Arts. 6, 10, and 15 of the Personal Data Protection Law delineate the circumstances under which a public entity may request access to data: namely, for purposes of public interest, security, implementing another law, or fulfilling judicial requirements. Notably, there is no stipulation requiring the presence of a court order or warrant. However, Art. 21 of the Implementing Regulations imposes additional obligations on public entities that process personal data obtained indirectly from data subjects for public interest purposes. These obligations include ensuring that the processing is necessary to achieve a clearly defined public interest, that such interest is related to a mandate specified by law, and that appropriate measures are taken to mitigate any potential harm resulting from the processing.

Art. 9.3 of the "Regulations for the Classification of Licences for Telecommunications Services" stipulates that telecom service providers must furnish the Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) with any data it requests within the prescribed timeframe. In addition, providers are required to update the CST promptly in the event of any change to their submitted information. However, the provision does not clarify whether the disclosure of such data must be supported by a judicial warrant or court order.

The E-commerce Law establishes a safe harbour regime for intermediaries for copyright infringements. Art. 12 of the law provides a safe harbour for intermediary liabilities by excluding them from penalties if the intermediary platforms delete any content that violates the provisions of the laws and regulations within one day from the date of notification by the government.

The E-commerce Law establishes a safe harbour regime for intermediaries beyond copyright infringement. Art. 12 of the law provides a safe harbour for intermediary liabilities by excluding them from penalties if the intermediary platforms delete any content that violates the provisions of the laws and regulations within one day from the date of notification by the government.

Art. 7 of the Internet of Things (IoT) Regulatory Framework requires all servers, devices, and network components providing an IoT service and all data relating to the service must be located within Saudi Arabia. This requirement is not included in the 2024 amendment of the framework.

Art. 17 of the Insurance Market Code of Conduct Regulation stipulates that insurance companies are required, at all times, to ensure the protection of customers’ personal data. This obligation entails, inter alia, that such data must be retained within the Kingdom and must not be disclosed to any third party without the prior authorisation of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), except in the case of the companies’ auditors, actuaries, reinsurers, and co-insurers.

Art. 56 of the Implementing Regulations of the Income Tax Law requires that a taxpayer's books be kept in Saudi Arabia.

Art. 29.1 of Saudi Arabia’s Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) and Art. 2 of the Regulation on Personal Data Transfer Outside the Kingdom permit controllers to transfer or disclose personal data abroad where a legitimate purpose exists, such as fulfilling obligations under agreements to which the Kingdom is a party, serving national interests, performing contractual obligations involving the data subject, enabling centralised processing for operational purposes, providing a service or benefit to the data subject, or conducting scientific research and studies. In addition to fulfilling these purposes, Art. 29.2 of the PDPL requires that transfers neither compromise national security nor vital interests, occur only to jurisdictions offering protection equivalent to Saudi standards as assessed by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), and involve only the minimum necessary data. These conditions do not apply in cases of extreme necessity, such as safeguarding life or preventing or treating infectious diseases (Art. 29.3). Where no adequacy decision or international agreement exists, Art. 4 of the Regulations mandates appropriate safeguards, including SDAIA-issued Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs), Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs) for multinational groups, or certification by an SDAIA-licensed entity. Exemptions from adequacy and data minimisation requirements may apply in specific cases, such as transfers between public bodies under agreements serving national interests, occasional or time-limited transfers involving few data subjects, intra-group transfers for central operations, transfers to provide a direct benefit to the data subject without violating expectations, and transfers for scientific research, provided that safeguards such as SCCs, BCRs, or certification are implemented and sensitive data is excluded where required.

Section 3-3-8 of the Cloud Computing Services Provisioning Regulations stipulates that cloud service providers must notify their subscribers and obtain their consent if their content is transferred outside Saudi Arabia. This iteration represents the fourth version of the legislation. The previous three versions were referred to as the Cloud Computing Regulatory Framework. Since its inception, the legislation has included similar requirements. Section 3.3.11 of both the first and second versions mandated that cloud service providers inform their customers in advance if their content would be transferred, stored, or processed outside the Kingdom, whether permanently or temporarily. In the third version, Section 3-3-10 required that cloud service providers clearly inform both the Commission and the subscriber in advance and obtain their approval if the subscriber's content would be transferred abroad.

Saudi Arabia has not joined any agreement with binding commitments to open transfers of data across borders.

According to Saudi Arabia's Accounting Separation Regulatory Framework, accounting separation is applied and required by law for operators with significant market power. However, functional separation for operators with significant market power is not required by law.

According to Art. 6 of the Implementing Regulations of the Telecommunication Act, the Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) Board of Directors may decide to cap the number of licences, registrations or permits in a given telecom/ICT market.

According to Section 5.1.5 of the Regulations of Localization Obligations for Telecommunications Service Providers, service providers must submit localisation and replacement plans to the CST. These plans must include, at a minimum, a career path detailing the courses and training programmes offered to Saudi personnel, the number of such programmes, the entities providing them, and the names, numbers and targets of employees trained, together with related data. They must also specify the total annual spending on training in SAR and its percentage of total revenues, as well as the percentage of spending on local content relative to the company’s total expenses.

Saudi Arabia has not appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

It is reported that the Communications, Space & Technology Commission (CST), the executive authority for the supervision and administration of services in the telecommunications sector, is independent from the government in the decision-making process.