Ministerial Resolution No.

(155) Dated 6/1/1431H (corresponding to

23/12/2009)

THE MINISTER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY,

Upon the authorities assigned thereto,
After reviewing the Law of Competences of the Ministry of Commerce and
Industry issued upon the Council of Minister's Resolution no. (66) dated 6/4/1374H
(corresponding to 2/12/1954),
After reviewing the Anti-Commercial Fraud Law issued upon the Royal Decree
no. (M/19) dated 23/4/1429H (corresponding to 29/4/2008),
And after reviewing the joint memorandum no. (5814/11) dated 29/12/1430H
(corresponding to 16/12/2009) submitted by His Excellency the MCI
Undersecretary for Consumer Affairs, and His Excellency the MCI Assistant
Undersecretary for Legal Affairs,

HEREBY DECREES THE FOLLOWING:

Article 1
The Implementing Regulations of the Anti-Commercial Fraud Law shall be
published with the attached form.
Article 2
This Resolution shall be published in the Official Gazette.

Minister of Commerce and Industry

Abdullah bin Ahmed ZainalAlireza
 The Implementing Regulations of the Anti-Commercial Fraud Law
General Provisions

Article 1
The following words and phrases, wherever mentioned in theseRegulations, shall
have the meanings expressed next to them:
Minister: Minister of Commerce and Industry.
Ministry: Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Competent Authorities: the Ministry of Municipalities and Rural Affairs, and the
Saudi Food and Drug Authority.

Article 2
The product shall be considered as a (Fraudulent Product) in any of the following
cases:
a. Any product that has been altered or tampered with in any way,whether in its
substance, nature, kind, type, shape, components, features, requirements,
characteristics, origin data(manufacturing country) or quantity in terms of
weight, measure, measurement, number, capacity, caliber or the validity date.
b. Any product not conforming to the approved standard specifications or any of
their items. Or any product that has been produced, manufactured, filled,
stored, transported, or offered for sale in a manner not conforming to the
applicable standard specifications.
c. All fraudulent products pursuant to the following:
1) Any product no longer fit for utilization, use or consumption by
humans or animals.
2) Any product whose validity date has expired.
3) If the product shows signs of damage or defect.
4) If the product's natural properties or components in terms of shape,
color, taste or smell,have changed.
5) If the product contains worms, insects, larvae, human or animal wastes
or other similar materials.
6) If the test result shows its unfitness for utilization.
Article 3
a. Fraud of a product means to describe, offer for sale, or market a product using
false, misleading or deceptiveinformationin a manner not conforming to the
reality.
b. Preparations for committing fraud shall be considered as a sign of embarking
on fraud.
c. Preparations for committing deceit shall be considered as a sign of embarking
on deceit.

Article 4
The seizure of a fraudulent product shall be considered with the intent of trading if
the seizure was recorded in the place of offering for sale, selling, storing, or
manufacturing, or in the transportation means.

Recording Violations
Article 5
a. Whether the visit was paid upon a notice, complaint or inspection tour, the
judicial recording officers affiliating to the Ministry and the Competent
Authorities shall beliable, jointly or severally, for recording and establishing
the violations of the provisions of this Law in accordance with the jurisdiction
of each authority.
b. The judicial recording officers shall complete the procedures of establishing
the violations of the provisions of the Law and the Implementing Regulations
thereof from the public recording officials.
c. The judicial recording officers affiliating toany authorityreferred to in
Paragraph (A) of this Article shall be liable for recording and establishing the
violations of the provisions of this Law and the Implementing Regulations
thereof in the regions, governorates, and centers freeing from any branch for
such authorities.The violations shall be referred to the competent authority
pursuant to the jurisdiction of each. The judicial recording officer, upon
detection of a violation for the provisions of this Law that is not under the
subject-matter jurisdiction of the authority thereof, shall record and establish
 the violation and refer it to the competent authority to complete the statutory
procedures thereon.
d. The Ministry and the Competent Authorities shall distribute business cards
for the judicial recording officers affiliating to each in order to show them
when recording violations.

