Bill proposed by House rejected

Manama : The Government of Bahrain has rejected a bill submitted by the House of Representatives demanding to prohibit the government from increasing any fees without reviewing it with the council.

The government rejected the bill, which was recently submitted by a number of MPs and approved by the House, terming as “unconstitutional”.

“The proposed law contravenes Article 107 of the Constitution of the Kingdom, which authorises the Legislative Authority (Parliament and Shura Council) to delegate the Executive Authority (government) to regulate the status of fees, determine their types and evaluate it, in order to achieve the desired purpose of imposing fees,” the government mentioned in its reply to the council.

The reply also included that “any fees are referred to the government by the Legislative Authority in the form of a law”.

“The government is then authorised to explain its details and specify its particulars, all in order to achieve the necessary flexibility in imposing fees to meet the changing conditions in the costs of service, as long as they are imposed or modified only by law and through a resolution taken by the government within the framework of the law,” the government added.

The bill stipulated amending the current Clause B of Article 16 of Decree Law 39 of 2002 with regards to the general budget.

The existing text states that “the Cabinet authorises the minister to determine the fees’ types, increment and reduction”, while the bill amends it with “in all cases it is not permissible to impose any increase of the existing fees unless a law is issued to determine its limits”.

More on this will be discussed in the upcoming regular weekly meeting of the Parliament on Tuesday, in the presence of the concerned representatives of the government.