"HCL Law and More" Posted by Clare at KTFA 8-11-2023

KTFA:

Clare:  Shaddad reveals important details about the draft oil and gas law.. This is the fate of the region's contracts

8/10/2023

A member of the Oil, Gas and Natural Resources Committee, Ali Shaddad, revealed important details about the draft oil and gas law, while Egypt disclosed the contracts of the Kurdistan region companies.

Shaddad told Al-Furat News that: "There are committees formed by the federal government and the Kurdistan region that have agreed on a draft oil and gas law of 40 articles."
He pointed to "advanced steps of the government and the concerned committees headed by the Federal Minister of Oil in holding sessions and workshops with the oil-producing provinces," returning to them "very advanced steps in accelerating the legislation of the oil and gas law."

Shaddad added, "The oil-producing governorates will be members of the Sovereign Council, and the National Oil Company will be part of this law, and the government will not find a solution to the outstanding problems other than approving this law."

He continued, "The regional government forcedly stopped oil export operations through two federal and international decisions, and therefore all previous contracts are considered null and void, and here are the points of contention due to the accumulated debts of companies owed by the regional government."

And he added, "On the other hand, these companies entered the blacklist of the federal government, and there are legal procedures and prosecutions by the Federal Ministry of Oil after the issuance of the federal court's decision."

Shaddad concluded, "These points will be settled, but they will not be mentioned in the current draft law, but rather through the Federal Council for Policy-making."

He noted, "There is a problem until this moment, since the export was stopped. The region's oil was not invested except at the rate of 70,000 barrels, which are used locally. Therefore, the export of an average of 330,000 barrels per day was stopped from the date of the issuance of the International Tribunal."

Shaddad concluded, "These points are not political, but rather administrative, and I think they are very easy matters to solve, and there will be no difficulty for the prime minister in resolving these problems."

The political advisor to the Prime Minister, Sabhan Al-Mulla Jiyad, confirmed to Al-Furat News that the file of the oil and gas law will open all outstanding files between the governments of the center and the region.

It is worth noting that Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani hosted, on Tuesday, the periodic meeting of the State Administration Coalition, which touched on the ongoing dialogues regarding the draft oil and gas law, and the results of the technical meeting, which was held last week, in the presence of representatives of political forces and officials of the Federal Ministry of Oil and the Ministry of Wealth. Natural in the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, experts and legal experts.

Where the meeting affirmed the government's keenness to continue dialogues to ripen the final draft of the law, in preparation for submitting it to the House of Representatives after it is approved by the Council of Ministers.   LINK

NanaCarol:  HCL    HCL     HCL

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Clare:  Al-Rafidain announces the direct departments to activate the collection system and collect money electronically

8/11/2023

Al-Rafidain Bank announced the direct departments to activate the collection system and obtain money electronically.

A statement of the bank, which {Euphrates News} received a copy of, stated that "and pursuant to government directives in implementing the electronic payment system, using pos devices in ministries and state institutions and the private sector, and collecting invoice amounts and fees from beneficiaries electronically by bank cards, and to enable those who wish to pay with cards. Al-Rafidain Bank announces The departments that initiated the activation of electronic collection and the transition to electronic transactions and the collection of funds through modern electronic systems.

He pointed out that "the departments that worked with this procedure are (the departments of the Ministry of the Interior - the Directorate of the Police Martyrs Fund - the Directorate of Passports Affairs / Baghdad - the office of the ministry) (the departments of the Ministry of Education - the General Directorate of Financial Affairs - the General Directorate of Training and Educational Development - the Directorate of Public, Private and Foreign Education - Directorate of Curricula) (General Directorate of Industrial Development - Karbala Health Department / Center of the Department - Diwan of the Shiite Endowment - Petroleum Products Authority - Construction and Housing).

The bank stressed that "the activation of collection is continuing and its pace is increasing in many departments of the state."

He explained that "this service comes in accordance with the government program in promoting the culture of electronic payment and reducing the use of paper money in commercial payment and collection operations, as points of sale and various electronic payment methods will be used to facilitate the collection of amounts electronically in effective, reliable and flexible ways, in addition to contributing to adopting modern technological methods and simplifying procedures and upgrading The level of services provided within a safe and transparent environment, as well as keeping pace with the development of the electronic payment system.    LINK

Clare:  Finance Committee: The current month, the benefits of new employees will be paid retroactively

 08/10/2023   Baghdad

The Parliamentary Finance Committee stated that the entitlements of the newly appointed employees will be disbursed retroactively during the eighth month from the date of issuance of their administrative orders, indicating that the matter also applies to holders of higher degrees.

Committee member Mueen Al-Kadhimi ruled out that "the government and the provinces will exhaust the allocations estimated at 199 trillion because the remaining time is short and will give us an opportunity to avoid the deficit in the current year's budget."

Al-Kazemi added that the government's expenditures will be close to its revenues, and this is a good indicator so that there will not be a large deficit. As for the next year, the government should prepare from now to provide the required revenues, whether oil or non-oil, given that this budget will be applied for three years, i.e. to 2025. He pointed out that there will be no change in the budget for the coming years, except for what it will present in the tenth or eleventh month at the latest to Parliament in order to approve the schedules. As for the articles, 78 of them will remain fixed within the budget for the next two years.

Regarding the entitlements of the newly appointed employees, Al-Kadhimi explained that the employees from the contracts and those who have been confirmed, their entitlements are calculated from the date of issuance of their administrative orders in the ministries, whether they are holders of higher degrees, first successes, or lecturers who were transferred to permanent staffing, or contracts who were transferred to permanent staffing. Their entitlements will be paid during the eighth month.

And he stressed that no ministry has the right to refrain from disbursing benefits retroactively because the issue is linked to the Ministry of Finance and the same applies to holders of higher degrees, according to the official newspaper.   LINK