Waaqi
KSA PDPL Compliance

KSA PDPL compliance, SDAIA-ready

Operationalize Saudi Arabia's Personal Data Protection Law with a single platform for data mapping, consent, rights, and cross-border transfers aligned to SDAIA expectations.

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Compliance postureLive
Control coverage
94%
Open risks
7
Evidence items
1,284
Audit findings
2
Implemented94%
In progress58%
Evidence freshness82%
  • Processing activities by lawful basis and sensitivity
  • DSAR pipeline with statutory deadline countdown
  • Cross-border transfers and adequacy status
01The problem

The KSA PDPL challenge

The KSA PDPL imposes strict requirements on lawful basis, data subject rights, sensitive data, breach notification, and cross-border transfers, with SDAIA as the regulator.

  • Lawful basis and explicit consent for sensitive processing
  • Cross-border transfers with adequacy and safeguards
  • DSAR handling within statutory timelines
  • Breach notifications to SDAIA and individuals
  • Sectoral overlays for health, finance, and government
  • Vendor and processor obligations under the implementing regulations
02The approach

Saudi privacy, operationalized

Waaqi maps KSA PDPL articles to concrete controls, owners, and evidence so your program is provable and SDAIA-ready.

01

Kingdom-aligned

Built around KSA PDPL, NDMO, and the implementing regulations.

02

Cross-border governance

Adequacy, safeguards, and approvals tracked per destination and data flow.

03

SDAIA-grade reporting

Produce regulator notifications, registrations, and audit packages on demand.

03Capabilities

What you get inside Waaqi

Every module works from one control library, one evidence store, and one risk register.

Data Inventory

Live mapping of processing activities with lawful basis and sensitivity.

DPIA Automation

Risk-based assessments for high-risk and sensitive processing.

Data Subject Rights

Automated DSAR pipelines with verification and statutory SLA tracking.

Consent Management

Granular consent capture, withdrawal, and lawful basis tracking.

Breach Management

Workflow for SDAIA notification and individual communications.

Processor Governance

DPAs, sub-processor catalogs, and audit rights for vendors.

Cross-Border Transfers

Adequacy assessments, safeguards, and impact assessments per destination.

Multi-Regulation Mapping

Reuse KSA PDPL controls for GDPR, UAE PDPL, and sectoral regimes.

04Workflow

From control definition to audit-ready evidence

Each step is owned, dated, and traceable, so nothing depends on a spreadsheet or a single person.

  1. Step 1

    Map data

    Inventory processing, lawful bases, and sensitive data.

  2. Step 2

    Assess risk

    Run DPIAs and TIAs on high-risk and cross-border processing.

  3. Step 3

    Operate rights

    Handle consent, DSARs, and breaches within statutory deadlines.

  4. Step 4

    Report to SDAIA

    Generate notifications, registrations, and audit packages on demand.

05Audit readiness

SDAIA-ready, always

Respond to SDAIA queries and audits with a complete, current view of your privacy program.

  • On-demand processing records and data flow exports
  • DSAR logs with timing and outcomes
  • Breach register with SDAIA notifications
  • Transfer impact assessments and safeguards
  • Vendor DPAs and sub-processor disclosures
06For leadership

Board level answers without a fire drill

Boards, CISOs, and risk committees get the same numbers the compliance team works from.

Vision 2030 alignment

Demonstrate privacy maturity expected by the Kingdom's digital transformation agenda.

Lower regulatory exposure

Provable compliance reduces fines, enforcement, and reputational risk.

Trust with the public sector

Bid confidently on government and regulated industry programs.

07FAQ

Questions we get asked

What is the KSA PDPL?

The Personal Data Protection Law of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, enacted by Royal Decree M/19, is Saudi Arabia's national personal data protection law. It is supervised by the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) and applies to any entity processing the personal data of individuals located in the Kingdom, regardless of where the entity itself is established.

Who must comply with the KSA PDPL?

Any controller or processor that handles the personal data of individuals located in Saudi Arabia falls within scope, whether the processing happens inside the Kingdom or abroad. This includes public bodies, financial institutions, telecoms, healthcare providers, retailers, SaaS vendors, and any organization serving Saudi residents.

Who is SDAIA and what is their role?

SDAIA, the Saudi Data and AI Authority, is the supervisory authority for the KSA PDPL and the broader National Data Management Office (NDMO) data governance framework. SDAIA issues regulations, registers controllers where required, investigates breaches, and enforces penalties.

Who must register with SDAIA?

