Grievance and request to complete regulatory protection for delivery companies

Regarding Ministerial Decision No. (109) of 2026

His Excellency the Minister of Commerce and Industry

Greetings,

Subject: Grievance and request to add a regulatory safeguard protecting local delivery companies, while retaining Ministerial Decision No. (109) of 2026 and all of its provisions

We submit to Your Excellency this grievance and request regarding Ministerial Decision No. (109) of 2026, affirming from the outset that we do not seek to cancel the decision, suspend its implementation, or postpone it, nor do we object to the Ministry’s regulation of the market or its protection of consumers, restaurants, establishments, and those dealing with electronic platforms.

Our request is limited to preserving the rights of local delivery companies and preventing them from bearing, directly or indirectly, the financial cost arising from applying the decision.

Practical application has already shown that some platforms are reducing the amounts payable to delivery companies per order, which in practice shifts the financial burden of the decision from the platforms to the delivery companies that actually perform the service and bear its operating costs.

We therefore ask Your Excellency to complete the protection framework created by the decision so that it includes delivery companies, by adopting any of the following alternatives that the Ministry finds most appropriate for the public interest and the market:

• 01 · Option 1: Protect delivery companies’ compensation

  Add an explicit regulatory provision as follows: “Without prejudice to the rights of delivery companies or the amounts due to them, it is prohibited to reduce the value of delivery services due to delivery companies, directly or indirectly, or under any name, item, or contractual or financial mechanism, as a result of applying the provisions of this decision, whether for existing contracts or contracts concluded in the future. It is also prohibited to use termination, rescission, non-renewal of existing contracts, or changing the contracting party as a means to circumvent this protection or to re-contract for the same service at a lower amount.” We propose that the fair and protected compensation for delivery be: KWD 1.100 per order performed by motorcycle, and KWD 1.300 per order performed by car — to ensure the cost of the decision is not shifted to current or future delivery companies, and to prevent circumvention by ending existing contracts and contracting with other companies at lower rates.

• 02 · Option 2: Allocate an independent share for the delivery company

  If the Ministry finds that setting compensation directly is more appropriate for market regulation, we ask for a clear, independent share for the delivery company from the order value, similar to how the rights and obligations of the other parties in the system are regulated. The amount allocated for actual delivery would be: KWD 1.100 for motorcycle and KWD 1.300 for car. This amount would be due to the delivery company that actually performed the order, and it may not be charged any discounts, fees, or deductions that directly or indirectly reduce this amount. Each party in the order system would then have a clear, defined financial right, without delivery companies bearing the cost of reductions granted for the benefit of any other party.

• 03 · Option 3: Delivery value plus a share of the 7%

  If the Ministry prefers to keep the current financial structure without setting an independent fixed price for the delivery company, we ask that the delivery company be entitled to: the full delivery value allocated to the order, estimated at KWD 1, plus a substantial share of the 7% linked to delivery fees and services, whenever the delivery company bears the actual performance and operating costs of the service — given that the delivery company directly bears the costs of the rider, vehicle or motorcycle, fuel, maintenance, insurance, housing, licenses, and operational management required to perform delivery.

Anti-circumvention: We emphasize to Your Excellency that the requested protection must not be limited to existing contracts only. If protection is limited to current contracts, those contracts can in practice be ended or not renewed, then replaced with other companies or re-contracted for the same service at lower amounts, defeating the purpose of protection entirely. We therefore ask that any regulation adopted by the Ministry extend to current and future contracts, and include a ban on direct and indirect reductions and on using fees, discounts, contract restructuring, renaming, termination, and re-contracting as means to circumvent the protection granted to delivery companies.

Purpose of the request: Delivery companies are not asking to load any extra cost onto the consumer, increase fees on restaurants, or cancel advantages the decision granted to any party. We only ask that the protection granted to the other market parties not become a loss borne by local delivery companies alone. A delivery company is not merely a financial intermediary; it is the party that performs the field portion of the service and bears its actual cost. Protection of the consumer, restaurant, and platform must therefore be matched by fair protection for the party that actually performs delivery.

The request: We therefore ask Your Excellency to retain Ministerial Decision No. (109) of 2026 and all of its articles, provisions, and advantages as they are, without cancellation, suspension, or postponement, while completing regulatory protection by adopting one of the three alternatives above, or any other mechanism the Ministry finds achieves the same purpose — provided it guarantees that amounts due to delivery companies are not reduced directly or indirectly, now or in the future, and prevents circumvention of this protection through ending contracts, non-renewal, re-contracting, changing companies or names, or changing how compensation is calculated.

We place these alternatives before Your Excellency in the belief that the Ministry is best placed to choose the appropriate regulatory mechanism, and that our aim is not to oppose the Ministry’s direction or the decision, but to complete the circle of protection so it includes all parties in the system without exception.

We hope Your Excellency will intervene urgently before reductions that some platforms have begun imposing harm local delivery companies and cause them to falter, even though they are the party responsible for actually performing delivery.

Delivery companies reserve all their legal and contractual rights regarding any reductions or measures affecting their dues.

Please accept our highest respect and appreciation.

We, the undersigned on the attached roster, authorize the committee chair, Mr. Abdulaziz Abdullatif Bandar Faleh.