Article 6
The MCI liability and supervision on the judicial recording officers shall be
regulated as follows:
1- Issuance of the ministerial resolutions which stipulate the appointment of
judicial recording officers as well as cancellation of such an appointment.
2- Verification of the judicial recording officers' commitment to enforce the
provisions of the Law and the Implementing Regulations thereof as well as
providing the authorities with the required directives in this regard.
3- Issuance of the decisions required to enforce the provisions of this Law and
the Implementing Regulations thereof. The Competent Authorities shall
be liable for enforcing such decisions.
4- Receipt of monthly reports from the Competent Authorities concerning
the acts of the judicial recoding officers.

Article 7
In pursuit of performing their duties, the judicial recording officers shall have the
right to:
1- Inspect, examine, and receive the notices and complaints related tothe
violations of this Law,as well as recording and establishing such violations.
2- Access and inspect the facilities comprising the products subject of the
provisions of the Law and the Implementing Regulations thereofas well as the
stores, warehouses, transportation means, and other buildings annexed to
such facilities. The judicial recording officers may request to open the closed
facilitiesonce the violation is established or during the accrual working hours
of the facility. In case of prevention, the officers may close down the
suspected facility till they manage to access and verify the violation.
 3- Record, and impound the products suspected to be in violation of the
provisions of the Law and the Implementing Regulations thereof,as well as
withdrawing samples from the products for inspection and analysis, seizingthe
documents related to the product, the facility, and employees, if needed,
filing a report on the incident and allowing the disposition of the product,
proven not to be defrauded.
4- Confiscate and damage the product, proven to be defrauded, in accordance
with the cases specified in the Article (2) of theseImplementing Regulations,
as well as allowing the disposition thereof in accordance with the provisions
of Article (15) of these Implementing Regulations.
5- Record the testimony of the violator immediately, if needed, or summon him
to inquire about the violation and record his testimony later. The violator
shall have the right to make his defenses, submit the documents related to the
violation, and recordthem in a report.
6- Seek the help of the competent securitybody, if needed.

Article 8
a. When recording, impounding, seizing, confiscating, damaging, removing
requisition of, or taking samples from the products; closing down the shop;
preventing the shop from practicing the commercial activity, or recording the
testimony of the violators, the judicial recording officer shall file a report on
this incident, including the following:
1. The date of the report and the place where the violation was
recorded.
2. The commercial data of the facility as well as the licenses issued to
practice the activity.
3. The name of the judicial recording officer, as well as the name of the
shop owner, the person who acts on his behalf, or any employee inside
the shop, and the name of the person arrested during committing fraud
or deceit. Then, each shall sign the report.
4. The name, quantities, and commercial data of the products, as well
as the type of the violation, the place of recording the violation, and the
tools used for fraud and deceit.
 b. The reports shall be made out in triplicate; the original form shall be attached
to the case file, a photo-copy shall be submitted to the competent authority,
and a photo-copy shall be delivered to the facility owner or the violator.

Article 9
The judicial recording officer shall withdraw the samples suspected to be in violation
of the provisions of the Law and the Implementing Regulations thereof, for
inspection and analysis, in accordance with the following:
1. Establishing the incident of withdrawing the samples upon a report.
2. Withdrawing the samples, whose quantities shall be determined according to
the impounded products and the type of the packages, in a randomway. The
judicial recording officer must take into consideration the approved
specifications of the product or inspection requirements in terms of the
number of samples withdrawn, as well as the method of storing, and
transporting such samples by appropriate means.
3. Placing a label on the sample withdrawn, including the following data:
a) The name of the sample and the owner thereof.
b) The date of taking the sample.
c) The serial number of the sample.
4. The data written in the label shall be kept in a record having serial numbers
for each year.
5. The owner of the suspected sample shall not receive any charge or
compensation for the samples withdrawn for analysis and inspection. As for
the high-value products, they shall be sent back to the trader after inspection
and proven as fit for utilization, if possible.

