Senate Passes Key Bills On Cooperatives, Virtual Assets, Penal Code Reforms

(MENAFN- Jordan News Agency)

Amman, May 14 (Petra) – The Senate on Wednesday ratified several bills as forwarded from the Lower House of Parliament (House of Representatives). These included new legislation concerning cooperatives, the regulation of virtual assets, and an amendment to the Penal Code.
The Cooperatives bill provides for the establishment of a dedicated fund within the Cooperative Corporation to finance the cooperative sector, alongside an institute for fostering a cooperative work ethos.
It further aims to enhance the Cooperative Corporation's supervisory and regulatory capacity over the cooperative sector and to govern the operations of foreign cooperative branches and unions.
The Virtual Assets Regulation bill is formulated to govern activities pertinent to virtual assets, thereby protecting transacting parties and delineating the Jordan Securities Commission's mandate and authorities in the oversight of this sector.
The amendment to the Penal Code bill is intended to expand the scope for non-custodial sanctions, emphasizing the rehabilitation and societal reintegration of individuals subject to conviction. It introduces new legal provisions for the suspension of sentence execution post-final judgment and permits the deferral of fine payment or its settlement in installments.
Beyond these legislative ratifications, the Senate endorsed the report of its Finance and Economic Committee concerning the Audit Bureau's 2023 findings and adopted its ensuing recommendations.
A prominent issue within the report was the significant volume of outstanding financial claims. These encompassed JD 633 million from unexecuted judgments within the Ministry of Justice's judicial execution departments, JD 719 million in receivables due from Social Security Corporation subscribers, and JD 281 million in arrears owed by municipalities and joint services councils.
The committee advocated for amendments to the Public Funds Collection Law to bolster recovery efficacy and for the activation of legal procedures for the public auction of seized immovable assets where obligations remain delinquent one year post-seizure.
The Audit Bureau's report further identified instances of under-expenditure on specific projects within the 2021-2023 budgetary cycles, noting cases where appropriated funds were unspent or subjected to budgetary transfers without remedial action for the affected projects.
It specified that 177 treasury-funded projects registered an expenditure rate below 35 percent, and budgetary reallocations had been made from the appropriations of 705 projects. This highlighted a need for enhanced precision in capital expenditure forecasting, consistent with results-oriented budgeting methodologies.
The committee urged the establishment of a joint task force, comprising representatives from the Audit Bureau and the Ministry of Finance, to ensure the periodic reconciliation and clearance of all cash advances and prevent their accrual.
It also pressed for the allocation of sufficient provisions to settle outstanding medical exemptions and to address payment arrears through a structurally sustainable framework. The report drew attention to loan facilities aggregating JD 755 million with nil disbursement rates, for which the National Treasury incurred commitment fees on undrawn balances exceeding JD 5 million in 2023.
Emphasis was placed on the imperative of completing all pertinent due diligence, including studies related to terms and conditions, for program and project financing agreements prior to their execution.
Moreover, the report underscored the critical necessity of institutionalizing robust corporate governance frameworks and directives within numerous entities subject to Audit Bureau oversight, referencing discernible deficiencies in their existing governance structures.
The report also issued a caution regarding escalating levels of municipal indebtedness and the imbalanced ratio of recurrent versus capital expenditure within municipalities.
Recommendations included sustained funding for the institutional Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) project, the institutionalization and capacity building of municipal internal audit units, the provision of budgetary allocations for training and systems procurement, and the enhancement of efficiency in the collection of outstanding receivables.

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