Muscat – His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik issued two Royal Decrees on Thursday reading as follows:

Royal Decree No 68/2022 introduces amendments to certain provisions of the Penal Law.

Article 1 stipulates that the amendments attached to this decree will be applied to the Penal Law promulgated under Royal Decree No 7/2018.

Article 2 states that this decree will be published in the Official Gazette and enforced on the day following its date of publication.

Royal Decree No 69/2022 amends some provisions of the Criminal Procedures Law.

Article 1 states that the text of Article 4-bis and Article 164 of the Criminal Procedures Law promulgated under Royal Decree No 97/1997 will be replaced with the following text:

‘Article 4-bis: A person who incurs harm from the crime stated in Article 230 of the Penal Law may file a case directly with the competent court. The secretariat of the court will notify the Public Prosecution Department through a copy of the lawsuit file to initiate a public lawsuit. No lawsuit will be brought against the heads of units of the State’s Administrative Apparatus and other public legal persons/entities, except after obtaining permission from the competent authority. Permission is issued by the Council of Ministers for the heads of units of the State’s Administrative Apparatus.

‘Application for the permission will be submitted by the Attorney General at the request of the party incurring harm. The application will be corroborated by supporting documents.

‘The heads of units of the State’s Administrative Apparatus and other legal persons/entities may delegate one of the occupants of legal positions in the unit to which they belong, vide which action the delegated persons attend, plead and file appeals before courts of different levels.

‘Article 164: The summons (subpoena) will be announced to the accused person in accordance with the provisions of Articles (70) and (71) of this law. The announcement of the heads of the units of the State’s Administrative Apparatus and other public legal persons/entities is done through the competent administrative division in the unit to which they belong. The notification of prisoners will be done through the head of the prison administration or whoever occupies the position. Announcement of military persons will be done through their respective commands. Whoever receives a copy of the announcement must sign. If he/she refuses, the Court of Misdemeanor will impose on him/her to a fine not exceeding RO50. If he/she insists on abstention, the accused will be notified in accordance with the provisions of Articles (70) and (71) of this law. As soon as they are notified of the summons, the litigants may view and peruse the case documents.’

Article 2 states that this decree will be published in the Official Gazette and enforced on the day following its date of publication.