Federal National Council closes for summer break

The council has held 17 sessions for a total of 106 hours in the past eight months.

ABU DHABI // The FNC yesterday closed for the summer recess after eight months of sessions.

Mohammed Al Murr, the Speaker, said that since the group convened in November last year it had held 17 sessions for a total of 106 hours.

Among those was a four-day session lasting more than 35 hours, the longest to be held in the council's history, to discuss the Companies Law.

The council's nine committees held five public forums and went on five field visits.

This term the council has studied 16 draft laws, although only 11 have been discussed. The rest have been delayed until after the break.

The biggest number of laws were studied in the finance and industrial committee, which held 30 meetings, more than all the others.

Four general topics were discussed, including Ministry of Economy and Central Bank policy, although the latter has not yet been publicly discussed. Almost 70 per cent of the committee's 96 ideas were approved by the council.

The Islamic affairs committee has held 20 meetings, the second highest this term, although no bills were discussed. Of five general topics, three were presented to the council. The committee proposed 192 ideas, with about 160 approved by the council.

The health, labour and social affairs committee, and the education, youth and media committee each held 16 meetings. All bills discussed have yet to be presented to the council.

The foreign, planning, petrol, agriculture and fisheries committee held 12 meetings and discussed publicly a draft law on plant genetic resources, and a bill on the hedayah centre. Of the 122 ideas they presented to the council, more than 100 were approved.

The legal and legislative committee and the interior and defence committee held 11 meetings each.

The first presented 27 ideas to the council, of which about 85 per cent were approved. The latter presented 61 ideas, with about 95 per cent acceptance.

The appeals and complaint committee held seven meetings in which 36 complaints were discussed. Three were solved and 17 were dismissed. The rest are awaiting Government responses.

The final and newest committee, the human rights committee, has had only one meeting in which they discussed a proposed work plan.