Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Kuwait FDI regime overview: KDIPA licensing, negative list, incentives, procedures, penalties and merger control interaction

Published by a LexisNexis Competition expert

Practice notes

1. What is the applicable legislation?

The main legislation applicable to foreign investment comprises Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority Law 116/2013 (FDI Law 2013) together with Ministerial Decision 502/2014 issuing the Executive Regulations to implement Law 116/2013 on promoting direct investment in the State of Kuwait. Beyond these core FDI instruments, several other enactments may apply depending on how the investment is structured. Chief among these are the Companies Law 1/2016, the Capital Markets Authority Law 7/2010, and the Commercial Agencies Law 13/2016, alongside their respective executive regulations. In broad terms, Kuwait’s FDI framework is still relatively undeveloped. The system largely follows a traditional model for supervising foreign investment, concentrating on prohibiting non-nationals from conducting or funding certain activities, or on imposing heightened regulatory obligations on overseas investors. A comprehensive FDI screening mechanism, of the type found in many EU jurisdictions, is absent in Kuwait. Various statements from the Kuwaiti government and certain authorities have hinted that changes to the FDI framework are on the way. Nevertheless, no draft legislation or regulations have been released, and there is no specific clarity on the content of such reforms or the timeline for their entry into force to the public so far...

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Dr. Nicolas Bremer

BREMER

Nicolas is a partner and attorney with the regional law firm BREMER where he heads the firm's Antitrust & Merger Control and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) teams. He oversees the firm's Riyadh and Cairo representations and has extensive experience in advising international and domestic clients on merger control and antitrust matters as well as mergers and acquisitions and joint venture transactions in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and the wider Near and Middle East. He works in English, Arabic and German language. Prior to joining BREMER Dr. Bremer worked for different international law firms in Berlin, Cairo, Dubai and London. He holds a PhD, which he obtained working on the regulation of large-scale fresh water development in the Near and Middle East under international and domestic law. Dr. Bremer frequently publishes on the law of the Near and Middle East and...

Maryam Abdelgwad

BREMER

Maryam is a senior associate of the regional law firm, BREMER, and part of the firms Antitrust & Merger Control team. She specialises in competition and foreign direct investment (FDI) regulations of Kuwait and the larger Middle East, and advises international corporates on merger control and antitrust as well as FDI matters including investment protection. She works in English and Arabic languages....

Web page updated on 30/05/2026

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