Article 18 of the Saudi Standards and Quality Law

This article regulates the body that detects violations under the Standards and Quality Law, which is the inspectors.

Who are the inspectors? Under Article 1, an inspector is a person appointed by decision of the Authority's board of directors to record any violations of the provisions of the law and regulations.

Their tasks:

• Detection: detecting violations of the provisions of the law and regulations.
• Investigation: investigating these violations.
• Documentation: documenting violations.

Way of working: inspectors may work together or individually, meaning a single inspector is enough to carry out these tasks.

What the law does not specify: the working mechanisms and procedures of the inspectors are left to the regulations; the text does not specify, for example, how an inspection is carried out or the form of violation reports.

Relationship to other articles:

• Article 19 prohibits preventing or obstructing the inspector from carrying out his inspection and detection work.
• Among the violations an inspector may detect is violation of the provisions of Article 17 on the quality mark.

The distinction is important here: the inspector detects the violation, investigates it and documents it, and this article does not deal with imposing penalties. Someone subject to an inspection or a detected violation may consult a lawyer who specializes in administrative cases.