Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 533

The administrative authority's refraining from taking a decision it was obliged to take, whether negatively or affirmatively, pursuant to laws and regulations. It may be challenged by annulment as a negative decision. - The provisions of Articles 17, 19 of Law No. 11/1962 concerning Passports. Their import: granting a passport is inseparably linked to Kuwaiti nationality. The implication thereof. The administrative authority must express its will through an affirmative decision whenever it considers refusing the issuance of a passport, stating the particular reasons that prompted it. - Proof that the respondent is of Kuwaiti nationality, the administrative authority's failure at any stage of the dispute to invoke the existence of another public-interest justification warranting depriving him of obtaining a passport, and its failure to issue a decision to that effect. He must obtain it by law. The administrative authority is obliged to issue it without the slightest discretionary power in this respect. Its refusal constitutes a negative decision. It may be challenged by annulment without being bound by a time limit. The challenged judgment's agreement with the first-instance judgment in identifying the true character and nature of the administrative decision, regarding the decision sought to be annulled as a negative decision not subject to a time limit, and consequently ruling that the action was admissible as to form. This does not contravene the law.