Controllers processing sensitive personal data, performing large-scale or high-risk processing, or transferring personal data outside the Kingdom may be required to register or notify SDAIA. The implementing regulations detail the specific triggers; Waaqi tracks registration status and renewal cycles.

What are the cross-border transfer rules under the KSA PDPL?

Transfers of personal data outside the Kingdom require an adequacy decision, appropriate safeguards (such as binding contracts or approved mechanisms), or one of the explicit exceptions under the law. Higher-risk destinations typically require a transfer impact assessment.

What rights does the KSA PDPL grant individuals?

Data subjects have rights to be informed, access their data, request correction or deletion, withdraw consent, object to processing in defined circumstances, and obtain a copy of their data. Controllers must respond within statutory timelines defined by SDAIA.

When must a personal data breach be reported to SDAIA?

Controllers must notify SDAIA of personal data breaches that may harm data subjects or impact their rights, and inform affected individuals where the risk is significant. Waaqi automates breach severity scoring, the regulator notification workflow, and the individual notification log.

How does the KSA PDPL interact with NDMO and sectoral regulations?

The KSA PDPL is the privacy baseline. The National Data Management Office (NDMO) sets broader data governance, classification, and quality requirements for public entities. Sectoral overlays, including SAMA for finance, MoH for health, and CITC for telecoms, add additional obligations. Waaqi maps all of these into one control library.

How does Waaqi help with KSA PDPL compliance?

Waaqi pre-loads the full KSA PDPL obligation set, runs data mapping, DPIAs, consent, DSARs, cross-border governance, and breach response as continuous workflows, and produces SDAIA-ready registrations, notifications, and audit packages on demand.

KSA PDPL compliance: what the Saudi privacy law actually requires

The Personal Data Protection Law of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA PDPL), enacted by Royal Decree M/19 and supervised by the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA), is Saudi Arabia's first comprehensive privacy law. It governs how personal data of individuals located in the Kingdom is collected, processed, stored, shared, and transferred, and applies extraterritorially to any organization serving Saudi residents.

The law introduces lawful basis requirements, explicit consent rules for sensitive processing, data subject rights, breach notification duties, sensitive-data protections (health, biometric, genetic, credit, criminal), cross-border transfer controls, and registration or notification obligations triggered by high-risk activities. SDAIA enforces compliance through inspections, sanctions, and binding corrective orders.

For organizations operating under Vision 2030, KSA PDPL compliance is not just a legal duty, it is a precondition for bidding on government and regulated-sector programs, for cloud adoption, and for trusted cross-border data flows.

Building a KSA PDPL program with Waaqi

A defensible KSA PDPL program ties every processing activity to a lawful basis, an owner, a retention rule, a transfer safeguard, and refreshable evidence. Waaqi delivers this operating model with the Kingdom's regulatory expectations pre-loaded.

The platform starts with an automated data inventory: processing activities, data categories (with sensitive-data flags), lawful bases, retention periods, recipients, and cross-border flows. Records of Processing Activities (RoPA), Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), and Transfer Impact Assessments (TIAs) are generated from the inventory and kept up to date as the business changes.

Data subject rights run as workflows with statutory countdowns: intake via a branded portal, identity verification, automated discovery across connected systems, response generation, and full audit trail. Consent, withdrawals, and lawful-basis evidence are recorded per processing activity, so a SDAIA query has an answer in minutes rather than weeks.

KSA PDPL, NDMO, SAMA, and sectoral overlays in one program

Few Saudi organizations face only the KSA PDPL. Public bodies operate under NDMO data governance standards. Financial institutions also live under SAMA cyber and outsourcing rules. Healthcare providers face MoH information governance. Telecoms operate under CITC. Multinationals additionally manage GDPR, UAE PDPL, and other GCC privacy regimes.

Waaqi maps the KSA PDPL to NDMO, SAMA CSF, NCA ECC, DCC, ISO 27001, GDPR, UAE PDPL, and other GCC laws. One control library, one evidence base, one program, satisfying every applicable regime without duplication.

SDAIA readiness and breach response

SDAIA expects controllers to demonstrate compliance with evidence, not assertions. Waaqi maintains audit-ready exports of processing records, DSAR logs, DPIAs, TIAs, vendor DPAs, sub-processor disclosures, and breach registers. When a query or audit arrives, the response package is already assembled.

For breach response, Waaqi includes a SDAIA-aligned workflow: detection, severity scoring, regulator notification within the required window, affected-individual notification where the risk is high, evidence capture, root-cause analysis, and CAPA, all tied back to the controls that failed and the lessons learned.

Make KSA PDPL a living program

See how Waaqi automates Saudi privacy compliance end to end.

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