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Ministry of Justice Resolution No. 62 of 2021 Issuing the Executive Regulations of Law No. 12 of 2020 on the Right to Access Information
Article 1
In applying the provisions of these Regulations, the following words and expressions shall have the meaning set out opposite each of them:
The Law: Law No. (12) of 2020 on the Right to Access Information.
The Request: every request submitted by the Person to the Entity to access Information and administrative decisions affecting his rights and copies of the related documents, or to obtain them, in accordance with the form prepared for this purpose.
The Right of Access: the right to access Information, decisions and documents without obtaining a copy of them.
The Right to Obtain Documents: the right to obtain copies of the documents related to the Request.
The Person: every natural or juristic person having an interest in accessing Information and decisions or obtaining them.
The Documents: the papers and records kept by the Entity electronically or on paper and relating to its competences.
Article 2
Every Person may submit, in writing or electronically, to the Entity a Request including the following:
1) The Person’s details.
2) The date of submission of the Request.
3) The Entity to which the Request is submitted.
4) The Information requested to be accessed, or the documents related to the Request requested to be obtained, and the nature of the interest therein.
5) The documents supporting the Request, attached to it.
6) An undertaking by the Person not to use the Information accessed or the documents obtained except in the cases prescribed by law.
7) The Person’s e-mail address, or any acceptable electronic means of communication.
8) The Person’s signature in writing, or his protected electronic signature.
Article 3
Upon receipt of the Request, the Competent Employee shall take the following measures:
1) Examine the Request and determine whether or not the Person is entitled to it.
2) Submit the result of the examination of the Request to the head of the Entity, or whomever he authorises for this purpose, to issue the decision approving or rejecting the Request.
3) Provide the Information and documents – as the case may be – related to the Request upon its approval.
4) Reply to the Person within the period specified by the Law; where the Request is rejected, the reply shall state the reasons.
Article 4
Upon acceptance of his Request, the Person shall have the Right of Access without paying a fee, and shall have the Right to Obtain Documents after paying a fee of five dinars for each document whose number of pages does not exceed ten, with half a dinar added for each additional page.
Article 5
Where his Request is rejected, or not replied to within the period prescribed by the Law, the Person may file a grievance with the Entity, in writing or electronically, within sixty days from the date of his knowledge of the rejection of the Request, or from the expiry of the period specified in the Law for examining the Request without a reply; and the Entity shall reply to the grievance within sixty days from the date of its submission.
Article 6
The grievance shall include the following details:
1) The name and signature of the grievant.
2) The date of submission of the grievance.
3) The date of the decision on the Request.
4) The grounds of the grievance.
5) The documents supporting the grievance.
An electronic grievance shall take effect from the time its receipt by the Entity is established, and the data issued by the electronic systems shall be deemed equivalent to the original, and the absence of the recipient’s signature thereon shall not render them void.
Article 7
The Entity shall give the grievant a written or electronic notice stating the date of submission of the grievance.
Article 8
The grievant shall be notified of the rejection of his grievance in writing, or electronically by e-mail or by any modern electronic means of communication capable of being saved and retrieved as determined by the Entity, together with a statement of the reasons for rejection.
The expiry of the period provided for in Article (5) of these Regulations without a reply shall be deemed a rejection of the grievance.
Article 9
An electronic register shall be established at each Entity, in which shall be recorded the Requests submitted, their numbers, their dates of submission, the result of the decision on them, the grievances submitted in respect of them and their results, and the signature of the Person acknowledging his receipt of the Information or documents subject of the Request.
Article 10
This Resolution shall be published in the Official Gazette and shall come into force from the date on which the Law comes into force.
Issued on 27 January 2021 and published in the Official Gazette Kuwait Al-Youm on 4 April 2021.
