House of Representatives Unanimously Approve, Drop Article 8 Bis

The Finance and Economic Development Committee in the House of Representatives unanimously approved on Tuesday, June 6, the second reading of the 2017 Finance Bill.

The draft was approved with 199 votes in favor, 56 against from the PAM representatives, and 38 abstentions, two from the Federation of the Democratic Left and the rest from the Istiqlal Party.

The House of Councilors unanimously approved the PLF-2017, in a plenary meeting held on Thursday. The examination of PLF-2017 was marked by the introduction of a number of amendments, in particular concerning Article 8 bis on the enforcement of judgments against the state and local and regional authorities, which was unanimously deleted.

Article 8 bis provoked a political and civil controversy between the government and the opposition, and human rights and judicial circles, who considered the provision a breach of the constitution and a threat to legal certainty.

The article would have impeded owners of land appropriated by the state, as well as by rural and urban communities, from receiving compensation or re-seizing the land, even if the victims received final judicial rulings.

The article conferred an almost complete “immunity” to private property appropriated by the state. The state would have been able to artificially limit debt payments according to the budget of the relevant administration. It would have also allowed the state to postpone payments to future budgetary periods.

It should be made clear, however, that Article 8 bis was not included in the original version of the PLF drafted by the Government. It is an amendment introduced by parliamentarians during the examination of the draft by the Finance Committee in the First Chamber.