The Ministry of Municipalities and Housing emphasizes the importance of complying with municipal regulations and clarifies the corrective grace period mechanisms before penalties are applied.

The Ministry of Municipalities and Housing stressed the importance of establishments and individuals adhering to the approved municipal requirements and regulations, which contributes to protecting public facilities, improving the urban landscape, enhancing public safety and health levels in the Kingdom’s cities and governorates, and raising the quality of municipal services, in line with the Ministry’s objectives to improve the quality of life and achieve the goals of Saudi Vision 2030.

The ministry explained that updating the schedule of penalties for municipal violations comes within an integrated regulatory framework aimed at unifying procedures and enhancing transparency and clarity in the application of penalties, as it defines the paths of treatment and action according to precise standards that take into account the nature of the violation, its impact, and the extent of its recurrence, in addition to the classification of secretariats and municipalities, and the size of establishments, in order to ensure fairness in application and raise the efficiency of compliance in various activities subject to municipal supervision.

She explained that the approved schedule included clear mechanisms for addressing violations, which begin – in a number of non-serious cases – with a warning, followed by granting a corrective period before applying the penalty, according to the type of violation and the nature of its impact, as the correction periods vary according to the observed case, which allows establishments and individuals to complete the compliance requirements and address the observations before completing the regulatory procedures.

The ministry stated that the regulation differentiates between serious and non-serious violations in the handling mechanism, where penalties are applied directly to violations that have an impact related to safety or public health or that require urgent intervention, while violations that can be handled are given a corrective grace period before completing the regulatory procedure, with a gradual application of penalties when the violation is repeated, in accordance with the regulatory provisions.

She emphasized that this update is an extension of her ongoing efforts to develop the municipal control system, through adopting regulatory approaches that focus on early intervention, raising the level of compliance, and enhancing awareness of municipal requirements, which contributes to reducing avoidable violations, supports the improvement of the urban environment, and raises the efficiency of services provided to residents and visitors.

The ministry called on all establishments to take the initiative to review the approved requirements and controls, address the observations, and take advantage of the corrective grace period when applicable, in order to ensure business continuity and compliance with the approved regulatory frameworks.

It is worth mentioning that the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing previously adopted updates to the schedule of penalties for municipal violations, which included adding a number of new violations to the updated or new requirements, as well as updating the provisions of a number of approved violations in line with the public interest, within a development path aimed at unifying monitoring and treatment procedures, raising the efficiency of compliance, and enhancing transparency in the application of municipal penalties. The schedule can be viewed through the following link: https://2u.pw/LM8N9x .