Inspection and Analysis of Products and the Periods Needed for Each
Article 10
The process of inspecting and reaching the result of the suspected sample should be
done according to the following:
a. The inspection, analysis and extraction of the result of the food products
should be done within a period of not more than (15) days from the date of
delivering the sample to the laboratory.
 b. The sample-withdrawing authority shall inform the trader of the result of
inspecting the food products within a period not exceeding (7) days from the
date of receiving the sample result in accordance with the notification
procedures referred to in Article (11) of these Implementing Regulations,
unless the result of inspection and analysis requires to conduct much more
analysis or inspect the product in specialized laboratories outside the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia.

c. The inspection, analysis and extraction of the result of the non-food products
should be done within a period of not more than (45) days from the date of
delivering the sample to the laboratory. If the laboratory fails to analyze the
sample within the mentioned period, the period may be extended only once,
unless the product specifications require a longer period. It is noteworthy that
the trader must be informed of this extension, and the laboratory must notify
the authority, which sent the sample.
d. The sample-withdrawing authority shall inform the trader of the result of
inspecting the non-food products within a period not exceeding (7) days
from the date of receiving the sample result in accordance with the
notification procedures referred to in Article (11) of these
ImplementingRegulations.

Procedures of Withdrawing the Fraudulent Product

Article 11
Thefraudulent product must be withdrawn in accordance with the following
procedures:
1- The (producer-importer-distributor- seller) shall commit to withdraw the
fraudulent product at his expense immediately after being aware of,
notified, or informed of the violation at his address registered in the
commercial register office, provided to the Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, or via his PO Box, email, fax, or when the violation is recorded,
or one of the employees is informed of the violation.
2- The violator shall commit to publish declaration at his expense concerning
the withdrawal of the fraudulent product within a period of not more than
 1 week from the date of disclosing the violation, or informing him
thereof, given that the afore-mentioned declaration must be published in
two daily newspapers; one of the newspapers must be published in the area
where the main office is located, and the another where the violation
occurred.
3- The Ministry and the Competent Authorities shall publish the declaration
of withdrawing the fraudulent product in the mass media, and via the
Portals thereof. Also, they shall order the Chamber of commerce and
Industry and the Consumer Protection Association to publish the
withdrawal declaration via their websites.
4- The violator shall commit to inform the competent recording body of the
withdrawn and sized quantities regularly. The judicial recording officers
affiliating to such bodies shall file the required reports.
5- The violator shall commit to withdraw the fraudulent product from the
markets within a period not exceeding (15) days as from the date of
disclosing the commercial fraud or being informed of the fraud, whichever
comes first.
6- The fraudulent product, which has been withdrawn, shall be disposed of
in accordance with the procedures set forth in Article (15) of these
Implementing Regulations.

Claim for Damages and Value Return Terms

Article 12
a. The aggrieved person shall have the right of claiming for damages before
the judicial body.
b. The application of returning the value of the fraudulent product must be
submitted to the competent judicial body within a period of not more
than 30 days as from the date of purchase, unless the agreement, the seller
obligations or the defect disclosurerequiresa longer period.
c. The buyer may ask for returning the value of the fraudulent product
pursuant to the following terms:
a) The buyer must not be involved in defrauding the product,
whether in terms of transportation, storage, or misuse.
 b) The buyer must submit the original form of the purchase invoice,
the grand bill of sale, or the violator acknowledgment of selling the
product thereto.
c) The value of the fraudulent product shall be returned to the buyer
within period of not more than (15) days from the date of
requesting such a value.

Provisional Attachment of the Suspected Product

Article 13
a) In case of necessity or urgency, the Minister may order provisional
attachment of a product and withdraw it from the markets in case of
suspected fraud, as long as such a product does harm with safety and health.
b) The procedures mentioned in the above-mentionedParagraph shall be
applied in case of receiving preliminary reports and information that suspect
the occurrence of commercial fraud in the product.
c) The attachment order is referred to the Board of Grievances within a period
not exceeding (72) hours, with the supportive documents.

