In a move aimed at strengthening data governance and ensuring the accuracy of national data, the General Authority for Statistics in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has approved a detailed and comprehensive schedule classifying violations and penalties for breaching the Statistics Law and its implementing regulations. These new measures are intended to curb arbitrary practices in the statistics sector, and include deterrent fines of up to half a million riyals, in addition to strict administrative measures such as suspending and revoking licenses for violating entities.
Details of penalties and serious violations
The authority based its new classification on Article 17 of the Statistics Law, which established specialized committees comprising legal and statistical experts to review violations. The regulations classified several actions as "serious violations" warranting the maximum penalty, most notably:
- Practicing commercial statistical work without a license: or continuing to practice it after the license has been cancelled, and the fine ranges between 100,000 and 500,000 riyals.
- Privacy violation and disclosure of secrets: Fines of up to 500,000 riyals will be imposed for publishing or disclosing any confidential statistical data or using it for purposes other than those for which it was intended.
- Impersonation: The system considered impersonating statistics employees a serious crime that warrants the maximum penalty in order to protect society from deception.
- Data manipulation: Providing incorrect data to obtain a license or enabling others to use it exposes its owner to license cancellation and a fine of half a million riyals.
Strategic context and importance of the decision
These decisions cannot be viewed in isolation from the radical transformation the Kingdom is undergoing under Vision 2030. Accurate statistical data is considered the "new oil" and the cornerstone upon which the government builds its development plans, whether in the housing, health, education, or economic and investment sectors. Therefore, any manipulation of this data or its collection through unsystematic methods could distort national indicators and negatively impact the quality of government decisions and investor expectations.
Through these regulations, the Authority seeks to organize the statistical labor market in the Kingdom, and to ensure that the entities that conduct surveys and opinion polls are licensed and qualified entities that adhere to international scientific standards, thus enhancing the reliability of the figures issued by the Kingdom to international organizations and foreign investors.
Penalties for refusal and obstruction of field work
The regulations did not overlook the field aspect of data collection, as they included graduated penalties to ensure the smooth running of statistical operations:
- Private establishments: Fines of up to 100,000 riyals in case of failure to provide the required data or being late for the specified dates.
- Protection of census workers: Obstructing or abusing census workers is classified as a moderate offense punishable by a fine ranging from 5,000 to 100,000 riyals.
- Individuals: “Minor” fines ranging between 500 and 5000 riyals for individuals who refuse to provide information for statistical purposes, in order to promote social responsibility.
The Authority concluded its regulations by emphasizing the principle of transparency and fairness, as it guaranteed the right to appeal to the Administrative Court for anyone against whom a penalty decision was issued within 60 days of the date of notification, thus ensuring the rights of all parties and achieving a balance between the regulatory authority and the rights of individuals and establishments.
