Is VPN Legal in Kuwait? Law No. 63 of 2015 and CITRA Blocking Rules

No Kuwaiti law names VPNs. Law No. 63 of 2015 punishes acts such as illegal access and interception, whatever tool carries the traffic, while Law No. 37 of 2014 licenses sellers of internet service and lets the regulator order blocking. No published rule bans calling apps for users. A reading of the published texts, not legal advice.

Offences in Law No. 63 of 2015

The National Assembly approved the law on 16 June 2015; the Emir signed it on 7 July 2015, and it applies from 2016. The Arabic text is binding; Human Rights Watch noted that the law adds no monitoring powers. Article 1 defines illegal access as entering a system by breaching its protection without authorisation. Later articles cover data tampering, interception, fraud and speech offences referred to the Press and Publications Law; the table below gives the terms. Article 13 lets a court confiscate devices and programs used in an offence; Article 16 keeps harsher penalties in other laws; Article 17 gives the Public Prosecution sole charge of these cases.

Prison terms and fines by article

A selection, not the full catalogue. Fines are in Kuwaiti dinars (KD); "and/or" means prison, fine, or both.

CITRA's licensing and blocking powers

CITRA was created by Law No. 37 of 2014 (amended by Law No. 98 of 2015) and took over the Ministry of Communications' regulatory role. Its Article 16 requires a licence to sell internet to the public; the law licenses sellers, not users. Article 3(U) obliges licensees to detect content violating Kuwaiti law, public order or morals, and Article 8 lets the board order a licensee, at its own cost, to install blocking equipment. Administrative sanctions under Article 64 reach KD 1,000,000 per violation. Articles 17 and 18 let CITRA define and approve private networks, without mentioning VPNs; no published case applies Article 74 to VPN use. The official English text of Law No. 37 of 2014 is on the CITRA website.

Internet calls under Kuwaiti rules

Two rules touch voice, and both aim at sellers and fee fraud: clause 7-2 of the VSAT Regulations forbids a licensee to sell voice over IP without CITRA approval, and Article 69 of Law No. 37 of 2014 punishes calls made through illegal means to avoid paying fees. Separately, clause 3-8 of the VSAT rules is a website-blocking duty: the licensee must install equipment that prevents access to sites violating public ethics, national security or public order, or sites CITRA designates. No text forbids calling apps for a person; claims of a VoIP ban with deportations appear on VPN vendors' blogs without a named case.

Blocked content, block requests and court cases

Under the 2023 State Department report, filtering targets LGBTQI+ material, sites critical of Islam and pornography; CITRA blocks sites at the request of the Public Prosecution or State Security. A newspaper report citing official figures (Arab Times, January 2023) records 268 websites blocked in 2022, most for intellectual-property complaints. Anyone can file a block or unblock request with CITRA. In October 2023 CITRA denied that a gateway tender allowed surveillance, and the government withdrew it.

Courts have punished posts, including a 2024 sentence over X posts; no report describes anyone penalised for VPN use as such.

Company networks and encryption rules

The CITRA Data Classification Policy (v2.3) applies to both sectors and, under clause 3.1.4, requires encryption of Tier 3 and Tier 4 data moving between government entities or physical locations, leaving the method to the data owner. An encrypted link between offices is one way to meet that, though the policy never says "VPN". Of the 200 services listed on this page, 1 names Kuwait among the countries where it says it works (the provider's own claim), and 6 reviews of the listed services come from Kuwait. Travel-side advice sits in the Kuwait travel VPN guide.

FAQ

Does Kuwaiti law punish reaching a blocked page over a VPN?

No article names that act. The content itself can still fall under the offences listed above.

Are internet calls banned in Kuwait?

No published rule forbids them for users; licensing duties and the VSAT clause bind sellers.

Can a court seize my phone or laptop?

Yes, if it was used in an offence.

Practical takeaways for Kuwait

The published texts show no Kuwaiti law naming VPN use as an offence; Article 74 is broad, but no published case ties it to VPNs. The risk the sources record sits in conduct, not in the tool.