SAUDI ARABIA

Commercial courts officially launched

October 16, 2017

Hanan Alnufaie

Saudi Gazette

Riyadh — Justice Minister and Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council Sheikh Dr. Walid Bin Muhammad Al-Sama’ani officially launched commercial courts here Sunday.

Commercial courts started operating from Muharram 1 (Sept. 21) this year with the opening of three such courts in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, specialized commercial chambers within public courts in a number of cities, and specialized appeals chambers with 173 judges.

A tripartite working group made up of the Supreme Judicial Council, the Ministry of Justice, and the Board of Grievances had worked for the past two years to transfer commercial courts from the Board of Grievances to the Ministry of Justice.

Al-Sama’ani said the opening of these specialized courts would positively impact the justice system.

He also said the commercial courts would help enhance the business environment, encourage and motivate investment in the Kingdom, and boost economic development in line with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030.

Al-Sama’ani said the ministry had launched the “paperless court” project, which cut around 45% of procedures, and shortened the period for execution of judicial orders from two months to 72 hours only by activating the electronic linking system with related entities.

The e-link has been activated so far with 19 government agencies to provide around 60 e-services to clients.

Al-Sama›ani said that the ministry had started the gradual implementation of the e-link between the courts of first instance and appeals courts to electronically transfer the full case; this would make the process 30 days shorter than before, which expedited the determination of cases.

He said the ministry launched the “Administrative Organization of Judicial Chambers” project to save clients’ time, monitor the progress of cases within departments, and discharge judges from 80% of administrative work.

Sheikh Dr. Khalid bin Muhammad Al-Yousuf, head of the Board of Grievances, said commercial judiciary was an important contributor necessary for the success of the business environment and the protection of money and rights.

“Economic activity does not stabilize and grow unless there is a fair specialized judiciary. This is why a specialized judiciary has been among the institutional priorities in the Kingdom after the issuing of the Commercial Court Code,” he said.


October 16, 2017
1603 views
HIGHLIGHTS
SAUDI ARABIA
10 hours ago

Financial package worth SR312 million launched to support Saudi research laboratories

SAUDI ARABIA
11 hours ago

Renovation of 56 heritage buildings in Historic Jeddah completed  

SAUDI ARABIA
12 hours ago

Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan discuss climate action cooperation