Compliance Colleague · Standards · Arab Gulf States

Saudi Arabia: PDPL, NCA ECC, SAMA and AI governance: cited answers and gap reviews

An AI compliance assistant for organizations operating in or entering Saudi Arabia · updated 2026-10-03

Saudi Arabia combines a Personal Data Protection Law with National Cybersecurity Authority controls and SAMA rules for the financial sector. Compliance Colleague covers the PDPL and its regulations, NCA ECC and CCC, the SAMA Cyber Security Framework and SDAIA AI guidance, with the article or control cited.

Try it on your own Saudi Arabia work: one document review or two questions, free for 30 days, no card required. Start free →

What it covers

The PDPL with its Implementing Regulation and 2024 Transfer Regulation
NCA Essential Cybersecurity Controls (ECC-2:2024) and Cloud Cybersecurity Controls (CCC-2:2024)
SAMA Cyber Security Framework and cloud approvals
CST cloud regulations and Saudi data residency
SDAIA AI Ethics Principles and generative AI guidelines

Questions you can ask

“Can we transfer Saudi personal data to our cloud region in Europe?”
“Which NCA ECC controls apply to our SaaS platform?”
“How quickly must we notify SDAIA after a personal data breach?”

Every answer cites the Saudi Arabia requirement, article or control it rests on, so you can check it in seconds.

What you can upload for review

Your privacy notice checked against the PDPL
A cloud architecture diagram checked for Saudi data residency
An ECC control tracker (Excel) checked for gaps

Files: PDF, Word, Excel or CSV, Visio (.vsdx), draw.io, or an image such as a screenshot. Choose a full review, a prioritized fix list (each gap with its fix and the evidence an assessor will expect) or a short summary, and download the result as Word or PDF.

Crosswalk Saudi Arabia to other standards

With Saudi Arabia in your plan you can compare it against any standard in the library and see where they align and exactly where they don’t. Common pairings:

What it’s built from

Compliance Colleague carries the official text and checks its answers against it: Personal Data Protection Law (Royal Decree M/19, as amended by Royal Decree M/148) (Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA)); Implementing Regulation of the Personal Data Protection Law (Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA)); Regulation on Personal Data Transfer Outside the Kingdom (Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA)).

Re-checked every month for new versions, deadlines and penalty changes. Full list on the sources page.

More Arab Gulf States standards

UAE · Qatar · Bahrain · Oman · Kuwait

Compliance Colleague covers 30+ security, privacy and AI governance standards. It reviews policies, spreadsheets and diagrams and answers questions with the clause cited; your judgment and sign-off stay with you. Try it free, no card required →

Research aid, not legal or audit advice, and not an audit opinion or certification. Verify findings against the official text before relying on them.