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Saudi Arabia’s Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL)

Operationalize PDPL compliance with the most comprehensive PrivacyOps platform

Last Updated on September 22, 2023

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Saudi Arabia has drafted a number of data privacy regulations to protect the personal data of individuals in Saudi Arabia. In September 2021, the Council of Ministers in Saudi Arabia approved the Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL).

To complement the PDPL, the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence ("SDAIA") has also issued the Implementing Regulations of the Personal Data Protection Law (Implementing Regulations) and the Regulation on Personal Data Transfer outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Personal Data Transfer Regulations). The PDPL and its implementing regulations entered into full force and effect on 14 September 2023. There is a one-year grace period provided to comply with these laws.

The PDPL and the accompanying regulations aim to protect the privacy of individuals’ personal data and regulate the collection, holding, processing, disclosure, or use of personal data by organizations. The PDPL provides the general obligations and principles related to lawful processing, data subjects’ rights, and organizations’ obligations while processing the personal data of individuals and lays out penalties for organizations in case of non-compliance with the PDPL. These provisions have been expanded upon by the Implementing Regulations and the Personal Data Transfer Regulations.

The PDPL applies to any processing of personal data related to individuals that takes place in Saudi Arabia by any means. If a foreign entity is processing personal data related to individuals residing in Saudi Arabia, then the PDPL will also apply.

The solution

Securiti enables organizations to comply with the Saudi PDPL through AI-driven PI data discovery, DSR automation, documented accountability, enhanced visibility into data processing activities, and AI-driven process automation.

Saudi Arabia PDPL Compliance Solution

Securiti supports enterprises in their journey toward compliance with the Saudi PDPL through automation, enhanced data visibility, and identity linking.

Request a demo today to see how Securiti’s products and offerings can help your organization in PDPL compliance efforts.


 

Customize a Data Subject Rights Request Portal for Seamless Customer Care

Create customized web forms according to your brand image with the DSR request format and accept verified data subject rights requests. Automate the initiation of fulfillment workflows when verified requests are received.

data subject rights request
Automate data subject request

Automate Data Subject Request Handling

Articles: PDPL 4; Implementing Regulation 3

Data subjects need to be notified about their data privacy rights, and organizations are required to simplify the initiation of verified DSR requests. Automating the delivery and generation of secure data access reports will greatly reduce the risk of compliance violations and reduce the workforce required to comply with all requests.

Secure Fulfillment of Data Access Requests

Articles: PDPL 4(2), 9; Implementing Regulation 3, 4 (3), 6

Disclosure of information to the data subjects within a limited time frame of receiving a verifiable data request is a must for any organization looking to comply. This will be free of charge and delivered through a secure, centralized portal.

data access requests
dsr rectify request

Automate Processing of Rectification/Completion & Updation Requests

Articles: PDPL 4(4), 17; Implementing Regulation 7

With the help of automated data subject verification workflows across all appearances of a subject’s personal data, you can seamlessly fulfill all personal data rectification, completion, and updation requests.

Automate Erasure Requests

Articles: PDPL 4(5) , 18(1) Implementing Regulation 8

Fulfill data subjects’ erasure requests swiftly through automated and flexible workflows.

erasure requests
restriction of processing requests

Automate Objection and Restriction of Processing Requests

Article: Implementing Regulation 7 (1), 16 (4)

Build a framework for objection and restriction of processing handling based on business requirements with the help of collaborative workflows.

Automate People Data Graph

Articles: PDPL 31; Implementing Regulation 33

Discover personal information stored across all your internal and external systems within the organization and link them back to a unique data subject. Also, visualize personal data sprawl and identify compliance risks.

monitoring and tracking
Saudi Arabia PDPL cookie compliance

Meet Cookie Compliance

Articles: PDPL 5,6,7; Implementing Regulation 11 , 12 

Automatically scan the web properties within your organization, categorizing tags and cookies. Also, build customizable cookie banners, collect consent, and provide a preference center.

Monitor and Track Consent

Articles: PDPL 5, 6, 7, 10(1), 15(1), 24(1), 25(1), 26, Implementing Regulation 11, 12, 13 Personal Data Transfer Regulation 2.

