Kuwait changes travel ban rules to speed up court decisions

Dubai: Kuwait has amended its Civil and Commercial Procedures Law in a move aimed at speeding up the issuance of travel ban orders by widening the pool of judges authorised to approve such requests.

Under Decree-Law No. 68 of 2026, published in Kuwait Alyoum, the government amended the first paragraph of Article 297 of the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law, issued under Decree-Law No. 38 of 1980.

The amendment replaces the phrase “from among its subordinate judges” with “whoever is in the court”, allowing the authority to issue travel ban orders to be assigned to judges of the Court of First Instance selected by the court’s General Assembly, rather than limiting the power to a specific judicial rank.

According to the explanatory memorandum accompanying the decree-law, Article 297 sets out the conditions and procedures for issuing travel bans against debtors. Previously, that authority was limited to the director of the Execution Department and deputy judges of the Court of First Instance.

The government said restricting the authority to a limited judicial rank had often delayed decisions, amid a growing number of travel ban applications and a shortage of judges holding the rank of deputy judge. In some cases, the Court of First Instance had no judges at that rank, making it difficult to process requests promptly.

The amendment is intended to ensure that travel ban applications are decided immediately after being submitted by allowing the General Assembly of the Court of First Instance to designate qualified judges to handle them.

The explanatory memorandum said the change was introduced under the legislative powers granted by the Amiri Order of May 10, 2024, which authorises the issuance of laws through decrees with the force of law.

Article Two of the decree requires the relevant ministers, each within their jurisdiction, to implement the new provisions. The law takes effect from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.