The Saudi Ministry of Hajj has completed the draft of a new system for domestic pilgrims, consisting of 23 articles aimed at organizing and structuring the services offered to pilgrims, developing them to enable guests of Allah to perform the religious duty with ease, enhancing the competencies of those working in the field of domestic pilgrimage services, monitoring the performance of service providers, and promoting competition in service delivery according to approved mechanisms.
The project's articles emphasize the necessity of obtaining a license to practice the activity from the ministry, ensuring that the practice is based on competition. It stipulates that the ministry and the authority will set the regulations for achieving competitiveness, requiring service providers to engage in the activity themselves. Services may be offered through alliances between licensed parties based on the standards and controls set by the ministry, which will also outline the conditions, requirements, and procedures for qualifying and licensing companies and institutions, specifying the license duration, classification level, renewal conditions, cancellation cases, modification procedures, and related fees, according to sources for the Saudi newspaper "Okaz."
According to the system, service providers must contract through the ministry's approved platform, which includes service levels, timelines for delivery, prices for each level, services provided at each service level, service provider data, and the contracting mechanism between pilgrims and service providers, following the qualitative and quantitative classification approved by the ministry. The executive regulation will define the mechanism for exempting service providers from contracting through the electronic platform and the required conditions for this exemption.
Service providers are obligated to deliver services according to the qualitative and quantitative classification approved by the ministry, in line with the agreed service level with the pilgrim. They must provide insurance for the service and guarantees according to the announced dates, pay the agreed fees for the allocated sites in the holy sites as per the timelines communicated by the ministry's relevant department, adhere to the instructions provided by the ministry, and comply with any commitments and agreements prepared and approved by the ministry regarding service levels.
The new project prohibits service providers from contracting with individuals wishing to perform pilgrimage from outside the Kingdom or offering services to them without the ministry's approval. It also forbids enabling others to use the license granted to them, selling, renting, or assigning it without obtaining the ministry's approval, or contracting with any pilgrim outside the electronic platform. Exceptions will apply to cases and mechanisms defined by the executive regulation in accordance with paragraph (2) of (Article Six) and contracting with violators of the residency system.
The project stipulates that without prejudice to any more severe penalties provided by law, the committee will punish any service provider who violates the provisions of this system and its executive regulations and decisions issued in implementation of it, with one or more penalties including a financial fine not exceeding 500,000 riyals, suspension from providing domestic pilgrimage services for a season or longer, or license cancellation.
The ministry will implement the penalties stipulated upon receiving the minister's approval of the committee's decision, and those subject to the decision have the right to appeal to the administrative court.
