We, Haitham bin Tarik, the Sultan of Oman
after perusal of the Basic Statute of the State,
the Criminal Procedure Law promulgated by Royal Decree 97/99,
and the Penal Law promulgated by Royal Decree 7/2018,
and in pursuance of public interest,
have decreed as follows
Article I
The texts of articles 4bis and 164 of the aforementioned Criminal Procedure Law are hereby replaced with the following texts:
Article 4bis
Whoever suffers damage from the crime stipulated in article 230 of the Penal Law may file his lawsuit directly to the competent court. The secretariat of the court shall notify the Public Prosecution with a copy of the statement of the lawsuit to undertake the public lawsuit. It is not permitted to file the lawsuit against heads of the units of the administrative apparatus of the state and other public legal persons except after obtaining permission from the competent entity, and the permission is issued from the Council of Ministers with respect to the heads of units of the administrative apparatus of the state. The request for permission shall be submitted by the Public Prosecutor based on the request of the person who suffers damage accompanied with the supporting documents.
The heads of the units of the administrative apparatus of the state and other public legal persons may delegate on their behalf a person occupying a legal post in the unit to which they belong to appear or plead and file contestations before courts of various levels.
Article 164
The summons to appear for the accused person shall be announced in accordance with the provisions of articles 70 and 71 of this law. The announcement to the heads of units of the administrative apparatus of the state and other public legal persons shall be made through the competent administrative division in the unit to which they belong, the announcement to prisoners shall be made through the person responsible for the administration of the prison or whoever substitutes him, and the announcement to military personnel shall be made through the command they belong to. The person who receives the copy of the announcement shall sign the original receipt, and in the event that he refrains from doing so, the misdemeanour court shall sentence him to a fine not exceeding 50 (fifty) Rial Omani. If he insists on refraining from doing so, the announcement shall be made to the accused person in accordance with the provisions of articles 70 and 71 of this law. The litigants may, as soon as the summons to appear has been announced, view the papers of the lawsuit.
Article II
This decree shall be published in the Official Gazette, and comes into force on the day following the date of its publication.
Issued on: 24 Rabi Al-Awwal 1444
Corresponding to: 20 October 2022
Haitham bin Tarik
Sultan of Oman