The Saudi Justice Minister Dr. Walid Al-Samaani has launched the ‘Najiz’ online portal which will cover 177 first instance courts in all regions of the Kingdom.

The portal is part of efforts to unify judicial proceedings, enable digital transformation to the judiciary and speed up the litigation process. It was set after restructuring of procedures were adopted in all Saudi courts and a new judicial procedure system document was issued and digitized.

The portal is being considered a step towards a full digital transformation in all sectors. A service called ‘appeal without transcript’ has been introduced which enables first instance courts to send a case file to the court of appeal electronically in just a few minutes, and automatically receive the court’s reply. Task forces have also been formed to carry out the proceedings of the courts and compare them to legal proceedings, criminal court proceedings and related regulations, and proceedings in other countries.

The portal will be rolled out in four stages, and there will further updates to facilitate services.