Shura Council to vote on higher criminal-order fine limits

TDT | Manama

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Sunday’s Shura Council sitting will decide on Decree-Law No. 32 of 2025, which lifts the fine limits for issuing criminal orders, a step the reviewing committee says is needed after penalties for negligent killing and injury were increased.

The Shura Council’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security has urged the Council to pass the measure after studying the decree-law and the papers sent over from the elected chamber.

It also looked at the Shura Council Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee view, which found the text sound in constitutional and legal terms, and reviewed a separate legal note prepared on the change.

Decree-Law No. 32 replaces the wording of Articles 273, 274 and the first paragraph of Article 280 bis in the Criminal Procedures Law of 2002. The aim is to keep the criminal-order route open for simpler misdemeanours, so cases can be settled early instead of shifting into longer court tracks after fine levels rose in related crimes.

Under the revised limits, judges in the Minor Criminal Court may issue a criminal order in misdemeanours where the law does not require jail, or where the minimum fine does not exceed BD3,000.

Members of the Public Prosecution may issue a criminal order in misdemeanours punishable by optional jail of up to one year, or where the minimum fine does not exceed BD2,000.

Practice

The committee said that, without raising these limits, the use of criminal orders in such cases would shrink in practice, slowing hearings and affecting litigants and public trust in the courts.

The committee linked the move to recent changes to the Penal Code that raised financial penalties for manslaughter and negligent injury, and said the procedural update keeps court practice in step with those higher fines while leaving fair-trial guarantees in place.

It noted that the right to object to a criminal order remains protected under Article 277 of the Criminal Procedures Law.

The decree-law was issued on 19 August 2025 under Article 38 of the Constitution during the recess of both chambers, then placed before both the Shura Council and the Council of Representatives on 24 August 2025.

The committee said the conditions for issuing decree-laws in such a period were met, and asked the Shura Council to endorse the text at Sunday’s vote.