Kuwait witnesses a qualitative leap in consolidating final justice, driven by legislative reforms

Kuwait has witnessed a qualitative leap in consolidating final justice, based on a package of legislative and regulatory reforms that coincided with moving forward to adopt a modern model that combines artificial intelligence innovations with the preservation of judicial guarantees and data confidentiality. The measures, which accelerated in pace since May of last year, were distributed across several tracks, including speeding up case resolutions, creating effective solutions for the backlog of appeals and judicial notifications, launching stages of electronic litigation, and developing legal texts that serve the justice system.

In July of last year, the Ministry of Justice announced that the Court of Cassation, in cooperation with the Supreme Council of the Judiciary and the Civil Service Council, would begin operating several new specialized circuits to examine appeals, aiming to address their backlog and expedite their resolution.

**An Expanded Plan**

This step came as part of a broader plan to enhance judicial efficiency and accelerate case completion, relying on previous studies and results that proved the success of the resolution mechanism through specialized appeal circuits. In September 2025, the President of the Court of Cassation, Advisor Dr. Adel Bursali, confirmed the success of the plan approved by the Supreme Council of the Judiciary and the Court of Cassation administration to address the problem of case congestion and accumulation in the court.

The Court of Cassation resolved 17,434 appeals during the 2025–2026 judicial year, representing a 17.7% increase compared to the 2024–2025 judicial year, during which 14,816 appeals were resolved. The Supreme Council of the Judiciary stated in a recent statement that the Court of Cassation continues to resolve the issue of appeal congestion, implementing and enforcing the high directives from His Highness the Amir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and completing the plan approved by the Council in this regard.

On its part, the Circuits of Appealed Misdemeanors at the Main Court resolved 36,093 appeals during the 2025–2026 judicial year, a 203% increase over the previous year. This was for the period starting from October 2025, which resulted in shortening the duration for scheduling hearings for these appeals to no more than two months from the date of depositing the appeal petition with the Main Court’s Registry Office, whereas this duration previously exceeded two years.

Similarly, the Court of Appeal, through its various circuits, resolved 104% of the appeals during the 2025–2026 judicial year. A total of 31,790 appeals were presented to all court circuits during the period from October 1, 2025, to the end of April last year, of which 33,195 were resolved. This figure includes appeals from that period added to those postponed from previous periods.

Dr. Adel Bursali, President of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary and President of the Court of Cassation, praised the efforts made to complete the process of reducing the accumulation of appeals in the court during his speech at the General Assembly of the Court of Cassation held in mid-May last year. He noted that these efforts “have resulted in the resolution of a huge number of appeals that were waiting for their turn in the court.”

**Judicial Notifications**

Concurrently, the Ministry of Justice completed a comprehensive solution for the file of judicial notifications, considering it one of the most prominent causes of case delays and adjournments in courts, given its role as the basis for the establishment of litigation and the correct start of the lawsuit.

Minister of Justice Advisor Nasser Al-Sameet stated in an interview in June last year that the percentage of judgments issued declaring the lawsuit as if it never existed due to the failure to complete notification reached approximately 36%. He pointed out that the electronic linkage with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Public Authority for Civil Information, completed on March 29 last year, contributed to raising the percentage of available contact data for companies from approximately 0.8% to about 67%, as contact data became available for approximately 162,000 companies out of 242,000.

Al-Sameet emphasized that notifying companies via the “Sahl Amaal” (Easy Business) application represents a significant leap in commercial and civil litigation, as it links judicial notification with updated official data, holds companies responsible for the accuracy of their data, and helps reduce cases of notification failure and accelerate the establishment of litigation.

On the field level, Al-Sameet noted that the Ministry of Justice developed the working mechanism of notification agents through electronic tools that enable faster and more accurate completion of judicial notifications, linking each notification with case data, parties, and legal procedures. This reduces manual work and increases completion efficiency. He added that adopting the official electronic seal for documents issued by the Ministry of Justice enhances the reliability of electronic documents and allows verification that the document is original and issued by the ministry.

