Comments of Advisor Dr. Hisham Fawzi on a Federal Law Project Regarding State General Revenues in the UAE
Dr. Hisham Mohamed Fawzi: (Legal Advisor to the Council)
The matter is very clear. In various constitutions, taxes are levied by the state without rendering service, such as the tax imposed on cars entering customs. This must be done through legislation. What does the constitution say? The constitution states: “No one shall be compelled to pay money or fees except within the limits of the law.” This means that apart from taxes, it is possible to legislate within the limits of the law, thereby empowering the Cabinet. In our current situation, there is no constitutional violation. We are talking about fees, and the law delegates to the Cabinet the authority to impose fees. Therefore, from a constitutional perspective, there is no contradiction in this. Regarding the wording, I believe that the wording proposed by the Council is better because it aligns with the provisions that have been in place since the establishment of the state. Since the inception of the state, we have been using this wording that we have presented. Thank you.
His Excellency Dr. Abdulrahim Abdullatif Al Shahin: Mr. President, if there is a federal interest estimated by His Excellency the Minister in Article 11, I believe it would be wise to reconsider Article 7 with His Excellency the Minister, because Article 7 contradicts Article 11. If you read Article 7, it states: “Federal entities entrusted with collecting state revenues … deduct any amounts from these revenues under any name or for any reason.” This is contradictory. Thank you, Mr. President.
His Excellency the President: Very well, let’s ask Advisor if there is a contradiction. Is there any contradiction between the two articles, Advisor?
Dr. Hisham Mohamed Fawzi: (Legal Advisor to the Council) Your Excellency the President, there is no contradiction. However, to dispel any doubt, we can add in Article 7 “Federal entities entrusted with collecting state revenues” meaning that if they collect on their own, no deductions are made. But if they resort to a service through a company, they must compensate for this service provided to them, which is natural. Thank you.
Dr. Hisham Mohamed Fawzi: (Legal Advisor to the Council) Your Excellency the President, the truth is that Article 16 contradicts Article 4 and contains repetition and contradiction. For this reason, we corrected it and formulated Article 3 as “The Cabinet or its authorized representative shall be responsible for …”. The formulation adopted by the committee is the stable formulation since the establishment of the state in the budgetary visas issued for the state’s establishment, and it became semi-stable. However, since January 1, 2007, there were no visas and a gap appeared. The government requested the esteemed Council to reconsider this formulation retroactively from January 1, 2007, and the Council did indeed agree on March 10 last year. Therefore, any new formulation different from Article 3’s formulation will lead to contradiction and legislative inconsistency between this law and the law approved by the Council on March 10 last year. Therefore, I propose to keep the formulation of Article 3 while adding the government’s intention regarding “the Cabinet to take appropriate action if there is non-compliance with the implementation of those decisions.” Thus, we have achieved balance by having the Cabinet instruct and then, if no one complies, it must take appropriate action or it has the authority to do so. Thank you.
Dr. Hisham Mohamed Fawzi: (Legal Advisor to the Council) Your Excellency the President, we hoped it would remain as it is, but if we change the formulation, it will be: “The assignment of paying money, fees, or federal returns except taxes by decision of the Cabinet and may authorize the Minister in this regard.” Thank you.
His Excellency the President: Read it again slowly, please, as His Excellency the Minister will write it word by word.
Dr. Hisham Mohamed Fawzi: (Legal Advisor to the Council) “The assignment of paying money, fees, or federal returns except taxes by decision of the Cabinet and may authorize the Minister in this regard.”
Dr. Hisham Mohamed Fawzi: (Legal Advisor to the Council) Your Excellency the President, I expressed my opinion that this formulation will conflict with the formulation we adopted on March 10, and there will be legislative confusion. If the legislation we adopted is issued again, there will be confusion … Your Excellency the President: But His Excellency the Minister said “will be issued”?
Dr. Hisham Mohamed Fawzi: (Legal Advisor to the Council) If it is issued again with the same formulation, there will be retroactive effect from January 1, 2007. Therefore, we wanted it to be in the same formulation and thus resolve this issue, whether the other law is issued or not, there will be legislative coherence. Therefore, the formulation presented by the committee is consistent with the law we adopted, thank you.
