Doing Business in Kuwait

The main laws regulating business in Kuwait are the (A) Civil Code (Law 67 of 1980), the Commercial Code (law 68 of 1980) and the commercial Companies Law (law no 15 of 1960).

To do business a license is necessary. General Trading, Contracting, Importing and Industrial licenses are issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI).

Any Kuwaiti or GCC national over 21 years of age may carry on commerce in Kuwait. But a foreigner (non GCC national) may not carry on commerce unless he has one or more Kuwaiti partners and the capital owned by the Kuwaiti partner in the business is not less than 51% of the total capital. A foreign firm may not set up a branch and may not perform any commercial activities in Kuwait except through a Kuwaiti agent.

Business enterprises can take several forms viz. Kuwait Shareholding Company (ksc) Company with limited liability (wll), general partnerships or joint ventures.

Kuwait free trade zone (KFTZ) established in 1998 offers 100% foreign ownership of businesses within the zone. Commercial, industrial and service licenses are available without a local sponsor. KFTZ provides a variety of infrastructural services.

New liberalized business laws were issued by Amiri decree in June 1999. Consequently new Foreign Investment Law came into existence, which allows foreigners to own stocks on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE).