Executive Regulations of the Water Law for regulating service provision activities.

This Regulation consists of 184 articles - and 1 Annex - divided into XII Chapters. As provided by article 2, it applies to water supply services for urban and industrial utilization, and sewage and industrial services. Zamzam water services, water supply services for agricultural purposes, collection and transportation of agricultural wastewater, the activities of the main buyer for water supply for agricultural purposes, and cogeneration plants are outside the scope of its application. The main general objectives of the Regulation are (i) ensuring the provision of water safe, clean, reliable supplies, of high quality and at reasonably competitive prices, to achieve justice among consumers; (ii) enhancing the participation of the private sector in the activities and promoting effective governance; (iii) promoting access to clean, safe water that conforms to approved specifications and standards. The Ministry (i) is responsible for regulating several activities concerning the water supply, treatment, storage, collection, and transport that require the obtainment of a license; (ii) approves the executive plans prepared by the licensee according to the nature of the licensed service provision activity; (iii) may exempt some service provision activities from some of the conditions or requirements of the license within a specific geographical scope, for a temporary period, or permanently, for the possible motivations listed in article 67; (iv) determines the tariff for water supply and collection of sewage and industrial wastewater that applies to consumers (art.124); (v) creates an information base for service provision activities including approved studies and plans for service provision (art. 131) and the information shall be provided by the licensee s within a specified period (art. 132);
For each of the following activities, the Regulation declares the general procedures and parameters to be respected, as well as duties of the licensee (i) desalinated and purified water production activity, provided for in articles 6 - 10; (ii) desalinated and purified water transport activity and their strategic storage in articles 11-14; (iii) pumping water from wells and dams in articles 15 - 17; (iv) water distribution and retail activity provided for in articles 18 - 25; (v) collecting and transporting industrial or wastewater, in articles 26 - 40; (vi) sewage or industrial water treatment activity, treated in articles 41 - 48; (vii) transporting and distributing treated water and selling it retail in articles 49 - 55; (viii) principal buyer activities, necessary to offer various projects concerning water plants, and needs a license from the Ministry to be practiced, as per in articles 56 - 59.
The conditions for obtaining the license for service provision activities are listed in article 72, while the modalities to obtain it are dealt with in article 75. As for the infrastructure, it is established that the licensee must carry out the construction works to carry out the licensed activity within the period specified in his license, including the preparation of the studies prescribed in the license or the general permit (art. 96). It is under responsibility of the licensee to provide counters to measure the amount of water supplied to consumers (art. 129). The rules for the protection of the consumers are the object of Chapter VII. Violations and penalties are dealt with in Chapter XI. The Annex concerns the Detailed table of licenses, including names and scopes.