Kuwait Law on the Organisation of Expertise (Decree-Law No. 40 of 1980), as amended — court-appointed experts, the Experts Department, the Experts Roll and the challenge of experts

Issued on 4 June 1980 (20 Rajab 1400) and in force from 1 November 1980, the law replaced the 1959 judiciary law's provisions on experts and the 1971 decree organising the Experts Department. The source lists amendments by Laws No. 14 of 1995 and No. 25 of 2016, and a latest amendment in 2025.

WHO ACTS AS AN EXPERT. Expert work before the courts, the Public Prosecution, the General Department of Investigations and judicial arbitration panels is done by the experts of the General Department of Experts (Ministry of Justice) and by experts on the Experts Roll. Where necessary it may be done by any other person, official or not, whose technical opinion the body needs; appointing someone outside the Department and the Roll requires reasons in the judgment or decision (Art. 1).

APPOINTMENT. The court appoints one or more experts, always an odd number. It defines the mission, the deposit for fees, which party pays it and the deadline, which may not exceed a week (Art. 2). If the parties agree on an expert, the court approves their choice. Otherwise it picks from the Roll in rotation, unless special circumstances stated in the judgment justify departing from it. An expert from outside the Department and the Roll must first swear before the court to perform the work truthfully and honestly (Art. 4). If the deposit is not paid, the expert need not act. The court may fine the defaulting party KD 50–100, or hold that it has lost the right to rely on the appointment (Art. 5). Parties unable to pay may be exempted, in which case a Department expert is used (Arts. 6–7).

THE EXPERT'S WORK. The expert starts within seven days. He notifies the parties by the Department's process servers, registered letter, telegram, written fax or electronic means under Law No. 20 of 2014 on Electronic Transactions, and proceeds in their absence once they are duly notified (Art. 10). He hears the parties and, without oath, anyone he chooses. A party who fails without excuse to comply with his decisions may be fined KD 50–100 (Art. 11). He keeps a record of the steps taken, signed by those present, and submits a signed report of his findings, opinion and reasons. Where several experts disagree, the report states the majority view and notes the others. The court may instead hear an oral opinion at the hearing. "In all cases the expert's opinion does not bind the court, which takes guidance from it" (Art. 13). The court may call the expert to be questioned on the report, return the mission to him to correct errors or gaps, or appoint other experts (Art. 16).

CHALLENGE. An expert may be challenged if he is:
- the spouse, or a relative by blood or marriage to the fourth degree, of a party, or in litigation with a party;
- a party's agent, guardian, curator or presumptive heir;
- personally interested in the case, directly or through close relatives or those he represents;
- employed by a party, a habitual guest or housemate of a party, or has received a gift from him;
- a party's enemy or friend to a degree that makes impartiality unlikely (Art. 21).

The challenge is brought as an action before the appointing court within fifteen days of the appointment, or of learning the expert's name, with a KD 100 deposit forfeited if it fails (Art. 22). No appeal lies from the decision (Art. 23).

THE EXPERTS DEPARTMENT. The Department is part of the Ministry of Justice, with a council chaired by the President of the Court of Appeal (Arts. 24–27). Appointees need a relevant university degree, any professional licence their field requires, and success in the Department's tests and interviews (Art. 28). The Minister may also second Kuwaitis "knowledgeable in the conditions of Kuwait and the customs followed there" to carry out expert work (Art. 29). Department experts may not trade. They may not act as arbitrators in a dispute connected with their work without the council's permission. They are prohibited from giving consultancy reports, and from serving as judicial custodians or bankruptcy trustees (Art. 32). A committee at the Court of First Instance admits experts to the Roll when it is opened, disciplines them and removes them (Arts. 41–42).

POWERS AND PROTECTIONS. Government bodies, companies, cooperatives and sole traders may not refuse the expert access to the books and records his mission requires; a refusal may be fined KD 50–100 (Art. 52). Except in flagrante delicto, Department experts may not be investigated or arrested without notice to the experts' council, and only the Public Prosecution may investigate acts connected with their work (Art. 53). An electronic expertise system with electronic signatures covers all expert work before the courts and investigating bodies (Art. 54).

USE IN A REPORT: this is the law to cite when a foreign court asks how expert evidence works in Kuwait. It differs from party-appointed expert systems such as England and Wales under CPR Part 35: experts are appointed by the court, drawn mainly from a state department or an official roll, the court's own directions define their mission, and their opinion is advisory only.

SOURCE: the Arabic text was read in full on lawskw.com (Kuwait Laws Portal), a private publisher of consolidated Kuwaiti legislation. The authoritative text is the Official Gazette (Kuwait Al-Youm); gazette numbers and dates above are as shown by the source.

Two features matter to anyone comparing Kuwaiti and foreign expert evidence. First, Kuwaiti courts are not bound by expert opinion (Art. 13), so a Kuwaiti judgment that departs from an expert's report is not, by that fact alone, irregular. Second, State-employed experts are barred from private consultancy work (Art. 32), which bears on the independence of any Kuwaiti Experts Department member instructed abroad. The challenge grounds in Art. 21 are close to those for judges, and are a useful reference point for any tribunal assessing an expert's independence under its own rules.