Saudi Arabia published the Executive Regulation for the Sustainable Management of the Marine and Coastal Environment in the official gazette Umm al-Qura on August 21, 2026 (8 Rabi al-Awwal 1448). Issued under the Environment Law (Royal Decree M/165), it turns the law's principles into binding duties: environmental permits for coastal and offshore works, mandatory vessel incident reporting, a catalog of prohibited discharges and wildlife harms, and administrative fines reaching SAR 20,000,000 per breach. It binds operators from Aramco and SABIC coastal plants to Mawani ports and the NEOM and Red Sea Global projects.
For compliance leads, activities long governed by general policy or IMO conventions alone now sit under a dedicated national licensing and penalty regime. Four authorities share the duties: the National Center for Environmental Compliance (permits, pollution monitoring, EIAs), the National Center for Wildlife Development (fishing and wildlife licenses), the National Center for Vegetation Cover Development (coastal vegetation and mangroves), and the General Organization for the Conservation of Coral Reefs and Turtles in the Red Sea, which can demand vessel seizure on suspicion of violations.
Which activities now require an environmental permit?
Sixteen categories of marine and coastal work trigger a permit from the National Center for Environmental Compliance before proceeding. The list spans excavation, dredging and reclamation, breakwaters and seawalls, marine platforms, coastal construction and demolition, exploration and drilling, marine and coastal tourism, traditional and renewable energy, coastal and marine mining, transport and port activities, aquaculture and marine investment, treated wastewater discharge, mooring buoy installation, motorized marine sports, and scientific research. Wildlife-linked work needs separate wildlife-center licenses, and coastal vegetation work a vegetation-center permit.
Environmental permits are due within 30 working days, extendable by 10; wildlife and fishing licenses within 10 working days, extendable by 5. Fishing licenses are personal, non-transferable, and valid for one year maximum. Operating a listed activity without a permit is itself a penalized breach, with escalating fines on repeat offense.
What must vessel owners and operators report?
The regulation makes incident reporting a standalone duty, independent of MARPOL or flag-state obligations. Owners and operators must immediately notify the National Center for Environmental Compliance of oil spills, hazardous material releases and cargo loss, and report any accidental collision or contact with coral reefs or marine wildlife to the competent authority. Failure to report is a separate violation on top of the underlying incident.
Vessels forced to anchor or navigate in restricted areas must notify the authority immediately, explain the emergency, avoid discharging waste or ballast water, and leave once the emergency ends. Specified vessels must keep a logbook of preventive measures and emergency pollution plans and hand copies to the authority on request. High-risk operators in mining, oil and gas, coastal infrastructure, energy, tourism, aquaculture, fishing, and ports may be required to install monitoring systems that detect leaks early and track wildlife and reef status.
What is prohibited, and how are Red Sea coral reefs protected?
The prohibition list is explicit and tiered. General prohibitions bar discharging untreated wastewater, toxic chemicals, oils, fuel or contaminated sediments, and disposing of hazardous waste. Wildlife prohibitions cover hunting threatened species, introducing invasive species, damaging habitats, using prohibited fishing gear, dumping anchors on coral reefs, and fishing with explosives, toxins or narcotics. Vessel prohibitions target harmful anti-fouling systems, breaches of ballast water and waste discharge rules, and operating in restricted areas without authorization.
The Red Sea coral reefs and turtles organization approves EIAs for activities near reefs and nesting sites, can demand vessel seizure on suspicion of violations, requires compensation, and supervises remediation. Extracting or damaging coral reefs or sponges, cultivating reefs without approval, and operating coral nurseries without a license are now standalone offenses.
What penalties apply, and is there relief for smaller operators?
The fine schedule is granular and reaches sums that materially affect P&L. Failing to conduct indicative ballast water tests costs SAR 50,000 to 2,000,000; breaching emergency navigation rules, SAR 50,000 to 1,000,000; and operating a listed activity without a permit escalates from SAR 50,000 to 200,000 on a first breach to SAR 500,000 to 2,000,000 on a third. Species-specific caps apply, with marine mammals capped at SAR 1,500,000 and cartilaginous fish, sharks and rays, at SAR 1,000,000 per organism. Representative bands appear below.
| Representative breach | Fine band (SAR) |
|---|---|
| Disposing of hazardous waste | 50,000 to 20,000,000 |
| Failing to contain a spill | 50,000 to 5,000,000 |
| Releasing invasive species (per organism) | 50,000 to 1,000,000 |
| Operating without a permit, third breach | 500,000 to 2,000,000 |
| Damaging wildlife eggs or habitats | 5,000 to 500,000 |
A small-entity reduction softens non-serious violations: individuals pay 25 percent of the listed fine, and commercial establishments pay scaled amounts, micro 25 percent, small 50 percent, medium 75 percent, and large 100 percent. The full text is on the Umm al-Qura gazette page, decision 4001671.
Obsidian's continuous, per-jurisdiction regulatory monitoring surfaces a change like this the moment it publishes in the official gazette, before a missed permit or an unreported spill becomes a fine.
Take advantage of this real-time watch
Next, map your Saudi coastal footprint against the sixteen permit categories, confirm whether your vessels need logbooks and monitoring systems, brief EHS and port teams on incident-reporting triggers, and budget for the hazardous-waste and species-specific bands. Confirm entry into force with counsel: under the Environment Law, instruments generally take effect 30 days after gazette publication unless the text fixes another date.
