Jurnal Ilmiah Hukum LEGALITY
Vol. 34 No. 1 (2026): March

Harmonising Legal and Sharia Principles in Foreign Investment: The Regulatory Framework of Subsidiaries in Saudi Arabia

Alharthi, Saud H. (Unknown)
Alotaibi, Hajed A. (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
16 Mar 2026

Abstract

This paper examines how Saudi Arabia’s updated investment regime (2024-2025) and Sharia principles jointly shape the legal and economic environment for establishing subsidiaries. Using a mixed-methods research design, the study combines doctrinal analysis of primary legal sources: the investment laws of 2024 and the implementing regulations of 2025 the 2022 Companies Law. We also considered relevant macroeconomic determinants that inform the foreign direct investments and empirical assessments that adopted the time series data for the period 1960 to 2023. As a finding, this research found that the new Investment Law guarantees equal treatment for domestic and foreign investors and shifts most activities from a licensing model to a streamlined, registration-based entry system, while maintaining approval requirements for sensitive sectors. The 2022 Companies Law enhances structural flexibility by permitting single-member LLCs, modernising governance rules, and removing earlier constraints on shareholder numbers. These changes collectively support holding-company and subsidiary formation.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

legality

Publisher

Subject

Law, Crime, Criminology & Criminal Justice

Description

Jurnal Ilmiah Hukum Legality (JIHL) is a peer-reviewed open access Journal to publish the manuscripts of high quality research as well as conceptual analysis that studies in any fields of Law, such as criminal law, private law, bussiness law, constitutional law, administrative law, international ...