Saudi Arabia: Next steps for compliance with Personal Data Protection Law as one-Hijri-year grace period expiry approaches

In brief

As you may know, on 14 September 2023, the Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) promulgated by Royal Decree No. M/19, dated 09/02/1443H, amended pursuant to Royal Decree No. M/148, dated 05/09/1444H, officially entered into force in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

While the PDPL came into force on 14 September 2023, organizations were afforded a further 12 Hijri months' period from the date of entry into force to bring themselves into compliance with the PDPL (i.e., on or around 2 September 2024). There should have been no enforcement action during the intervening period. We have prepared a timeline of events relating to the PDPL in this article.


Contents

There will be different timelines for enforcement that will be applied to certain sector-specific entities (e.g., financial institutions, private entities working primarily with government and public organizations, etc.) and that will be communicated by the relevant authority for each sector. In certain situations, these will be shorter than the general timeline for enforcement (i.e., prior to 14 September 2024). This will require businesses and organizations to remain vigilant in their efforts to ensure compliance with the PDPL to safeguard the privacy and security of individual's personal information.

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