Leader letter

Supreme Leader announces General Policies of the System of Legislation

Imam Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, announced the general policies of the System of Legislation on the basis of Clause 1 of Article 110 of the Constitution. The text of the General Policies of the Legislation System as passed by the Supreme Leader—which have been outlined after consultation with the Expediency Discernment Council—will be imparted to the heads of the three branches of government. The following is the full text of the policies issued on September 28, 2019:

 

In the Name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

 

General Policies on the Code of Legislation:

 

  1. Observing to religious criteria [Sharia’ law] as the main source of legislation in outlining and ratifying legal drafts and bills.
  2. Evaluating and refining the existing rules and regulations of the country in case there is any incongruity with religious criteria and with the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran; and creating the necessary mechanism for guaranteeing the fourth article of the Constitution.
  3. Designating an appropriate mechanism in order to ensure that regulations are not in conflict with the Constitution.
  4. Exercising supervision with the cooperation of the Guardian Council and the Expediency Council to ensure that laws are not different from or in conflict with the general policies of the Islamic Republic, and passing the necessary laws for implementing each and every one of the general policies of the Islamic Republic.
  5. Determining the competence and the scope of power of legislators by presenting a clear and distinct definition of “the law”, of “the code, the resolution and the directive of the theme of Article 138”, of “the experimental law and the charter of Article 85”, of “the government’s plan and roadmap and the decisions on the theme of Article 134”, of “unanimity regarding the method and regulations of the theme of Article 161” and of other regulations, as well as classifying and designating a pyramid of the policies, laws and regulations of the country on the basis of the exact text or the interpretation of the Constitution which should be done as per case through the Islamic Consultative Parliament [Majlis]. 
  6. Determining the Majlis’ scope of power in amending bills by taking into account the goals of those specific bills
  7. Determining the Majlis’ scope of power in ratifying the structure and the clauses of the country’s annual budget (predicting revenues, designating goals, costs, etc.) by ratifying the necessary laws and revising the internal rules of the Majlis
  8. Determining the duties of the administration and the Majlis regarding the number of ministers, their duties and their authority, the legal duties of the President as addressed in Articles 60 and 124 of the Constitution, determining every merger, annexation, and separation, and the founding of bureaucratic organizations by ratifying the necessary laws.
  9. Observing the principles of legislation and of drafting the law and creating the necessary mechanisms for coordinating legal bills and drafts by emphasizing:

 

  • The practicality of the law and the measurability of its implementation.
  • Relevance to actual needs.
  • Transparency and lack of ambiguity.
  • The solidity of the legal literature and terminology.
  • Defining a technical code for every legal bill and draft and the reasons behind their introduction.
  • Reliance on expert opinion and the evaluation of the impacts of implementing the law.
  • Stability and adopting a long-term and national outlook.
  • The solidity of the laws and refusal to change or amend them without mentioning their technical code.
  • Maximizing the involvement of the people, stakeholders, and specialized popular legal entities as well as guild-based bodies in the process of legislation.
  • Administering justice in passing laws, avoiding oppressive discrimination, the general application of the laws, their comprehensiveness and avoiding legal exceptions as much as possible.

10. Specifying titles for comprehensive laws, classifying, emending and designating codes for the existing laws of the country throughout the implementation of the Sixth Plan of Development.

11. Creating a mechanism by the Islamic Consultative Majlis for determining the competence of the drafts for being offered in the Majlis (relevant to Article 75 of the Constitution) before actually offering them and announcing their receipt.

12. Regularizing and setting a high quorum for referring the drafts to the Expediency Discernment Council in cases where there is disagreement between the Majlis’s ratified bills and the opinion of the Guardian Council.

13. Revising those ratified bills which have been passed by the Expediency Council due to observing expediency, in order to determine the validity term of the expediency.

14. Observing the inherent competency of the three branches of government regarding the laws on the formation of entities such as supreme councils; revising the existing laws of these entities; predicting the necessary legal procedures for guaranteeing that their ratified rules are not in disagreement with ordinary laws.

15. Determining the priorities of legislation by giving prominence to the resolution of the executive affairs of the country, the unexecuted articles of the Constitution, strategic plans, the general policies of the Islamic Republic, the five-year Plan of Development and the Leadership’s demands.

16. Observing the perspectives of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces regarding legislation for the Armed Forces.

17. Promoting and institutionalizing the culture of observing, obeying and respecting the law and turning it into a public demand.

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