Saudi Arabia: Closed consultation on Global Digital Content Safe Harbor Law including certification requirements

On 13 October 2023, the Communications, Space & Technology Commission of Saudi Arabia (CST) closed its consultation on the law on Global Digital Content Safe Harbor. The law aims to establish a legal framework and requirements necessary for exemption from civil or criminal liability for intermediate service providers hosting and transiting global digital content. The draft defines an intermediary service as "hosting, processing, storing, transferring, or transiting global digital content outside the Kingdom, or enabling access thereto through the telecommunications network or IT infrastructure". The intermediary service provider is exempted from both civil and criminal liability in cases where they provide an intermediary service involving global digital content violating the laws. This exemption only applies if the service provider has a CST certificate after passing a prequalification process administered by the CST.