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The criteria for adopting a standard as compulsory (technical regulation) is based on the fulfilment of legitimate objectives, such as protection of health, safety, national security, Islamic Law, and the environment, and prevention of deceptive practices

The Saudi Food and Drug Authority aims to ensure food and drug safety for humans and animals, and the safety of biological and chemical substances

Exports of any wildlife species (animals or plants) and their products must be accompanied by a CITES permit, while exports of ozone depleting materials are subject to authorization

The Council of Ministers has approved the privatization of municipal services, including slaughterhouses and waste management

Under the Law on Patents, the following are not regarded as inventions (Article 45): discoveries, scientific theories, and mathematical methods; schemes, rules, and methods of conducting commercial activities, exercising pure mental activities or playing a game; plants, animals and processes – which are mostly biological – used for the production of plants or animals, with the exception of micro-organisms, non-biological and microbiology processes; methods of surgical or therapeutic treatment of human or animal bodies and methods of diagnosis applied to human or animal bodies, with the exception of products used in any of these methods

Since 2000, the Government has sought to reduce this assistance to better manage scarce natural resources, for instance through the implementation of new water-saving and irrigation technologies

The Government of Saudi Arabia has undertaken a number of coastal environment rehabilitation projects, including the replanting of mangroves on both coasts and the release of sea bream and grouper fry to restock, since the General Environmental Law and its implementation procedure require environmental impact assessment studies for all coastal and marine projects, and periodical monitoring as well as rehabilitation of the polluted area

Saudi Aramco (wholly state-owned company established by Royal Decree in 1988) has partnered with foreign companies to develop three new export-oriented refineries at a cost of US$18 billion, and is planning a series of expansions and upgrades to its existing refineries in order to reduce their environmental impact in comparison to older facilities

Natural gas is supplied to users in Saudi Arabia at a regulated price of 281 halalas per million BTU (US$0.75 per million BTU), which was determined based on a combination of commercial and environmental concerns

Saudi Arabia has begun trialling the use of renewable energy sources for the production of electricity, in particular solar thermal electricity generation