iDeveloprs — a Kuwaiti software company
The short version: Kuwait issued Decree-Law No. 10 of 2026 on 1 March 2026 to regulate digital commerce. It covers anyone who trades, offers services or advertises through technological means — explicitly including sellers operating on Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and X, not only registered online stores. In practice it obliges you to register the activity with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, display your business identity on the store, send an electronic invoice in Arabic the moment an order is placed, offer a 14-day withdrawal window, and accept electronic payment only through a provider licensed by the Central Bank of Kuwait.
When does it bite? The implementing regulations have not been published as at the date of this page, and the law takes effect one month after they are. So no compliance deadline is currently in force — but preparing early is considerably cheaper than retrofitting under time pressure. We update this page when the regulations issue.
The scope is deliberately wide. It reaches any activity carried out wholly or partly through technological means for the purpose of trading, offering a service, or advertising. In practice that means:
"We don't have a store, we sell through Instagram" is no longer a position outside the regulation.
The digital commerce activity must be registered with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry before it is carried on. A general commercial licence does not necessarily cover it; the digital activity itself is what has to be registered.
The provider's name, commercial register number and contact details must appear on the digital store. Note the wording: on the store — somewhere a customer can see before buying, not in a direct message once they ask.
This is the one that surprises most sellers. An electronic invoice in Arabic must be sent to the customer immediately on concluding the contract — at the moment the order is placed and paid for, not when it ships. It has to carry the pricing detail and the delivery terms.
An invoice typed by hand and sent on WhatsApp later does not satisfy this: the obligation is automatic and attaches to the moment of contract. An English-only invoice does not satisfy it either. Bilingual is fine, provided the Arabic is there.
A transparent complaints mechanism is required, with records retained for six months. A common failure: businesses that take complaints on WhatsApp with disappearing messages switched on lose the record automatically, well before the retention period is up.
Consumers get a 14-day right of withdrawal with a full refund. The window drops to 24 hours for precious metals and comparable high-value goods. What is required is a working mechanism the customer can actually use, not a sentence buried in the terms.
Electronic payment must be offered through a payment services provider licensed by the Central Bank of Kuwait, and no surcharge may be passed to the customer for paying electronically without CBK approval. In practice: KNET and cards through a locally licensed gateway.
The standards set by the National Cybersecurity Centre apply. At a practical minimum that means a valid HTTPS certificate, controlled access to customer data, and working backups.
Businesses using influencers must retain records of the engagement for five years. Separately, Kuwait's Cabinet approved a new media law on 1 September 2026 requiring influencers and advertising content creators to hold licences and to disclose promotional content, paid or unpaid.
| Breach | Penalty |
|---|---|
| Contravening the law | Fines of KD 1,000 to KD 10,000, and up to one year's imprisonment |
| Repeat offence | Penalties doubled |
| Breaches warranting suspension | Blocking of the digital store for up to 30 days |
| Management | Personal liability for the responsible manager |
Important: these penalties are in the law, but — as above — the law only takes effect one month after the implementing regulations are published, and they have not been. Nobody is in breach of these provisions today. Anyone telling you that you are "already non-compliant" or that "the deadline has passed" is either not up to date or applying sales pressure.
We review your store or Instagram shop against twenty points drawn from this law and send back a short written report within 48 hours — free, no obligation. All we need is the link.
WhatsApp: +965 96750499 · ideveloprs.com
Yes. The law explicitly covers sellers operating on Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and X; it is not limited to registered online stores.
No. Article 12 requires an electronic invoice in Arabic. A bilingual invoice is fine as long as the Arabic version exists.
There isn't one yet. The implementing regulations are due within one year of 1 March 2026, and the law takes effect one month after they publish. We update this page when they do.
It depends on your volume. But the requirements taken together — automatic Arabic invoicing, tracking a 14-day return window, a retained complaints log, a licensed gateway, published registration details — are difficult to run by hand out of a DM inbox, and are precisely what a proper store does automatically.
No. Kuwait has not implemented VAT, and this Arabic invoice obligation comes from the digital commerce law (Article 12), not from tax legislation. Several sources circulating online conflate the two — treat any reference to a Kuwaiti "2024 e-invoicing mandate" with caution.
This page is a practical explainer written by iDeveloprs for store owners. It is not legal advice and does not replace it. We are a software company; our job is building the store that meets these requirements, while how the law applies to your particular business is a question for a qualified lawyer. Every article number and penalty figure above is taken from the sources listed, and the page will be updated when the implementing regulations issue.