Out Dated Laws in Kuwait

The criminal law of Kuwait was issued in1970 and needs major changes and amendments like:
In adultery cases if a man surprises his wife with her partner in the position adultery and kills the wife, the law in Kuwait will consider his rage as a reason behind his reaction to murder the wife and will give him the punishment of a misdemeanour, which is a maximum of three years imprisonment only.
But if the husband commits adultery with his partner and the wife murders him on spot because of the rage and re-action, even during or after seeing the betray, then the wife will be punished with a felony of murder , where the punishment might be life time imprisonment or even death penalty.
That will mean that there is a major paradox in reasoning and fairness between the two situations in the same law and needs for sure the mentioned change.
The same law still does not follow the internet age, which we are living in, where the mentioned law does not punish all types of internet crimes like hacking , illegal access, illegal interception , data/system interference , fraud, forgery, theft , copy right infringement , terrorism, crimes against reputation and child pornography ...etc.
The only available resource is the general grounds of the law, which some times will help and in many occasions wont be helpful or effective to protect or recover rights ,unless the crime travelled to other more advanced jurisdictions.
The labour law of Kuwait was issued in 1964, went through some minor amendments.
A new version is still under discussion and actually facing long & un-necessary delays in the parliament.
Hopefully the new law will cover major changes and reforms like, the minimum wage issue; regulate the rights for the working women, the working condition for young workers, the labour unions for nationals and expats, the low paid workers and give final solutions for the residency matters.
The law which regulates the Administrative circuit in the court, which reviews all the administrative and ministerial decisions, was issued in 1981.
The mentioned law does not allow the administrative court to review any administrative decions from the ministry of interior, especially if issued regarding the Kuwaiti nationality and consider it as a sovereign matter.
The mentioned law needs urgent amendments, to help in solving the stateless (Budouns) problem in Kuwait, by the direct intervention from the judicial power, where the mentioned amendments will help to find the justified cases and can be granted the Kuwaiti nationality depending on the proper applications for the Kuwait nationality law...
The Foreign investment law in Kuwait was issued in 1999, it was meant to meet with what many international investors waited for, which owns 100 % of the investment in Kuwait.
Also, they intended to open chances for economical and commercial growth, achieve global expansions in this market and on local levels open new sectors for employment, exchange experience and provide sophisticated training programs for Kuwaitis.
The mentioned law, did not meet expectations, is moving slow and needs real support from the government.
The only remedy is to go with the same rules of the commercial law, where formation of new companies or appointing commercial agents will be the best legal directions...
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Labeed Abdal
The Law Firm of Labeed Abdal specialized in multinational disputes and cross border cases.