CHAPTER II: REGISTRATION
CHAPTER II
REGISTRATION
ARTICLE (3)
The forms, approved by the Governor, shall be used for the registration of the non-government sector employers and their workers. The workers in the government sector shall be registered in accordance with the decision of appointment and shall be excluded in accordance with the decision of termination. The registration of the voluntarily contributors shall be done using the approved form prepared for this purpose.
ARTICLE (4)
The Governor may except from using the approved forms or replace them with alternative forms so long as that better serves the Organization work system, particularly the automated methods of preparing employer's accounts.
ARTICLE (5)
The Organization shall print the approved forms and distribute them for a payment to be determined by the Governor or otherwise free of charge in such cases as may be determined by the Governor. Nevertheless, employers may, by Governor's approval, print all or some of these forms at their own expense, but only in such quantities as are necessary for their own use, and in no circumstances may an employer or any other person print such forms for the purpose of trading in or selling them to others except by the consent of the Governor. In all cases, the forms printed by employers shall include the same particulars as those on the forms approved by the Organization and be of the same specifications as to size, colour and spacing and include reference to the number and date of the Governor's approval of printing thereof.
ARTICLE (6)
If an employer has numerous branches or activities, he shall be treated in accordance with the following rules and procedures:
1. For the purposes of determination of the starting date of coverage of each of the employer's activities:
a. In case of various employer's activities of which each is founded according to the applicable laws and has a legal entity and independent financial liability, any of the activities separated from the others shall be treated as an independent employer, notwithstanding that the proprietor of such activity is the same proprietor of the other activity or activities.
b. In cases other than that provided for in the preceding paragraph, all employer's activities and branches shall be considered an integrated unit so long as the proprietor of each activity or branch is the same proprietor of all the other activities or branches.
2. For the purposes of submission of forms and payment of contributions:
a. If the employer has numerous branches of the same activity, the group of branches falling within the jurisdiction of one office shall all be treated as one employer. However, each of the branches falling within the jurisdiction of various offices shall be treated as an independent employer.
b. If the employer has various activities of which each has its own independent financial entity, each activity shall be considered as an independent employer, notwithstanding that such activities fall within the jurisdiction of one office. However, if any of such activities has no independent financial entity, it shall be treated in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
c. The Governor may, for the purpose of maintaining the work interest, consider the branches or activities of the employer as an integrated unit in their dealings with the Organization or accept centralized payment of contributions for all branches and activities through the head office or decentralized payment through each of the various branches of activities, or centralized payment for some of them and decentralized payment for the others, so long as that facilitates dealing with the employer and does not contradict the work interests of the Organization.
ARTICLE (7)
The Organization shall maintain a full register of the employers and shall update the same regularly. To do so, the Organization may conduct a comprehensive field survey or inspection of establishments in all parts of the Kingdom, have access to the data available at all state bodies, semi-state bodies and chambers of commerce and industry and avail itself, as necessary, of the services of the administrative bodies. The Governor shall set the procedures for the implementation of the provisions of this Article.
ARTICLE (8)
1. The employer shall submit the duly completed approved forms within the prescribed time limits, and failure in doing so shall justify the imposition of the penalties provided for in Article (62) of the Law.
2. The Governor, if he is satisfied as to the reasons of delay in submitting the said forms, may excuse such delay and may, on the initial implementation of Law, extend the time limit prescribed for the submission of such forms.
ARTICLE (9)
1. Subject to such decisions as may be issued, every employer to whose establishment the Law applies shall present to the Organization's Office, within which jurisdiction his establishment head office falls, the following:
a. An application for registration of his establishment on the approved form prepared for this purpose for the head office of the establishment and a separate one for each branch or activity treated as an independent employer, and such application form shall be submitted to the Office, within which jurisdiction the premises of such branch or activity falls, within two weeks at the most from the date on which the head office of the establishment meets the requirements of coverage under the Law.
b. The required data in respect of his workers which shall be given on the approved forms prepared for this purpose, associated with a copy of an official document confirming the date of birth or a copy of national identification card for the Saudi workers or a copy of the passport for the non-Saudi workers, as applicable, and such forms shall be submitted within the first fifteen days of the month immediately following the first month for which contributions become payable, along with the contribution payment cheque.
2. The employer shall, after the registration of his establishment and workers in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph, do the following on timely basis:
a. To notify the appropriate office of any new worker who enters employment provided that the notification shall be effective within the first fifteen days of the month immediately following the month in which the worker enters employment. Such notification shall be made by completing the approved form prepared for this purpose, associated with a copy of the documents referred to in the preceding paragraph 1(b).
b. To notify the appropriate office of any worker who leaves employment, within the first fifteen days of the month immediately following the month in which the worker leaves employment, and such notification shall be made by completing the approved form prepared for this purpose.
3. The worker shall have the right to notify the appropriate office of his entry into employment and request for registering him, if the employer fails to do so, provided that such notification shall be made within the fifteen days immediately following the time limit prescribed for the employer to register his workers provided for in the preceding paragraphs 1(b) and 2(a), as applicable. The appropriate office shall, in this case, force the employer to register such worker, so long as he has met the requirements of his registration.
