jurisdiction, that is, the geographic area they serve.
setting their composition.
abolishing them.

The article also provides that the head of the Notary Office supervises the notaries in it. It follows from Article 1 that the head of a Notary Office is also a notary appointed to the post of "head of notary office".

In practice, this means that the scope of transactions each Notary Office accepts, and the area it serves, are determined by the Minister's decisions, not directly by the text of the Law. The article does not give the details of these jurisdictions, which are left to the decisions issued. In all cases, notaries remain bound, under Article 2, to apply the provisions of Islamic Sharia and the laws when notarizing.

Translated from our Arabic explanation with machine assistance. For guidance only; it does not replace advice from a lawyer on your situation.

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