The Cabinet approves 14 bills and a system for the development of the judiciary
The Council of Ministers decided on Monday to approve fourteen bills and a system that will modernize and develop the judicial system and enhance its role in achieving the rule of law to ensure transparency of decisions, speeding litigation procedures, improving the business environment in the Kingdom and enhancing the rights of citizens.
The draft laws and regulations adopted by the Council of Ministers and decided to send them to the House of Representatives to discuss them and follow the constitutional procedures for the constitutionally approved in implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission for the development of the judicial system and strengthening the rule of law which the Council of Ministers had decided earlier to adopt formally after the report was handed to His Majesty King Abdullah the second.
The Minister of Justice, Dr. Awad Abu Jarad said in a press statement that following the sixth paper of His Majesty the King concerning the strengthening of the rule of law, His Majesty ordered the formation of the Royal Commission for the development of the judiciary, which issued a report containing recommendations to amend a set of legislation on the process of litigation in order to promote it to reach Justice is a breakthrough that achieves swift action while maintaining trial guarantees.
The Minister of Justice stressed that we have been keen in the work of the Committee to be the proposal of legislation approved by the Council of Ministers today to include contemporary solutions to all the problems that stand in the process of litigation where it included the acceleration of procedures and achieve the largest possible necessary for the guarantees of the trial and harmonization of our Jordanian legislation with international standards codified by the charters and agreements International.
The legislation also ensures that the freedom of citizens is safeguarded and made the detention an exceptional measure. A certain ceiling was put in place for the detention. The draft laws also adopt the idea of alternative social sanctions instead of freedom-related penalties such as public benefit and subjecting offenders to rehabilitation programs to become an active member of society.
1.The draft law amending the Independence of the Judiciary Act of 2017 aims at enhancing the independence of the judiciary by providing financial independence for the affairs of the Judicial Council to ensure that its needs are met and an independent annual budget is allocated for the budget of the Ministry of Justice.
It also came to ensure the qualitative representation of judges in the Judicial Council and to determine the term of office and to provide adequate guarantees to its members in a manner that ensures their independence in the performance of their duties.
The bill was also designed to ensure the principle of equality and equal opportunity in the appointment and independence of judges in their career and to enhance the judicial inspection process.
.2The draft law amending the Implementation Law of 2017 aims at facilitating the procedures for implementing and updating the verdicts and granting the execution judge the authority to place the arrest of the movable and immovable property of the debtor before the expiry of the period specified in the executive notification. In case the debtor starts to smuggle his money, impede implementation procedures.
It is also intended to limit unjustified appeals, the purpose of which is to delay executive transactions by limiting the executive decisions issued by the Chief Executive and capable of appealing the appeal.
The draft law grants the Execution Department the power to store the information, data and documents stored in the files of the executive cases by electronic means so that the copies extracted from the electronically preserved power of the original bond after stamping with the seal of the Department and signature by the competent employee.
.3The draft law amending the Code of Criminal Procedure of 2017 confers upon the court the right to hold consecutive sessions, short periods and outside official working hours to ensure the speedy adjudication of the case and the imposition of sanctions on the opponent who uses malicious means to prolong the proceedings.
Under the project, modern techniques will be used in all judicial proceedings and used to expedite decision-making.
The draft also provides for alternatives to imprisonment, such as work for benefit (community sanctions).
Under the project, specialized criminal chambers will be expanded to look into new crimes, especially electronic crimes.
.4The draft law amending the Civil Trials Act of 2017 aims to facilitate litigation by reorganizing judicial proceedings before regular courts.
As well as the aim of shortening many procedures that prolong the length of litigation without prejudice to guaranteeing the right of litigants to a fair trial.
5. Draft Law amending the Law of the Bar Association of 2017 establishing a register of lawyers affiliated with the non-resident union in the Kingdom.
The project provides for the obligation of the lawyer to determine his fees in the cases that he is used under a written contract and under the responsibility of the law in order to achieve transparency and protection of rights. The project also grants the committee supervising the election of the bar president and the members of the union council the authority to determine the date of re-election for the second time and not at the same meeting as is the case currently.
6.The draft law amending the law of the Supreme Criminal Court for the year 2017 came to achieve justice completed and speed up criminal proceedings by not allowing the prosecution to submit a personal right before the Grand Criminal Court.
The draft law provides that civil proceedings arising out of the crimes which are dealt with by this court shall be brought before the competent court of law.
7. The draft law amending the Law of the Administration of State Cases of 2017, which will assign the functions and responsibilities of the civil attorney general and his assistants to an independent specialized department established in the Ministry of Justice in order to expedite the adjudication of lawsuits related to the Treasury and official and public institutions.
8. The draft law amending the Mediation Act for the settlement of Civil Disputes of 2017 came with the aim of adopting mediation procedures to be held by a private intermediary and allowing the refund of fees paid in whole or in part.
9. The draft law amending the Evidence Act of 2017 aims to employ modern technology in the service of litigation and to improve the services of the justice facility.
The project aims to give the opponent in lawsuits the right to attach written certificates and to regulate the rules of acceptance of fax, telex, e-mail and the like means of modern communication in the proof.
It also aims to facilitate proof in business and among traders as the outputs of computer or other modern technology used by traders in the organization of their financial operations and their accounting entries as commercial books.
10. The draft law of the Magistrate's Courts for the year 2017 was intended to facilitate litigation proceedings before the Magistrates' Courts in the Kingdom and to expand the jurisdiction of the criminal and civil court of justice as well as to reorganize the methods of appeal against decisions issued by the Magistrate Courts.
11 - The draft law amending the law of the formation of regular courts for the year 2017 came to achieve the principle of specialization of judges and activation and expansion of the scope to expand the establishment of specialized judicial chambers and specialized economic chambers within the courts of the beginning and appeal of Amman to consider the appeals addressed to the judgments issued by the Economic Chamber at the Court of First Instance to achieve speed Achievement in cases with direct impact on investment and economy.
The bill also comes to guarantee the quality of the procedures and speed up the completion, in addition to reducing the burden on the Court of Cassation to raise the ceiling of the lawsuits resumed from 5,000 dinars to 10,000 dinars.
12. The draft amended system for the Notary Public License System for 2017 came to adopt candidates from competent lawyers and former judges to carry out the functions of the notary public, to expand their competencies and to facilitate the requirements for their work.
13- The draft system of experience before the regular courts for the year 2017 came to regulate the experience of the courts, including the adoption of types of expertise and standards of qualification of experts and the conditions that must be available to them and how to name them and determine their wages.
14. The amended system of the Jordanian Judicial Institute Law 2017 aims to provide the judiciary with competent judges by attracting the first law schools in the official Jordanian universities to study at the Jordanian Judicial Institute.
The amended draft law also included the preparation of qualified persons to take up the legal functions needed by ministries, government departments and official and public institutions.