ARTICLE (10)
The employer shall notify the office of the Organization of any changes in the nature, legal status, or address of the activity he practices or in the competent staff signatures or of loss or replacement of stamps, otherwise the employer shall bear the consequences of failure to notify or delay in doing so. Such notification shall be effective within two weeks from the date on which such changes have occurred.
ARTICLE (11)
1. The offices of the Organization shall register the employer and notify him of his registration number within two weeks from the date of submission of the relevant forms.
2. The offices of the Organization shall issue numbers to the contributors upon their registration with the Organization for the first time, and the social insurance numbers thus allocated shall be permanent throughout their period of membership in the Scheme. A new member may not be allotted a social insurance number previously allotted to another contributor who has left service for any reason.
3. Employers shall maintain their registration numbers and their workers' social insurance numbers and quote such numbers on all correspondence concerning the application of the provisions of the Law.
ARTICLE (12)
1. The offices of the Organization shall issue a social insurance card for each contributor upon his registration for the first time, and this card shall contain the following particulars:
· Full name of the contributor as per the official document used for his registration.
· Social insurance number.
· Such other information as the Organization may deem necessary to be included in the card.
2. Such card shall be sent to the employer for whom the contributor is working at the date of registration for delivery to the respective contributor. If the employer fails to deliver a contributor’s card, he shall return the card to the office which shall attempt to make the delivery thereof. The card may also be delivered directly by the Organization to the respective worker. The voluntarily contributors shall receive their cards in person from the office.
3. The contributor shall preserve his social insurance card in good condition, and he shall produce it to any employer for whom he works and take it back after it has been duly noted by the employer. The contributor, or his family members in the event of his death, shall quote the social insurance number on all correspondence related to any issues pertaining to the application of the provisions of the Law.
4. If a contributor loses his social insurance card, he shall immediately report the loss to the office of the Organization which issued the card, and the office shall issue a replacement, in which case the Organization may charge for the replacement a fee to be determined by the Governor's decision.
ARTICLE (13)
1. The Organization shall grant every employer, upon his request, a certificate evidencing his registration with the Scheme, and this certificate shall be prepared in accordance with the form made for this purpose and shall not be regarded as valid unless it bears the official stamp of the Organization.
2. Where an employer has more than one branch or activity and each branch or activity is to be dealt with as an independent employer as provided for in Article (6) of these Regulations, a separate certificate shall be issued for each branch or activity and one certificate shall be issued to any group of branches or activities considered to be one employer.
As an exception to this provision, if the branches or activities are owned by one natural person or are financially dependent on one legal person, the certificate shall not be issued to any of such branches or activities unless the said employer has discharged all his obligations pertaining to all such branches or activities notwithstanding that any of them may be treated as an independent employer for the purposes of payment of contributions.
3. The certificate referred to above shall not be issued or renewed until the employer submits the required forms and discharges all his obligations towards the Organization as of the date of issue of the certificate.
4. Where the conditions for application of the Law to an establishment of an employer have not been fully satisfied yet, the respective employer may obtain a certificate to this effect from the Organization.
5. The certificates referred to in the preceding paragraphs shall be valid for the period and according to the conditions set out in each certificate.
6. The said certificates shall be considered as official government documents that are absolutely forbidden to be printed, or falsified or modified by addition or deletion or by fraudulent alteration of the contents thereof otherwise they shall be considered as null and void. Nor may they be used for purposes other than those for which they are issued in accordance with the provisions of the Law.
ARTICLE (14)
The contributor may request a statement of his period(s) of contribution to the Scheme. Any of his family members may also request such statement in the event of his death. In all the foregoing cases, the statement shall be given free of charge. Such statement shall only be valid for the purpose for which it is issued, without having any other consequential liabilities towards the third party. The issuance of this statement shall not prejudice the Organization's right to make such changes in the information included in the certificates as it may deem necessary on the basis of the revealed events.
ARTICLE (15)
1. As of 01/01/1428H., a time limit of one year shall be granted to apply for retroactive registration of any employment periods preceding this time limit, provided that these periods shall apply to the provisions of this article before being amended.
2. In the event of expiry of the time limit provided for in paragraph (1) of this Article and in the event of expiry of the time limits granted to the employer to register his workers or to the worker to apply for registering himself if the employer fails to register him, retroactive registration of any employment periods, according to Article (9), may only be effective when the following requirements are met:
a. The fulfillment by the employer and the worker of the conditions of compulsory coverage under the Law during the period required to be registered on the basis of such documents as may be satisfactory to the Organization.
b. The periods required to be registered, which are as a maximum over two years preceding the date of applying for registration, shall not be registered.
c. The following is excepted from the application of the provisions of paragraphs (1) and (2/b) of this Article:
1. The state and semi-state bodies.
2. The establishments that take the initiative to apply for registration, and they and their workers have accordingly become covered for the first time and it has been discovered that the establishments and their workers should be retroactively covered.
d. The contributions for these periods shall be computed on the basis of the contributory wage agreed upon by the worker and the employer, with due regard to the provision of Article (19) of these Regulations. Also, fines for delay shall be imposed on these periods.
The provisions of the preceding paragraphs shall not prejudice the Organization's right to impose the penalties provided for in Article (62) of the Law on the employer who violates the provisions of the Law and Regulations thereof by his failure to record the full period of employment or register the worker.