Violations Referral, Investigation, and Prosecution

Article 14
a) The recording body or the competent branch thereof shall be assigned to,
after fulfilling the statutory procedures, refer the violation to the Bureau of
Investigation and Public Prosecution or the competent branch thereof; given
that the MCI Agency for Consumer Affairs must be provided by a photo-
copy of the referral letter and a photo-copy of the recording report.
b) The Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution shall be liable for
investigating the violations of this Law, and filing the criminal case before the
judicial body.
c) The MCI Agency for Consumer Affairs shall be provided by a photo-copy of
the sentence.

Disposal of the Suspected Product

Article 15
In all cases where the commercial fraud is proven, the Ministry or the Competent
Authorities shall, without waiting for the result of the violation complaint,
confiscate and damage the fraudulent product, as well as confiscating the tools used
in fraud and deceit. Such products and tools shall be disposed of in accordance with
the following:
a) Damage of the fraudulent and defective products and tools used in
commercial fraud, which are no longer fit for utilization, at the expense of the
violator.
b) The unsoldproducts, which can be utilized by the consumer, shall be
delivered to the charitable associations to distribute them after removing the
signs of commercial fraud and obtaining the approval of the MCI Agency for
Consumer Affairs, or the representative thereof.
c) The products and tools used in commercial fraud shall be offered for sale in an
auction after removing the signs of commercial fraud; given that the sale
proceeds shall be sent o the State's treasury after deducting expenses arising
therefrom.

Article 16
In the application of the provisions of Article (19) of the Anti-Commercial Fraud
Law, the prices of the impounded products, which are subject of disposition, shall
be calculated according to the price of sale.

Rewards of Informing of Violations

Article 17
A. In the application of the provisions of Article (11) of the Anti-Commercial
Fraud Law, concerning the granting of a reward of not more than (25%) from
the collected fine to any person, other than the competent officials, who
assists in exposing incidents of commercial fraud resulting in the arrest and
conviction of violators, the MCI or the Competent Authorities shall,after the
issuance of a final verdict proving the violation, do the following:
1. Preparing a record including the necessary information of each
informant, such as the place of residence, and providing the informant
with evidenceof recording his notice.
 2. The MCI and the Competent Authorities must inform the informant
of the notice result pursuant to the final verdict.
B. The informant shall have the right to claim for rewards before the judicial
body.

Commercial Discounts
Article 18
The commercial facilities can declare comprehensive and partial discounts in the
commodities prices only after obtaining a license from the Ministry or the
competent branch thereof in accordance with the following conditions:
1. The commercial facility shall notify the “Anti-Commercial Fraud General
Department” or the MCI's competent branch of the desire of offering
discounts at least one month before the launch of discounts. Such
anapplication must include the following:
a) The reasons of offering discounts.
b) The period of discounts as well as the beginning and ending dates.
c) A list of commodities subject of discounts showing the actual price of
each commodity at the time of the application, as well as the price after
discount and the rate of discount.
d) The commercial facility must attach a bill proving the sale at the actual
price specified in the commodities list during different times, or a
pledge certified by the facility owner that the prices written on the
commodities labels are the same prices at which the commercial facility
has sold its commodities during different times before submitting the
application of discounts.
2. The Anti-Commercial Fraud General Department or the MCI's competent
branch shall be liable for reviewing the application, and issuing the required
license within a period of not more than (15) days from the date of submitting
such an application if the license conditions are met. In case of rejection, the
Anti-Commercial Fraud General Department shall inform the facility of
rejecting the application within10 days from the date of registration thereof,
and it should mention the reasons of rejection.
3. The license must include the following data:
 a) The name and address of the shop, licensed to offer discounts.
b) The period of discounts as well as the beginning and ending dates.
c) A list of commodities subject of discounts
d) The rate of the declared discount.
4. Any person owing more than one shop in a city may obtain only a license for
all shop, as long as the activity of such shops is the same. The names and
addresses of the shops offering discounts must be clearly mentioned in the
license.
5. The licensee must place the license or a photo-copy thereof in an apparent
place in each shop.
6. The licensee must keep the certified price list or a photo-copy thereof within
each shop during the discount period, as well as the commodities documents
and bills included in the list.
7. The general rate of discounts must not be of less than 10% of the price applied
one month before the launch of discounts. If the discount rate exceeds 30% of
the product price before discounting, the owner of the shop must submit bills
proving the sale at that price in different times.
8. The shop must place labels on the products subject of discounts, showing
clearly the price before and after the discount. During the period of
discounting, it shall not be allowed to offer low-price commodities other
than those mentioned in the commodities listcovered by the license.
9. Declaration of comprehensive discounts shall be allowed only if the whole
commodities available in the shop are subject of the comprehensive discounts.
On the other hand, the declaration of partial discounts shall be allowed for a
rate of not less than 50% of the commodities available in the shop. If the rate
is less, the seller shall not have the right to declare any discounts by any
means, and instead, shall mention this discount by placing a label on the
commodity, showing the price before and after discounts.
10.The commercial facility shall have the right to offer discounts in each shop
three times a year, given that the discount period must not exceed 90 days
throughout the year.
11.As an exception of the provisions of the aforementioned Article, it shall be
allowed to declare general discounts in the prices for 6 months as maximum
 in case of the final liquidation of the shop due to cessation of performing the
commercial activity, change of the business type, renewal of the shop
comprehensively, or the transfer thereof from a place to another.
12.It shall not be allowed to declare discounts by any means before their launch
by more than 15 days. Also, the license number and the actual discount rate
must be clearly mentioned in the form of declaration. If the said declaration is
placed on the shop window, it shall not be allowed to place it more than a
week before the launch of discounts.

