Fatwa and Legislation Department: Consolidating Legislative Awareness and Building Bridges of Cooperation

Kuwait’s Deputy Director of the Fatwa and Legislation Department, Haitham Al-Ruwais, affirmed on Sunday the department’s commitment to consolidating legislative awareness and building bridges of cooperation with various entities, in line with its pivotal role in enhancing and disseminating legal culture. This statement was made by Al-Ruwais to KUNA on the sidelines of the launch of the department’s second annual Legal Cultural Season, which aims to spread legal culture, consolidate legislative awareness, build knowledge bridges between government agencies and experts, and empower national cadres to contribute intellectually and scientifically in their respective fields.

Al-Ruwais said that under the patronage of its Chairman, Advisor Salah Al-Majid, the Fatwa and Legislation Department organized the first interactive seminar titled “Commercial Concealment Law: An In-Depth Reading Between Legal Provisions and Practical Applications” as part of its second cultural season. The seminar aimed to shed light on the provisions of Decree-Law No. 78 of 2026 concerning the fight against commercial concealment.

He explained that the law aims to regulate one of the fundamental pillars of the state’s progress and stability, namely economic activity, thereby achieving sustainable economic development and protecting public order and the public interest.

He noted that through this seminar and its counterparts scheduled during this cultural season, the Fatwa and Legislation Department seeks to enhance legal awareness and enable specialists and all relevant segments to fully understand the regulatory framework established by the law, facilitate its implementation, and ensure that their activities and economic operations—whether commercial, investment, industrial, agricultural, service-oriented, or professional—are aligned with the law and its objectives.

The Legal Cultural Season of the Fatwa and Legislation Department, which runs until February next year, covers various topics related to legal and legislative matters as part of its mission to disseminate legal culture. The first seminar of the season focused on discussing the legal, economic, and supervisory dimensions of the Commercial Concealment Law, its foundational framework, legislative philosophy, scope, and its role in supporting and protecting economic activities.

The seminar was attended by officials from government agencies and a number of specialized academics, who emphasized the law’s importance in safeguarding the economic system and establishing a business environment where success is based on competence and compliance, thereby helping to consolidate an effective national economy.

Last August, Decree-Law No. 78 of 2026 concerning the fight against commercial concealment was issued. The law aims to address the phenomenon of conducting economic activities without obtaining the necessary licenses, and to regulate the economic environment in a manner that ensures transparency, fairness, equal opportunity, and strengthens the state’s capacity for supervision, regulation, and revenue collection.

The law considers economic activities as fundamental pillars of the state’s progress and stability, and stipulates that they must be conducted within an organized framework that complies with the provisions of the law and related legislation, thereby achieving sustainable economic development and protecting public order and the public interest.