Track consent revocation of data subjects to prevent the transfer or processing of data without their consent. Seamlessly demonstrate consent compliance to regulators and data subjects and fulfill any consent revocation requests

Monitoring And Tracking Personal Data
track consent

Assess Saudi PDPL Readiness

Articles: PDPL 10, 11, 14, 19, 30, 31;  Implementing Regulation 36; Regulation on Personal Data Transfer 3, 4, 5, 6, 8

With the help of Securiti’s multi-regulation, collaborative, readiness, and personal information impact assessment system, you can gauge your organization's posture against Saudi PDPL requirements, identify the gaps, and address the risks. Seamlessly expand assessment capabilities across your vendor ecosystem to maintain compliance against Saudi PDPL.

Map Data Flows

Articles: PDPL 19, 28, 30, Implementing Regulations 28, 29, 30, 31, Personal Data Transfer Regulations 8.

Track data flows in your organizations, trace this data, catalog, transfer, and document business process flows internally and to service providers or third parties in and outside the Kingdom. Additionally, the controller must take appropriate measures to ensure that its employees are all adequately trained and informed of the PDPL’s provisions related to the rights of individuals and breach notification/security threat procedures.

Automatic Data Flow Mapping
Assess Third Parties

Assess Third Parties

Article: PDPL 8; Implementing Regulation 17 (3), 15

Keep track of privacy and security readiness for all your service providers and processors from a single interface. Collaborate instantly with vendors, automate data requests and deletions, and manage all vendor contracts and compliance documents.

Breach Response Notification

Articles: PDPL  20; Implementing Regulations 23, 24

Automates compliance actions and breach notifications to concerned stakeholders in relation to security incidents by leveraging a knowledge database on security incident diagnosis and response.

Breach Response Notification
Privacy Policy and Notice Management

​​​​Privacy Policy and Notice Management

Articles: PDPL 4(1), 12, 13 Implementing Regulation 4(3)

Automate how you publish your privacy notices with the help of pre-built templates to make the process faster. Enable centralized management by tracking and monitoring privacy notices to maintain compliance.

Key Rights Under Saudi PDPL

Right to Know

Data subjects have the right to information that includes informing data subjects of the legal or practical justification for collecting their personal data, the purpose of that collection, and that their data should not be processed in a manner inconsistent with the purpose of its collection.


Right to Access

Data subjects have the right to access their personal data from the entity and obtain a copy of it in a clear and readable format, in conformity with the content of the records, at no cost. There are a few exceptions to this right.


Right to Correction

Where data subjects discover their personal information is incorrect or incomplete, they have the right to request an entity to correct or complete their personal information.


Right to Destruction

Data subjects have the right to request the destruction of data that is no longer needed or collected in an illegal manner.


Right to Data Portability

Data subjects have a right to obtain their personal data in a legible and clear format and request their personal data to be transferred to another controller.

Key Facts about Saudi PDPL

1

Saudi Data & Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) will be the main regulatory authority under the PDPL, ensuring its enforcement for the first two years. A transfer of supervision to the National Data Management Office (NDMO) will be considered in 2024.

2

Personal data can only be collected with the explicit or implied consent of its owner unless its collection or processing is required to fulfill a regulatory requirement, fulfill a statutory requirement to protect personal data, fulfill a legal requirement, protect the vital interests of individuals or pursue legitimate interests of the controller, provided that it does not harm rights of individuals and does not involve sensitive personal data. The consent must be explicit in certain cases, such as when the processing involves sensitive data or credit data.

3

Organizations must appoint one or more employees as DPOs to oversee data protection obligations. The Implementing Regulations have provided the provisions further detailing the criteria for needing a DPA.

4

Sensitive data is defined as data that shows an individual's ethnic or tribal origin, or religious, intellectual, or political belief, or indicates his membership in civil associations or institutions.

5

The collection of personal data should be limited to the minimum amount of data that enables the achievement of the specified purposes.

6

Non-compliance can lead to up to 2 years of imprisonment or a fine of up to SAR 3 million ($800,000).

7

The PDPL requires data to be retained as long as it is necessary to achieve the specific purposes for which it was collected or only as required by the PDPL. The Implementing Regulations also state the kind of information that should be included in a ROPA.

8

The Implementing Regulations introduce a National Register of Controllers for registering controllers with SDAIA. The SDAIA will further issue rules detailing the registration requirements.

9

The Personal Data Transfer Regulations provide an evaluation criterion that will be applied to countries, specific sectors, and organizations to assess the level of protection of personal data outside the KSA.

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