Vision Saudi Arabia

We are very pleased to share with you the following special Law Update on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (‘KSA’).

Last year proved to be another year of continuing success and expansion for Al Tamimi & Company in the Kingdom, with a number of new staff joining our Saudi offices, including: new Head of KSA, Babul Parikh; General Manager, Mike Wakefield; and HR Specialist, Hanine Saab. In addition, we welcomed the promotion of three new partners, Emad Salameh – Litigation and Legislative Drafting; Bandar Al Hamidani – Corporate Commercial and Sports & Events Management; and Dr. Ahmed Basrawi – Litigation and Arbitration.

We repeated our success of 2017 by being named KSA Law Firm of the Year 2018 in The Oath Middle East Legal Awards. Other significant achievements include:

1. a highly successful seminar which we co-hosted in Tokyo with the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) and the well-known Japanese law firm Nishimura & Asahi; and
2. the launch of the 3rd edition of our ‘Doing Business in Saudi Arabia’ book (now published in Arabic, English, Chinese and Japanese).

We were honoured to be appointed to the prestigious legal panels of the National Centre for Privatization and the Red Sea Development Company as well as the international panel of law firms of the Ministry of Finance.

The Saudi Arabian Government’s Vision 2030 reform agenda continues to gather momentum, with frequent announcements regarding social and legislative reforms, new large scale giga-projects, high value tenders and world class events which are all helping to maintain an increasingly busy news cycle.

The last 12 months have also seen the introduction of a number of new laws which have had a significant impact on the regulatory landscape and which include:

• Competition Law;
• Government Tenders and Procurement Law;
• E-Commerce Law; and
• Maritime Law.

In addition, socially significant steps have occurred in line with the Government’s Vision 2030 agenda. For example, over the last 12 months we have seen a number of ‘firsts’ as highlighted below:

• women winning the right to drive;
• the re-opening of cinemas to the public;
• the issue of tourist visas for foreigners;
• tourist visas being issued to foreigners for special events;
• Saudi women over the age of 21 may now travel abroad without the need for the permission of their guardian; and
• a new law providing for 24 hour trading licences available from 1 January
  next year.

The following feature on Saudi Arabia touches on a number of current key issues.

We hope you will find our Focus KSA interesting and informative. For further information about any of the highlighted topics, or anything else KSA related, please do not hesitate to contact any of our KSA Al Tamimi & Company team directly.