On the penal side, Al-Sameet stated that the expansion of electronic notification of penal judgments represents an important step. He noted that this solution was implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Public Authority for Civil Information, the Ministry of State for Communications Affairs, the Central Agency for Information Technology, and Microsoft.

Ministry of Justice indicators showed a record-high increase in the number of electronic notifications in penal cases, totaling 27,665 notifications during the period from June 7 to July 9, 2026, compared to only 12 notifications during the same period in 2025. This shift reflects the actual transition to an electronic notification system in penal procedures.

**Electronic Litigation**

Kuwait also launched the first phase of the Electronic Litigation System for Penal Orders at the beginning of July this year, as the first system of its kind in the country, through which a fully electronic judgment is issued in this track.

The new system derives its importance from the fact that penal orders constitute approximately 20% of the total cases received by courts annually. Furthermore, it represents an important step in the path of electronic litigation for simple penal cases, within the Ministry of Justice’s trend to build a more rapid and efficient digital justice system.

Minister of Justice Advisor Nasser Al-Sameet stated that penal orders will be processed through the new electronic system, starting from receiving the request, through its examination and issuance, to its notification via legally approved means. This will shorten procedural time, reduce reliance on paper circulation, and help mitigate the risks of penal cases lapsing due to statute of limitations.

On the legislative front, Decree-Law No. 71 of 2025 amending some provisions of the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law aimed to facilitate litigation procedures, given that estimates over the past five years showed that lawsuits not exceeding 2,000 dinars account for 75% of the total cases heard by primary courts.

Given the adoption of modern methods for notifying legal documents, Article 167 of the law stipulates that the creditor may be ordered to notify the debtor via any modern electronic communication medium capable of being stored and retrieved, as decided by the Minister of Justice, such as the “Sahl” application, or through the traditional registered mail route.

**Civil and Commercial Litigation**

Concurrently, Decree-Law No. 133 of 2025 amending some provisions of the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law achieved a set of objectives, including keeping pace with developments regarding electronic litigation, which ensures faster procedures, saves time and effort, and reduces costs. It also addresses the practical reality and official statistics that revealed an excessive reliance by some litigants seeking to prolong litigation and use it as a means of hostility and obstinacy in disputes, on requests for the recusal of judges.

The law provided the legal basis for the comprehensive electronic litigation system, with the option to enhance it by establishing a case preparation office or an appeal preparation office in each court, responsible for carrying out preparatory tasks for the electronic file from the moment of its registration until the first hearing date. This includes checking data, completing any missing documents, registering them in the system, and communicating with parties via digital means to inform them of matters related to their litigation.

Decree-Law No. 157 of 2025 amending some provisions of the Penal Procedures and Trials Law targeted, in some of its amendments, achieving speed and simplification of procedures, saving time and effort, and reducing costs by eliminating all paper-based processes. It also aimed to facilitate the work of judges themselves by allowing them to electronically review the request for a penal order and its attachments.

Since technology is considered an important tool for completing tasks accurately and quickly, the law granted greater flexibility to procedures for resolving penal orders. If a request for a penal order is submitted to the court through its website or electronic system, the court shall issue its order regarding it, endorsed with the judge’s approved electronic signature.

The legislator explicitly stipulated that the electronic signature and electronic documents attached to the request in this case shall have the probative value assigned to official paper signatures or documents, provided they meet the conditions and provisions stipulated in the Electronic Transactions Law and its executive regulations.

The legislative amendments approved during the past year and a half resulted in a noticeable decrease in the total number of cases under consideration by the judiciary during the second half of 2025, by approximately 21% compared to the same period in 2024. Enforcement orders also recorded a clear decrease of approximately 40%, dropping from approximately 56,000 in the second half of 2024 to about 34,000 orders in the same period of 2025.