Saudi Arabia seizes 1.3 million noncompliant products, conducts over 144,000 inspections in Q3

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Commerce seized more than 1.3 million noncompliant products during Q3 of 2026, alongside more than 144,000 inspection visits to combat commercial fraud and strengthen compliance among commercial establishments. According to the ministry’s Q3 2026 Consumer Protection Bulletin, 1,399,251 products violating the Commercial Data Law and Anti-Commercial Fraud Law were seized during 11,141 inspection visits conducted in cooperation with joint security campaigns. The violating establishments were referred to the Public Prosecution to complete legal procedures. Meanwhile, the ministry conducted more than 144,000 inspection visits to combat commercial fraud and violations of sales regulations, recording a 92 percent compliance rate among establishments. The ministry also processed 210,901 consumer complaints during the quarter, with an average processing time of 1.5 days. E-commerce stores accounted for the largest complaint category at 101,657, followed by 31,402 complaints concerning failure to comply with exchange and refund policies and 24,496 complaints involving contractual disputes related to consumer protection regulations. In the automotive sector, the ministry conducted 30 recall campaigns covering 191,920 vehicles and 40 products, involving defects in instrument cluster systems, exhaust gas recirculation systems, control unit programming and automatic transmissions. The ministry also imposed fines exceeding SR8 million on a vehicle dealership after identifying 175 violations related to after-sales services. The dealership was barred from importing vehicles, required to compensate affected consumers, and measures were initiated to transfer the vehicle brand to another authorized dealer. In its efforts to combat commercial concealment, the ministry carried out 12,292 inspection visits, identifying 475 preliminary suspicions of commercial concealment and 58 violations of market regulations. Fines related to anti-commercial concealment violations totaled SR2,141,820. The ministry also introduced an artificial intelligence-powered service through its Commercial Report application to help consumers classify their complaints. According to the bulletin, the AI assistant was used in 82,294 complaints, representing 29.2 percent of complaints during the reported period, and achieved a 70 percent correct-classification rate.