Commercial Contests
Article 19
The commercial facilities shall have the right to launch or declare commercial
contests after obtaining alicense from the Ministry or the competent branch thereof
in accordance with the following:
1- The commercial facility shall submit an application to the Anti-Commercial
Fraud General Department or the Ministry's competent branch, according to
the main office thereof, asking for launching and declaring a contest at least
30 days before the date of launching the contest.
2- The license application must include the following data:
a) The title and purpose of the contest.
b) The territorial scope of the contest.
c) The date of starting and ending the contest. The contest period must
not extend for more than (60) days.
d) The date of declaring the contest results and the deadline scheduled to
present the awards. This date must not exceed (30) from the date of
ending the contest.
e) The contest program and the way of prescription must be clearly
mentioned.
f) The awards presented in the contest and evidence of owing such
awards.
g) The number of contest coupons and models thereof.
3- The Anti-Commercial Fraud General Department or the Ministry's
competent branch shall be liable for reviewing the application within a period
 of not more than 7 days from the date of submission. If conditions are met,
the license shall be issued. But if rejected, the General Department shall
inform the facility of rejection and the reasons thereofwithin 10 days from the
date of submitting the application.
4- The license must include the name of the licensee, as well as the beginning
and ending dates and the territorial scope of the contest.
5- The commercial facility shall have the right to obtain a license for launching a
contest twice a year, given that the contest period must not exceed 60 days in
each time.
6- The contestmust not require purchase for subscription, or place the coupon
inside the commodities.
7- The common price of commodities must not increase during the contest.
8- If a competitor repeats the winning of an award more than once, he shall
obtain only the first-won award.
9- Neither the licensee, nor children, spouse, parents, employees thereof shall
have the right to participate in the contest.
10- The contest must not include any activities that violate the principles of
the Islamic Shari'a and the norms established in the Kingdom.
11- A committee shall be formed to tabulate the results of the contest,
under the leadership of a representative from the Ministry or the Chamber of
Commerce and Industry.
12- The committee shall prepare a report including the contest results, the
namesand addresses of winners, and the awards obtained. The contest results
shall be published at least once in the same mass media which declared the
launch of the contest.
13- The commercial facility shall present the awards to the winners, within
a period not exceeding (7) from the date of tabulating the results.
14- The MCI license number must be published in any declaration
concerning the contest.