RIYADH: Justice Minister and President of the Supreme Judicial Council Dr. Walid bin Mohammed Al-Samaani has approved new rules regulating bankruptcy cases’ procedures in commercial courts.

These regulations were issued after an agreement with the Supreme Judicial Council, giving effect to provisions of paragraph III of article 97 from the executive rules of the bankruptcy system.

They were developed after a survey of the requirements of those cases’ procedures in commercial courts, exploring competent and relevant authorities’ perspectives, and benefiting from the most notable international experience.

They include 24 articles regulating the procedures for reviewing requests under the bankruptcy system and its executive rules in commercial courts. The provisions of rules included: procedures related to jurisdiction and judicial processes in bankruptcy applications, duties of the unit specialized in managing bankruptcy cases in court, procedures for submitting requests and records, suspension of demands, precautionary applications, the inspection of the application and adjudication and the mechanism for issuing rules and decisions and challenging them.

Some of the most important rules which will be enacted after being published in the official gazette are: charting the course of bankruptcy cases from presenting the application until adjudicating it, and determining the case’s timeframe while taking into account the nature of bankruptcy cases. The rules also included activating the role of the administrative unit specializing in bankruptcy cases, and benefiting from modern electronic means in processing those cases, in support of the speedy completion of bankruptcy cases and the improvement of procedural labor in commercial courts which will lead to increased efficiency in bankruptcy cases.

They are expected to have an important effect in the Kingdom’s future classification for resolving bankruptcy cases in the World Bank's annual Doing Business report.