Understanding privacy laws is no longer just the responsibility of legal or compliance teams.

In most organisations, data protection risk is created or prevented through everyday business decisions:

• A team launches a new system

• A manager approves a new vendor

• Data is transferred outside Saudi Arabia

• Customer data is reused for a new purpose

• An AI tool is deployed without a privacy review

• A breach is discovered and the clock starts ticking

Individually, these decisions may seem routine. Together, they determine whether an organisation handles personal data responsibly or creates regulatory exposure.

Saudi Arabia's Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) sets clear requirements for how personal data must be collected, used, shared, transferred, and destroyed. Those requirements apply to every operational decision, not only to legal or compliance teams.

This course is designed for managers and decision-makers who need to understand how PDPL applies in practice — and how to make decisions that are compliant, defensible, and audit-ready.

How This Course Teaches PDPL

Rather than focusing on legal theory, this course is structured around the situations managers actually face. Every module closes with a clear Manager Takeaway — the questions to ask before approving a decision and the red flags to escalate.

You will learn how PDPL applies to real business situations, including:

• Approving vendors and managing third-party processor risk

• Launching new systems, products, or analytics that collect or analyse personal data

• Responding to data subject rights requests within statutory timelines

• Managing personal data breaches and 72-hour notification obligations to SDAIA

• Transferring personal data outside Saudi Arabia under adequacy and safeguards

• Applying data retention and destruction rules to avoid "just in case" risk

• Assessing privacy risks in new technologies, automation, and AI

• Conducting and reviewing Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) for high-risk processing

The course also explains the governance framework around PDPL — including the roles of SDAIA and NDMO, Competent Authority enforcement powers, the appointment of data protection roles, and the role of management in ensuring compliance.

Course Structure

Twelve focused modules covering the decisions managers actually make:

1. Foundations Managers Actually Need — personal vs sensitive data, controller, processor, data subject, accountability mindset

2. Scope and Applicability — when PDPL applies to your decisions, including processing inside vs outside Saudi Arabia

3. Governance and Oversight — SDAIA, NDMO, Competent Authority, enforcement powers, and cooperation duties

4. Lawful Processing and Decision-Making — consent, contract, legitimate interest, secondary use, withdrawal impact

5. Transparency and Trust — internal vs external privacy notices and how transparency reduces complaints

6. Data Subject Rights — access, correction, deletion, statutory timelines, refusals, and escalation paths

7. Data Breaches and Incident Leadership — 72-hour SDAIA notification, coordination, and post-incident accountability

8. International Data Transfers — adequacy, minimum data, safeguards, emergency exceptions, hidden transfers

9. Data Retention and Destruction — purpose limitation, legal holds, mandatory destruction methods

10. Risk Assessments and DPIAs — Article 25 triggers, what managers must review and approve

11. Vendors, Outsourcing and Accountability — sufficient guarantees, sub-processors, contractual safeguards

12. AI, Automation and Emerging Risks — automated decision-making, explicit consent, human oversight

Total duration: approximately 60 minutes — structured for senior leadership consumption.

Outcome

By the end of this course, you will be able to make informed, risk-aware decisions about how personal data is handled in your organisation — strengthen internal processes, reduce regulatory exposure, and lead breach response and incident handling with confidence.

Part of a Structured PDPL Learning Series

This course is the second in a structured PDPL learning series, designed to move organisations from broad awareness to embedded, role-specific data protection:

• Course 1 — Foundational PDPL awareness for all staff

• Course 2 — Decision-level data protection for managers and leaders

• Course 3 — Function-specific application across specialised teams

Organisations that need to translate these principles into a complete data protection programme — including governance frameworks, policies, RoPA, DPIAs, vendor risk management, breach readiness, and tailored enterprise training — often work with Kazient Privacy Experts for advisory support and bespoke implementation.