The Regulation aims to organize the freight transport sector by trucks, enhance the professional efficiency of drivers and operations managers, improve the operational efficiency of trucks, raise the level of safety on the roads, preserve the environment, and enhance the competitiveness of the sector to provide the best services, as well as regulate the contractual relationship between all parties involved in the transport process.
The following words and phrases – wherever they appear in this Regulation – shall have the meanings indicated next to them unless the context requires otherwise:
1- The Authority: Transport General Authority.
2- The President: President of the Transport General Authority.
3- Goods Transport Activity: Transporting goods by trucks on roads for a fee.
4- Freight Forwarding Activity: Arranging transport operations with the carrier to transport goods from the sender to the recipient.
5- Truck Leasing Activity: Leasing a transport vehicle without a driver under a lease contract for a fee.
6- Person: Any legal or natural person.
7- Establishment: Any entity with a legal personality (company) or an individual establishment.
8- Individual: Any natural person.
9- License: A document issued by the Authority approving the practice of (Goods Transport Activity, Freight Forwarding Activity, or Truck Leasing Activity) in accordance with the provisions of this Regulation.
10- Carrier: The person who holds a license from the Authority to practice the Goods Transport Activity.
11- Freight Forwarder: The establishment licensed by the Authority under the regulation governing the Freight Forwarding Activity.
12- Sender: The person contracting with the carrier or the freight forwarder to transport goods on the roads to the recipient, whether the owner of the goods or an authorized representative.
13- Recipient: The person entitled to receive the goods from the carrier either personally or by appointing another.
14- Lessors: The establishment licensed by the Authority to practice Truck Leasing Activity or its authorized representative who operates under its management by signing the lease contract on its behalf.
15- Lessee: The carrier benefiting from the Truck Leasing Activity in accordance with the provisions of this Regulation.
16- Single Cargo Vehicle: A single vehicle powered mechanically and designed for transporting goods on roads.
17- Tractor: The head of a truck (equipped with a towing plate), designed to tow a semi-trailer, and not equipped to carry weights other than the part resting on the semi-trailer.
18- Semi-Trailer: A transport vehicle designed to couple with a tractor via a towing plate, with part of its weight resting on the tractor.
19- Trailer: A transport vehicle designed so that no essential part of it relies on the tractor or single cargo vehicle.
20- Transport Vehicle: A single cargo vehicle, tractor, trailer, or semi-trailer.
21- Truck: Any single cargo vehicle, or a single cargo vehicle towing a trailer, or a tractor and semi-trailer, or any other permitted configuration for use on roads for transporting goods.
22- Operating Card: A document issued by the Authority authorizing the transport vehicle to operate in the Goods Transport Activity, Truck Leasing Activity, or private transport on roads.
23- Center: The location through which the establishment practices any of the activities classified according to the provisions of this Regulation.
24- Goods: Materials, equipment, commodities, animals, food, or anything else transported by trucks.
25- Postal Package: Any bundle, box, bag, or wrapped material, or any other item with a specific weight securely packaged to ensure safe postal transport between sender and recipient for a known fee, weighing (30) thirty kilograms or less, and not exceeding any dimension of (1.5) meters or (3) three meters in total length.
26- Hazardous Materials: Any simple, compound, mixed, or waste material, whether natural or manufactured, that poses a danger to the environment or any of its elements and to the safety of living organisms due to its toxicity, flammability, explosiveness, or corrosiveness, or any solid, liquid, or gaseous materials classified as hazardous according to international agreements.
27- Professional Driver Card: A document issued by the Authority or any authorized entity to the driver after passing the professional competency test.
28- Hazardous Materials Transport Driver Card: A document issued by the Authority or any authorized entity to a truck driver transporting hazardous materials after passing the competency test in hazardous materials transport.
29- Driver: The natural person authorized to drive the truck.
30- Periodic Inspection Center: A licensed technical inspection center authorized by the traffic department to conduct comprehensive technical inspections on transport vehicles periodically.
31- Periodic Technical Inspection Certificate: A document issued by the periodic inspection center after meeting the inspection requirements.
32- Professional Competency Test: A test that the driver undergoes to ensure the ability to drive the truck efficiently and handle goods safely.
33- Hazardous Materials Transport Competency Test: A test that the driver undergoes to ensure the ability to drive a hazardous materials transport truck efficiently and handle hazardous goods safely.
34- Lease Contract: The contract concluded between the lessor and the lessee according to the provisions of this Regulation, which defines the scope of benefit, obligations, and rights between the parties to the lease contract.
35- Transport Contract: The contract concluded between the sender and the carrier or their representatives, stipulating the conditions under which the goods are transported for a fee.
36- Transport Document: A document issued under the transport contract and considered proof of the carrier's receipt of the goods subject to transport in the condition specified therein for delivery to the recipient in the same condition.
37- Roadside Technical Inspection: An unexpected technical inspection in a safe area on the roadside.
