KUWAIT: The draft law regulating digital commerce approved by the Cabinet marks a milestone that strengthens innovation and entrepreneurship by establishing a modern environment for digital business growth. The law introduces an integrated framework covering privacy safeguards, clear terms and conditions, and efficient dispute-resolution mechanisms, designed to reinforce trust in electronic transactions and promote a safer, transparent digital commerce landscape in Kuwait.
The legislation arrives as Kuwait’s e-commerce sector rapidly expands, driven by rising consumer spending, a large youth demographic, and increasing demand for digital solutions in retail, services, delivery, and financial technology. The framework balances economic freedom with regulatory oversight, strengthens the investment environment, and aligns national development priorities with efforts to modernize Kuwait’s economic legal systems.
Considered a pillar of Kuwait’s economic transformation, the law advances the shift toward a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy and moves the country from legislative fragmentation to regional regulatory leadership in the digital economy. With implementation underway, the law positions the e-commerce sector within a dynamic ecosystem that closes regulatory gaps, enhances legal clarity, boosts consumer confidence, protects rights, and supports sustainable growth opportunities in Kuwait’s digital economy.
The law replaces outdated rules with modern provisions aligned to global digital-economy standards, opening pathways for innovation, streamlined licensing, and entrepreneurial activity in competitive online markets. Key provisions include full legal recognition of electronic contracts, records, and signatures, simplifying procedures, reducing paperwork, and accelerating operations for businesses in Kuwait’s evolving digital-services landscape.
It defines the digital merchant, streamlines licensing, establishes a supervised regulatory sandbox for testing innovative products, and creates specialized committees to resolve digital-commerce disputes swiftly without resorting to courts.Consumer-protection measures guarantee data privacy, transparent advertising, refund rights, and flexible technology-neutral language adaptable to AI, block chain, and modern digital-payment methods.
The law offers a predictable regulatory environment, strengthens investor confidence, simplifies compliance, and supports a diverse digital economy, promoting sustainable expansion and elevating Kuwait as a regional hub for technology-driven activity.It also provides a supportive innovation ecosystem, empowering emerging digital-services enterprises, enhancing entrepreneurial resilience, and boosting consumer trust by embedding regulatory clarity essential for economic diversification and competitiveness.
Minister of Commerce and Industry Khalifa Al-Ajeel affirmed the legislation aligns with global economic trends, enhances confidence in Kuwait’s digital environment, and advances the nation’s transition toward a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy. — KUNA
