Saudi Unveils Features of Draft Law For Hajj Pilgrims’ Service Providers
The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has completed the preparation of the explanatory memorandum for the draft Law for Service Providers of Hajj Pilgrims that will come into force 90 days after its publication in the Official Gazette.
One of the major features of the draft law is that its provisions are applicable to both domestic and foreign pilgrims.
There are provisions in the draft law for imposing penalties against those who are found to have violated the provisions of the law and its regulations. These included serving warning notice; slapping financial fine; suspension from practicing the Hajj service providing activity for a certain period of time; lowering the classification granted to the service provider, cancelling the license, and SR500,000 in fine for practicing the service providing activity without obtaining the required license from the ministry, with the deportation of the violator if he is an expatriate. The penalty imposed on the violator may be doubled in the event of repeating the violation.
In the event of breaching his obligations by the service provider, the ministry shall take all necessary measures to ensure the provision of the service, including assigning another service provider to provide the service, and recourse against the violator for the financial consequences, no matter how much was the amount.
The draft law emphasises that the service provider must provide the best services to pilgrims in accordance with the quantitative and qualitative classification issued by the ministry and the electronic link with the ministry’s systems. The service provider is obliged to provide compensation for pilgrims with the value of services that were not provided to them or value of poor services provided to them that comes below the contracted level.
The draft law aims to unify the standards of services provided to both domestic and foreign pilgrims and to ensure the sustainability of business and investment of licensed firms in order to achieve administrative efficiency and financial solvency.
