Minister of Commerce and Industry Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah has decided to amend bylaws of the commercial agencies dealing with car sales as well as provisions for providing maintenance services, spare parts and quality assurance.

The decision aims to regulate the relation between agencies and distributors on one hand and consumers on the other. The move will be in accordance with Kingdom’s commercial agencies bylaws that will take into consideration the interests of all parties concerned.

“The significant development in the commercial transactions either during the sale process itself or after-sale services has been taken into consideration,” said the ministry in a recent statement. The amendment has taken into consideration the intent to improve the level and quality of the services provided by agents and distributors at all levels of the commercial handling with consumers.

The new provision will take effect 60 days after its publication in the Official Journal of Saudi Arabia.
The provisions contain 27 articles that outline the obligations of the agent and distributor toward consumers in the Kingdom concerning the availability of spare parts, maintenance, quality assurance and the conditions set on after-sale services.

The most prominent feature of these provisions is the time schedule specified to deliver the commodity, the disclosure by agents and distributors in writing of any fault or changes in the commodity, including the procedures taken when repairing it.

If the commodity was compounded the agent or distributor must disclose whether its additional parts (accessories) were manufactured by the producer, its place of manufacture and where it was assembled.
All such details must be embedded in a separate document signed by the consumer upon sale.

The provisions stipulated on clearly demonstrating the price of the commodity and spare parts, the costs of maintenance at sale outlets and service centers, as well as on the websites, in addition to clarifying the virtual life span of the commodity.