Article 1 of the Saudi Private Laboratories Law

This is the definitions article, and it sets the meaning of the key words that recur in the Law, so it is consulted to understand the remaining articles.

• The competent authority: the Ministry of Commerce, or the Ministry of Health, or the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, or the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, or the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, or the Food and Drug Authority, or other government bodies that the Implementing Regulations determine, as the text or context requires. So the competent authority is not always one body, but is determined by the type of goods and the subject.
• The Center: the Saudi Accreditation Center.
• Goods: commercial goods produced locally or imported, whether materials, devices, tools or otherwise.
• Testing: any analysis, calibration or inspection aimed at determining the performance characteristics, efficiency, effectiveness or conformity of the goods.
• The laboratory: any place prepared for testing any of the goods.

Paragraphs (a) and (b) were amended by Royal Decree No. M/31 dated 6/4/1443 AH, and the text presented is the text in force.

Article 2 relies on these definitions when it allows, by decision of the competent Minister, the use of qualified and licensed private national laboratories to test local and imported goods.