At first autumn sitting MPs propose seven bills, Deputy Speaker presents outcome of MPs' visit to Baghdad
The Kurdistan Parliament on 17 September held the first sitting of the autumn session. At the sitting Speaker Dr. Rewas Faiq asked committees to work on six bills, Deputy Speaker Hemin Hawrami reported on Parliament’s visit to Baghdad and the mechanisms that Parliament has established to increase coordination between the Kurdistan Parliament and the Iraqi Council of Representatives (ICOR), in particular its Kurdistani blocks. MP Mr. Hevidar Ahmad (KDP) presented information and statistics regarding Kurdistan Region’s population numbers.
Deputy Speaker Hawrami said that in Baghdad, the Kurdistan Parliament delegation had five meetings during a conference of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) and invited the APA and its member parliaments to visit Erbil, to strengthen inter-parliamentary ties and diplomacy. The Kurdistan Parliament delegation also met with ICOR Speaker Muhammad Al-Halbousi and his deputies, with Iraq’s Finance Minister Dr. Fuad Hussein and with the UNSG’s Special Representative in Iraq Ms. Jeanine Hennis-Plasschart. They MPs protested against several laws or bills that violate the rights of the Kurdistan Region and the people of Kurdistan: Article 16 of the Iraqi Provincial Election Law, the Civil Service bill and the Financial Management bill. Kurdistan Parliament continues to work on amending this unconstitutional Iraqi legislation.
Mr. Hawrami also described the mechanisms that have recently been set up to increase coordination between the Kurdistan Parliament and the ICOR’s committees and the ICOR’s Kurdistani blocks. The aim is to ensure that Iraqi bills do not negatively affect the Kurdistan Region or violate the Region’s constitutional rights.
Parliament’s Legislative Committee read out the names of MPs who supported these bills for first readings, and referred them to the Legislative Committee as well as the other relevant committees to work on, as follows:
- First amendments to Kurdistan Parliament’s Internal Rules of Procedure – referred to Legislative Committee.
- Enactment and amendment of Iraq’s federal Law no. 41 of 2008, on anti-smuggling of oil and oil products – referred to Committee on Energy, Natural Resources, Commerce and Industry.
- Enactment and amendment of Iraq’s federal amended Law no. 11 of 2010 on Iraqi Products Protection Law – referred to three committees: Energy, Natural Resources, Commerce and Industry; Agriculture and Irrigation; and Health, Environment and Consumer Rights.
- Organization and merging of the legislative priorities - referred to Agriculture and Irrigation
- Enactment of Iraq federal Law no. 78 of 2012, on electronic signatures and electronic transactions – referred to Legislative Committee.
- Enactment and amendment of Iraq’s federal amended Law no. 18 of 2008, on confiscating banned and smuggled items intended for the local market – referred to Peshmerga, Interior, Security and Local Councils Committee.
- Enactment and amendment of Iraq’s federal Law no. 9 of 2006, on the import and sale of oil products - referred to Committee on Energy, Natural Resources, Commerce and Industry.
Speaker Faiq said that these bills were proposed by MPs. She added that in terms of bills that the Kurdistan Regional Government wants to propose, Parliament’s Presidency has asked the government to submit them as soon as possible. She highlighted that per Article 79 of Parliament’s Internal Rules of Procedure, ideas for legislation that would have an impact on public finances need consultation with the government first, to ensure that the public financial burden can be borne.
In the final part of the sitting, Mr. Hevidar Ahmad (KDP) presented a report on Kurdistan Region’s population numbers and made recommendations about helping and encouraging families in the region.
