Article 14 of the Saudi Building Code Law

This article regulates the body that decides violations, in two paragraphs:

Paragraph 1 - forming the committee:

• It is formed by decision of the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs.
• There may be one or more committees in each region of the Kingdom, as needed.
• Its members are specialists from the related authorities.
• It has no fewer than 3 members, among them someone who holds a sharia or legal qualification.
• The committees' working rules, procedures and the remuneration of their members are issued by decision of the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs.

Paragraph 2 - jurisdiction and grievance:

• The committee considers violations and imposes the penalties provided for in Article 12, namely a fine of up to SAR 1 million per violation in one building, suspension of the practice license for not less than one month and not more than one year, or both.
• Its decisions may be challenged by a grievance before the Board of Grievances in accordance with its law.

In practice, the penalty is not imposed by whoever detected the violation: under Article 13, detection and documentation by report are for qualified specialists from the related authorities, while imposing the penalty is for the committee. Anyone against whom the committee has issued a decision and who wishes to object to it must bring a grievance before the Board of Grievances; the article does not set the deadlines for this but refers to the Board's law. It is advisable to engage a lawyer specializing in administrative matters.