Article 15 of the Saudi Private Laboratories Law

This article identifies the judicial body competent over violations of the Private Laboratories Law, which is the Board of Grievances.

The Board is competent over two matters:

• Adjudicating the suit for violating this Law.
• Imposing the penalties provided for in it.

This means a penalty is not imposed merely because the violation is recorded, but the suit is heard before the Board of Grievances, which adjudicates it and decides the penalty. This complements Article 14, which refers to the Implementing Regulations the determination of the investigation and prosecution procedures and the body that carries them out; investigation and prosecution precede the suit, and then comes the Board's role in adjudication.

This article does not state the details of litigation procedures before the Board or their deadlines, so nothing of that should be inferred from it. The article is also general, so it covers every suit for violating the provisions of this Law, whether the violation relates to the licence, to the laboratory's obligations or to its other provisions.

The practical benefit of this article is that the laboratory owner, or anyone else against whom a violation suit is brought, knows that the body that will hear his violation and decide the penalty is the Board of Grievances, not the body that recorded the violation.

A person with a violation suit concerning a private laboratory before the Board of Grievances can consult a lawyer specializing in administrative cases (Board of Grievances).