Kuwait updates their Power of Attorney regulations

The industrial property office of Kuwait has announced that new regulations regarding the Power of Attorney requirements would be renounced. The new regulations were initially announced on March 19, 2019, and were due to enter into effect on April 5, 2019.

The new regulations stated that a Power of Attorney should accompany the application upon filing, and a grace period of 3 months for the late filing of documents would no longer be acceptable. Further, each application belonging to the same applicant would require a separate POA to complete the filing. In addition, the term of validity of the POA could not exceed 10 years. Following negotiations between the Ministry of Trade and Economy and intellectual property department officials, the new regulations were withdrawn.

The current Power of Attorney requirements define that one POA will be sufficient to file multiple applications belonging to the same applicant and that late filing of the POA is possible within one month so long as a soft copy is provided upon filing. The validity term of the POA remains ten years.