Shura Council Decisions
The Shura Counci is a venerable Iraqi Institution with a basis in law dating back to 1933 and now operating under Law 65 of 1979 as amended by Law 106 of 1989. Currently presided over by Judge Ghazi Al-Janabi the Shura Council is comparable with the Conseil D’Etat in France and has a number of functions including:
1. Acting as an administrative court;
2. Vetting of draft primary legislation to ensure constitutionality and avoid contradictions with the Iraqi legal system prior to the draft being passed to the Council of Representatives;
3. Vetting of secondary legislation issued by the various Ministries.
As presently constituted, the Shura Council comes under the aegis of the Ministry of Justice. A replacement for the Shura Council, independent of the Ministry of Justice, is one of the many potential bodies envisaged by the Constitution that have not yet come into being. Section 3 of the Constitution is headed ‘Federal Powers’. Chapter 3 of Section 3 is headed ‘The Judicial Power’. Within that Chapter, under the subheading of ‘General Provision’, Article 101 states that:
A State Council may be established, specialized in functions of the administrative judiciary, issuing opinions, drafting, and representing the State and various public commissions before the courts except those exempted by law.
Events
Legislative Drafting Symposium in February 2010 Brings Together Key Iraqi Institutions