Systematic protection of electronic and digital national identity card in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the National Identity Card (NIC) is an essential element of statutory protection, as it contributes significantly to enhancing security in society. The study discusses the transformations that the Kingdom has witnessed regarding the National Identity Card (NIC). Since there are unlawful uses of this national identity card, or attempts to forge it for any purpose whatsoever, this study came to discuss the relevant regulations, analyse them and search for statutory protection frameworks in them. The study aims to identify the national identity card, means of securing and protecting it, its unlawful uses, and reaching a procedural ruling for its unlawful uses.
The study found that both types of national identity cards are of high value and that their technical protection against any criminal risk is at advanced security levels. The Civil Status Law stipulates that anyone who uses a national identity card that does not belong to him will be penalised, without differentiating whether the card is genuine or forged. It recommends expediting the issuance of the Digital Transactions and Trust System issued as a project since 2020, because its failure to issue it allows the overlapping of systems and leads to confusion and confusion in many provisions for persons authorised by laws to issue judicial and other judgments, in addition to the need to fill some legislative gaps in Article 73 of the Civil Status Law regarding the illegal use of the national identity.