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

Royal Decree No 11/2025 amends certain provisions of the Penal Law.

Article 1 replaces the text of Article 71 of the Penal Law issued via Royal Decree No 7/2018 with the following text:

Article 71: ‘Except for the penalties issued on State security crimes, crimes targeting the prestige of the State, terrorism crimes and terrorism financing crimes.

‘Once the court issues a fine or imprisonment for a period of less than three years, the court may order the suspension of implementation of the ruling, if it perceives that the moral conduct of the convict, his/her past demeanour or his/her age or the circumstances in which the crime was committed give rise to the belief that the convict would not revert back to committing a crime, provided that the convict has a known place of residence.

‘The court may decide that the suspension of execution of the ruling will include the penal effects emanating from the ruling or any subsidiary or complementary penalty other than confiscation.’

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

Royal Decree No 12/2025 amends certain provisions of Royal Decree No 6/89 on regulating the relationship between landlords and tenants of residential, commercial and industrial premises, as well as the registration of their rental contracts.

Article 1 applies the attached amendments to the provisions regulating the relationship between landlords and tenants of residential, commercial and industrial premises, as well as the registration of their rental contracts attached to Royal Decree No 6/89.

Article 2 states that courts will continue to consider the cases that – pursuant to this decree – have become part of the jurisdiction of the Rental Disputes Resolution Committee, provided that those cases were brought before the court prior to the date of enforcement of this decree.

Article 3 cancels all that contradicts this decree or the attached amendments or contravenes their provisions.

Article 4 states that this decree will be published in the Official Gazette and enforced six months following its publication.

ONA