38- Mobile Inspection Unit: A mobile system for conducting technical inspections on transport vehicles in a more detailed manner than the inspection for visible condition.
39- Electronic Transactions: Any exchange, correspondence, contracting, or any other procedure executed wholly or partially by electronic means, including information storage to facilitate access to data and refer back to it later.
40- Exceptional Load: The truck and its load combined, which exceeds the legally prescribed weights and dimensions, such that the transported material cannot be divided or dismantled for any reason.
41- Service Inspector: The person or entity authorized to inspect and monitor compliance with the provisions of this Regulation and to take necessary action in case of any violation.
42- Violation Report: A paper or electronic form prepared by the service inspector that includes any violations committed by any person against the provisions of this Regulation.
43- Load Statement: A list of the goods loaded on the truck for a single trip, including descriptions, quantities, weights, dimensions of the goods, and addresses of the senders and recipients.
44- Authority's Electronic Platform: An electronic platform that allows the Authority to automatically track the locations of trucks and determine their speeds and weights, including monitoring driving and rest periods for the driver, and verifying the legality of the transport vehicle and the driver.
45- Financial Consideration: The financial resources allocated to the Authority in return for the licenses or operating cards for transport vehicles or driver cards issued by it or the services it provides.
46- Financial Penalties: Penalties for violating any of the provisions of this Regulation or other public transport system regulations.
47- Special Drawing Rights (SDR): A unit of account determined by the International Monetary Fund, converted to the national currency of the state according to the value of that currency on the date of the judgment or decision or on the date agreed upon by the parties to the transport contract according to the evaluation method applied by the International Monetary Fund and in effect on that date for its operations and transactions.
48- Public Transport System: The public transport system on the roads in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia issued by Royal Decree No. (M/25) dated 21/06/1397 AH.
49- Regulation: The regulation governing the Goods Transport Activity, Freight Forwarders, and Truck Leasing on land roads.
50- Traffic Law and its Executive Regulation: The traffic law issued by Royal Decree No. (M/85) dated 26/10/1428 AH, amended by Royal Decree No. (M/70) dated 6/11/1437 AH, amended by Royal Decree No. (M/73) dated 18/7/1439 AH, amended by Royal Decree No. (M/115) dated 5/12/1439 AH, and its executive regulation, along with any amendments thereto.
51- Private Transport: The act of a person transporting their goods and products without a fee using their own trucks.
52- Deleted.
53- Entrepreneurship Establishments: Establishments classified by the competent authorities in the Kingdom, which engage in launching, designing, and operating specialized commercial businesses, typically in the form of small or medium-sized startups.
54- Double Trailer Truck: A trailer or semi-trailer towed by a tractor and semi-trailer or a semi-trailer towed by a single cargo vehicle according to standard specifications, used for transporting goods on specified roads and routes under a transport permit for double trailer trucks.
55- Transport Permit for Double Trailer Truck: A permit issued by the competent authority for transporting goods using a double trailer truck according to the rules and conditions of operation issued by the relevant authorities.
56- Gross Weight: The weight of the empty truck plus the maximum load of the truck.
Without prejudice to the provisions of the Traffic Law and its executive regulation and the related laws and decisions and the provisions of international agreements to which the Kingdom is a party:
1. The provisions of this regulation apply to the activities of transporting goods on roads for a fee or for private account, the activities of freight forwarders, and the rental of trucks carried out within the territory of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
2. The provisions of this regulation do not apply to:
A- Transport by trucks with a total weight of (3,500) three thousand five hundred kilograms or less, or their rental.
B- Transport of devices, equipment, medical and food products, and other goods and materials in cases of relief, emergencies, and natural disasters.
C- Transport by trucks owned by military forces and government entities.
D- Transport of cars and towing of vehicles subject to the provisions of the regulation governing the activity of car transport and vehicle towing approved by the authority.
Any of the activities shall be practiced in accordance with the provisions of this Regulation by:
1. Establishments after obtaining a license for that.
2. Saudi individuals - limited to the activity of transporting goods - after obtaining a license for that.
If the licensed establishment wishes to engage in the activity of transporting goods and postal parcels, it must obtain a license for parcel transportation.
1. The licensing conditions stated in Article (Fifth) are essential for its validity, and in case of any breach of these conditions; the license shall be suspended, and the establishment shall not engage in the activity of transporting goods until the condition is fulfilled. If the condition is not fulfilled within a maximum period of (90) ninety days from the date of suspension of the license; the license shall be considered canceled, without prejudice to the authority's right to impose the prescribed financial fine for that condition.
2. If there is a deficiency in the minimum number of individual freight vehicles and/or tractors required to engage in the activity of transporting goods due to accidents or disasters beyond the control of the establishment, and the deficiency is not fulfilled within (180) one hundred and eighty days from the date of the deficiency occurrence; the license shall be considered canceled, without prejudice to the authority's right to impose the prescribed financial fine for reducing the minimum number of individual freight vehicles or tractors.
