Abu Dhabi: Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman announced on Monday that Saudi Arabia will introduce four key pieces of legislation this year as part of its reforms to improve the legal environment in the Kingdom.
The new laws — the Personal Status Law, the Civil Transactions Law, the Penal Code for Discretionary Sanctions, and the Law of Evidence — represent a new wave of judicial reforms in the Kingdom.
The reforms will help with the prediction of court rulings, increase of the level of integrity and efficiency of judicial institutions, and wcontribute to reliability of procedures and control systems.
They will help clarify the lines of accountability and ensure the consistency of legal references, in a way that limits widespread discrepancies in court rulings, the official statement read.
Discrepancies in court rulings have led to a lack of clarity in the rules governing the incidents and practices, and have hurt many, mostly women, the statement noted.
The new reforms will tackle lack of clarity in rules governing incidents and practices, prolonged litigations that are not based on established legal provisions, and the absence of a clear legal framework for individuals and businesses.
The Crown Prince said that in the past few years, Saudi Arabia has taken serious steps toward developing its legislative environment. These steps include adopting new laws and reforming existing ones. They are meant to preserve rights, entrench the principles of justice, transparency, protect human rights and achieve comprehensive and sustainable development, which reinforces the global competitiveness of the Kingdom based on procedural and institutional references that are objective and clearly identified.
The Crown Prince said these draft laws will then be submitted to the Cabinet for review, in accordance with the legislative process, and in preparation for submission to the Shoura Council for approval. These laws will then be promulgated.
The Crown Prince stated that the Personal Status Law, the Civil Transactions Law, the Penal Code for Discretionary Sentences, and the Law of Evidence will represent a new wave of reforms that will contribute to the ability to predict court decisions, increase the level of integrity and efficiency of judicial institutions, and increase the reliability of procedures and oversight systems as cornerstones in achieving the principles of justice, clarifying the lines of accountability and ensuring the consistency of legal references in a manner that limits discrepancies in courts decisions.
“The absence of applicable legislation has led to discrepancies in decisions and a lack of clarity in the principles governing facts and practices. That resulted in prolonged litigation not based on legal texts. In addition, the absence of a clear legal framework for private and business sectors has led to ambiguity with respect to obligations,” the Crown Prince said.
He added, “this was painful for many individuals and families, especially women, permitting some to evade their responsibilities. This will not take place again once these laws are promulgated pursuant to legislative laws and procedures.”
Mohammed Bin Salman also noted that a few years ago, a draft is known as “the Code of Judicial Decisions” was crafted, but careful review revealed it was insufficient in terms of meeting society’s needs and expectations. Therefore, it was decided to draft these four laws, adopting the current legal and judicial international judicial practices and standards, in a manner that does not contradict with the Shariah principles, taking into consideration the Kingdom’s commitments under international conventions and treaties. He noted that the process of developing the judicial system in the Kingdom is a continuous process and that these laws will be announced consecutively this year.
