Regulations for Cooperative Work: Formation of a Committee to Monitor the Job Kuwaitization Plan

The Minister of Social Affairs, Family, and Childhood, Dr. Amthal Al-Huwail, issued Ministerial Decision No. 196 of 2026 regarding the issuance of the regulations governing cooperative work. The new regulations comprise eight chapters and 122 articles, mandating that the cooperative association adhere to the principles of facilitation, good governance, transparency, equal opportunity, promotion of competition, and prevention of conflicts of interest in all its operations, activities, and contracts.

The regulations stipulate the establishment of a unified electronic platform to manage and monitor procedures and transactions subject to these regulations. The platform shall be managed in accordance with Law No. 20 of 2014 concerning Electronic Transactions, ensuring data integrity and transaction confidentiality. The association is required to document all procedures and decisions with financial or contractual implications in approved records.

Furthermore, the association must comply with all procedures outlined in prevailing legal texts. The unified electronic platform shall be used as prescribed by these regulations, and no association or supplier shall have access to the data of another association or supplier. Each party’s access rights to the platform and related data are limited to their scope of work or contracts, with a strict prohibition on using or disclosing data for purposes other than those legally mandated or for unauthorized entities.

Chapter One of the regulations outlines the rules of procedure for the Board of Directors and its subsidiary committees. Upon the formation of its administrative body, the Board of Directors must immediately establish permanent committees to assist in fulfilling its duties. If it is not possible to form the permanent committees during the first meeting, the Board may postpone the meeting to a subsequent date not exceeding seven working days, during which all committees must be fully constituted.

The Board of Directors must submit minutes of meetings concerning the formation of its administrative body and subsidiary committees to the Ministry within seven working days of the meeting date. The Board may also form temporary committees to handle tasks outside the purview of permanent committees, with the formation decision specifying their purpose, duties, and duration of operation.

Regarding human resources, and without prejudice to the nationalization quotas for cooperative associations as determined by Council of Ministers’ decisions, the association must adopt a sound recruitment policy. Recruitment should be limited to the minimum necessary to perform the association’s duties, based on actual needs. Additionally, the ratio of salaries (excluding supervisory positions) to sales must not exceed 6%, as reported in the association’s quarterly report.

The regulations mandate the formation, by ministerial decision, of a committee responsible for monitoring the implementation of job nationalization plans in cooperatives and unions, and for determining associations or cases exempt from filling certain vacancies under these regulations. The committee shall be chaired by the Undersecretary of the Ministry and include representatives from the cooperative sector.

The regulations specify that employment contracts in cooperative associations shall be valid for two years for supervisory positions and one year for other positions, with the possibility of renewal for similar periods. No work may be assigned to an employee until the contract is ratified by the Ministry. The Board of Directors is prohibited from terminating the services of national employees, canceling their contracts, or refusing to renew them without prior written approval from the Ministry based on a justified request.

The regulations also prohibit issuing variation orders for engineering projects classified by the guideline manual as medium or large-scale, regardless of their value, without obtaining prior approval from the Ministry.

The association is obligated to settle suppliers’ dues within 15 days from the end of the supply month for fast-moving consumer goods and national products, and within 45 days for other goods, in accordance with the electronic certificate of debt clearance.

To stimulate sales, the regulations permit the association, with Ministry approval, to introduce a special benefits system for non-member consumers, titled “Nawaty Points.” This system may only be introduced if the association has distributed purchase returns to its members exceeding 5% of net profits during the last financial year.

The regulations emphasize that the association must notify the Ministry in writing at least one month prior to the start of the annual inventory, which must conclude by the end of the financial year.

Finally, the regulations prohibit Board of Directors members from spending association funds on their own advertising, election campaign publicity, or travel expenses to attend conferences, seminars, or external visits, regardless of the subject matter. They are also barred from enjoying any material benefits exceeding those stipulated by law, benefiting from discounts or subsidies offered by suppliers or investors for the association’s social activities, or signing payment vouchers, receipt vouchers, and purchase requests on behalf of the association.