The House of Representatives approved, in a legislative session on Wednesday, the amendment of Article 13 of the draft law regulating the investment environment for the year 2022, after it approved 12 articles of it.

Article 13 of the draft law approves granting the Council of Ministers to give additional incentives based on the recommendation of the Incentives and Exemptions Committee in the event that the investor fulfills the conditions of the incentives and according to specific principles and criteria, including taking into account the employment of 350 Jordanians and 50% of Jordanian workers and taking into account value-added activities. The committee must review and address any Double taxation of investment funds or mutual funds for direct and indirect investment.

Last Wednesday, the House of Representatives began discussing a draft law regulating the investment environment for the year 2022, in a legislative session, after the Economy and Investment Committee made amendments to its articles.

The head of the Economy and Investment Committee, Representative Khair Abu Sa’ilik, said during the session that the committee held more than 23 meetings with stakeholders in the private sector and investors, to discuss the draft law, explaining that “about 50% of the texts and articles of the project have been amended.”

The House of Representatives approved 12 articles out of 52 of the total articles of the draft.

According to the draft law, the Council voted to approve the formation of the Investment Council as stated by the committee headed by the Prime Minister, the Minister of Investment as Vice President, and the membership of the Ministers of Planning and International Cooperation, Finance, Industry and Trade, Supply, Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, the Governor of the Central Bank, and the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Jordan.

The composition of the council also includes the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Jordan Chamber of Industry, and four representatives from the private sector, including a businesswoman and three representatives from the agricultural, tourism and financial services sectors. The membership of any of them may be terminated by appointing a replacement for the remainder of his membership in the same manner.

According to the draft law, the Investment Council undertakes a number of tasks represented in approving the investment policy that includes the priority targeted sectors and projects in accordance with the state’s general policy, economic vision, and economic and social executive plans and programmes, approving the investment map of the Kingdom and following up on its updating, and discussing reports related to the implementation of plans, strategies and programs related to investment. and guidance on it.

The Investment Council also directs to take everything necessary to develop the investment environment in the Kingdom, recommend legislative and regulatory amendments necessary to improve the investment environment, and decide on disputes that may arise between official authorities regarding the investment environment and any other matters related to investment, except for what is within the powers of the Ministry of Investment.

The council voted to approve the proposal submitted by Representative Khaled Abu Hassan on paragraph “d” of Article 8, which stipulated that “the council meets at the invitation of its president at least once every three months, and its meeting is legal in the presence of no less than the majority of its members and takes its decisions by the majority of votes of its members. ’, where “…takes its decisions by a majority vote of its members” was crossed out and replaced with “… takes its decisions with two-thirds of its members’ votes.”

The articles of the draft law included freedom of ownership, with the exception of economic activities restricted by virtue of a system, and the use of non-Jordanians in administrative and technical jobs that require specialized skills at a rate of no more than 25% of the total number of workers, and this percentage may be raised to no more than 40% in the absence of The possibility of providing Jordanian labor for these jobs, in addition to other items related to money transfers.

It also included that the ownership of any investment or part of it may not be expropriated except in accordance with the law and for a general, specific and legitimate purpose and in a non-developmental manner in exchange for paying fair compensation to the investor, bearing in mind that the payment is in Jordanian dinars or in a convertible currency, and that it is equal to the fair market value of the assets concerned before making a decision expropriation, and that the interest rate includes the equivalent of one-night guaranteed financing.

The Council also agreed by text to prepare a draft investment map for the Kingdom, which identifies the available investment opportunities according to sectors and governorates, including partnership projects with the private sector, in coordination and cooperation with the concerned authorities, provided that updating is carried out on a continuous basis.

(The kingdom)