Royal Decree 6/2022 promulgating the Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) was issued in February 2022. The PDPL comes into force on 13 February 2023.
The new law follows the global trend of increased adoption of dedicated general data protection laws, including in the GCC, where fairly recent data protection laws in Qatar and Bahrain have been followed by new laws in Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the latter half of 2021. It replaces the more limited data protection regime that already exists in Chapter Seven of the Electronic Transactions Law (promulgated by Royal Decree 69/2008).
