AMMAN — In a
session held in the
Lower House on Wednesday, lawmakers discussed three bills,
referring two of them to joint committees and returning the third law to the
government.
اضافة اعلان
At the beginning of the session, representatives
discussed the municipalities and decentralization bill for the year 2021 and
voted to refer it to a joint administrative and legal committee.
Stressing how
important the bill is, MP Yanal Freihat said that “it is part of the political
reform laws.”
Deputy Khair
Abu Saelik agreed with Freihat on the bill’s importance, adding that it is “a
step towards the political reform that we demand.”
However, Raed
Smerat, a member of the House’s Legal Committee, criticized the law. "This
cannot be considered as decentralizing. Today, if I wanted to complete a
transaction in the Department of Land and Survey, for example, I would wait for
three days for a response from Amman. Decentralization means that the decision
is taken without referring to a main center,” he said.
The deputy
stressed that he will work from within the Legal Committee to which the law was
transferred to reform this law.
The Lower House
also discussed the Aqaba Special Economic Zone bill for the year 2021, and
voted to send it to a joint committee of the finance and economy and investment
committees. Several MPs said that this law will disrupt investment in Aqaba and
harm the economy.
Abu Saelik, a
proponent of the bill, disputed the claim by some MPs that the law will affect
investment, saying “I think that they did not understand the law properly.”
Finance
Minister Mohamad Al-Ississ confirmed that “there is no change in the tax and
customs rates in the Aqaba Special Economic Zone.” During the Parliament session,
he said that it is not permissible to have two parties in the same country that
deal with tax and customs, as this matter opens the door to tax and customs
avoidance. He added that the aim of the bill is to facilitate investors and
streamline the process to one party instead of two.
Ississ added
that there have been clear cases where parties took advantage of the duplication
of the tax and customs administration for illegal purposes. He indicated that
the government had listened to the requests of the representatives about the
importance of providing the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority with revenues
that meet its need, which is the reason for raising its revenues to reach 40
percent instead of 25 percent.
The final bill
reviewed by the Lower House was the money exchange bill, which lawmakers
referred back to the government. The bill would increase the fine and prison
term for those caught transferring money without a license.
Opinions among
the deputies were split, with MP Abu Saelik saying that the bill would affect investment. "The law increases penalties for crimes that are
already punishable by law," so it is redundant, he argued. He further added
that investment in Jordan needs to be encouraged, not further penalized.
Deputy Hussein Al-Harassis disagreed. “The penalties should be
tougher for crimes related to this law, since it seems that the penalties in
the original law are not enough” to deter violations.
Defending the
government’s position, Minister of State for Legal Affairs Mahmoud al-Kharabsheh
said that the money exchange bill is not intended to discourage investment or
restrict investors, but rather to encourage the investment environment.
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