Article 41 of the Saudi Publications Law

This article protects the owner of a printed material who followed the procedures and obtained approval, and provides that:

• If the Ministry approved the printed material,
• and then something arose afterwards that requires withdrawing it,
• the Ministry must compensate the interested party for the cost value of the withdrawn copies.

Limits of the compensation: under the text of the article, the compensation is limited to the cost value of the withdrawn copies; the article does not speak of compensation for anything else.

The basic condition: the printed material must have been approved beforehand, and the reason for withdrawal must have arisen after the approval. The article concerns a case where approval came first.

Under Article 1, the Ministry is the Ministry of Media, and a printed material is any means of expression printed for circulation.

This article comes after Article 40, which regulates the appeals committee to consider grievances against the primary committee's decisions, with final decisions, and regulates the formation of the two committees by royal order and a membership term of three years, renewable. After it comes Article 42, which requires the Ministry to assign to approve scientific and intellectual works those who are qualified, with competence, specialization and familiarity with the laws and publishing instructions.

Anyone whose printed material was withdrawn after approval and who wants to claim compensation can consult a lawyer who specializes in media and publishing law.