SCZONE showcases investment opportunities to Peru's ambassador    BP signs MoU to drill five offshore wells in Mediterranean    Oman's Afouq, Egypt's Prime Group launch $265M AI, advanced technologies zone in Muscat    Israeli airstrikes target Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar vows response    Egypt's FM meets Iranian counterpart in Cairo for nuclear, regional talks    Egypt ramps up enforcement of new labour law to formalise workforce    Egypt, Iran foreign ministers meet in Cairo to discuss ties, nuclear file    Egypt's Sisi slams Gaza 'war of starvation' at BRICS, discusses truce with US CENTCOM chief    Egyptian government charts new policies to advance human development    Egypt, Spain discuss expanding health cooperation, support for Gaza    Egypt marks International Day of Clean Air at Wadi Degla Protectorate    Egypt advances plans to upgrade historic Cairo with Azbakeya, Ataba projects    Egyptian pound ends week lower against US dollar – CBE    Egypt expresses condolences to Sudan after deadly Darfur landslides    Egypt hosts G20 meeting for 1st time outside member states    Lebanese Prime Minister visits Egypt's Grand Egyptian Museum    Egypt to tighten waste rules, cut rice straw fees to curb pollution    Egypt seeks Indian expertise to boost pharmaceutical industry    Egypt prepares unified stance ahead of COP30 in Brazil    Egypt recovers collection of ancient artefacts from Netherlands    Egypt harvests 315,000 cubic metres of rainwater in Sinai as part of flash flood protection measures    Egyptian, Ugandan Presidents open business forum to boost trade    Al-Sisi says any party thinking Egypt will neglect water rights is 'completely mistaken'    Egypt's Sisi, Uganda's Museveni discuss boosting ties    Egypt, Huawei explore healthcare digital transformation cooperation    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Greco-Roman rock-cut tombs unearthed in Egypt's Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Egypt parliament's first job: reviewing 340 laws
Published in Ahram Online on 13 - 01 - 2016

As of January 10th, the parliament has 15 days to review all 340 laws issued over the past two years. Under Article 156 of the constitution, it must decide whether to endorse or reject them.
Given the tight deadline and difficulty of reversing the effects of most laws, it will not be able to substantively debate each one, but will most likely approve the majority of them en masse, with the exception of a few that a majority of MPs have already agreed to reject.
In light of this complex situation, I attempt here to offer a brief guide to the laws issued from January 18, 2014 to the end of 2015, to help readers follow the discussion and form their own opinions.
Of the 340 laws under review, 156 deal with the state budget and the budgets of dozens of state agencies. There's no need to debate these laws now that the fiscal year is half over.
Another 16 laws deal with various transitional issues, from elections to daylight savings time—these too are moot.
Eighteen laws regulate gas and oil drilling concessions. Largely formulaic, these need not be reviewed, especially that the nature of the concessions makes altering the terms difficult.
Eleven laws make various amendments to social insurance and pension regimes. Once more, these can be repealed only with difficulty because of the effect on citizens' rights and status. And anyway, the government has repeatedly announced its intention to introduce a new, comprehensive law on social insurance.
In short, at least 201 laws are likely be endorsed with little to no debate due to the difficulty of reversing their effects.
Of the remaining laws, eight address taxes, another eight agriculture, eight the environment and energy, and 22 economic matters.
Nineteen regulate various aspects of the armed forces and national security and defense councils; 17 addressed police and traffic issues; 13 concerned penal law and criminal procedure; 4 were related to professional matters; and another 4 addressed university regulations. Sixteen laws touched on disparate topics.
Finally, 30 laws were apparently issued but not published in the Official Gazette. These must be put to the new parliament for approval, but not necessarily within the narrow 15-day period under consideration here as they may treated as in-issued legislation.
This is the briefest of overviews of the first and most serious duty of the new parliament. As noted above, it has no choice but to accept the majority of these laws without any substantive discussion. However there are a few laws—15 in my opinion—that the assembly should examine more closely because they deviate from the constitution or infringe the public interest. These are:
1. The investment law (Law 17/2015), due to the severe disruption it caused in the investment climate.
2. Law 18/2015 on the civil service. This should not be passed without parliamentary oversight because it will have a substantial, lasting impact on millions of citizens and society as a whole.
3. Law 27/2015 on special economic zones; making only minor adjustments to the old law, this legislation does not provide a sound legal and regulatory framework for the development of the Suez Gulf zone.
4. Law 89/2015 on the dismissal of heads of independent regulatory agencies, which lacks specific rules governing such dismissals.
5. Law 128/2014 (“the law of other things”), which imposes unconstitutional restrictions on civil society, the media, and academic and research activities; it also levies disproportionately stiff criminal penalties for offenders.
6. Laws 41/2014, 8/2015, 21/2015, and 94/2015, which criminalize various acts related to security; the acts criminalized are not clearly, unequivocally defined and the prescribed penalties violate the principle of proportionality.
7. Laws 130/2014 and 136/2014, which allow the referral of civilians to military tribunals and are thus unconstitutional.
8. Laws 15/2014, 52/2014, 134/2014, and 3/2015 which regulate universities to restrict students, staff, and faculty members' right of expression and peaceful protect and reinstate the old system under which university deans are appointed rather than elected.
As for Law 107/2013, which restricts the right of peaceful protest, despite my previous and repeated objections to it, is not included here because it was issued prior to the adoption of the constitution on January 18, 2014.
Nevertheless, this doesn't mean the law is sacrosanct and must be endorsed by the parliament. In fact, it should be repealed, but through the regular parliamentary review mechanisms.
When the framers of the 2014 constitution allowed the parliament only 15 days to review laws issued in its absence they no doubt did not imagine that two full years would pass before the assembly was convened, or that such a huge number of non-pressing laws would be issued.
Nevertheless, while we need to avoid further legal and constitutional confusion, the laws listed above must be reviewed because they constitute flagrant violations of the constitution, impede economic performance, or infringe principles of justice.
To close, I'd like to thank my colleague, young lawyer Abd al-Ghani Sayyed, for his help in collecting and analyzing the laws under review.
The writer holds a PhD in financial law from the London School of Economics. He is former deputy prime minister, former chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority and former chairman of the General Authority for Investment.
This article was published in Arabic in El-Shorouq newspaper on Monday, 11 January.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/180861.aspx


Clic here to read the story from its source.