Amman, May 4 - During its session on Sunday, the Senate approved the draft Electricity Law and the Jordanian National Commission for Women's Affairs Law as submitted by the House of Representatives.
During the session, chaired by its Speaker Faisal El-Fayez and attended by the Cabinet, the Senate recommended the necessity of obtaining Cabinet approval for electricity purchase contracts from generating stations and electricity storage contracts stipulated in the Electricity Law, considering these contracts have a substantial financial and legal impact. The Senate emphasized the importance of clarifying the definition of "self-generation" referred to in Article 15 as "non-independent" self-generation when issuing the necessary regulations, and that the regulations include employee qualification requirements to enable them to exercise the role of judicial police.
The Senate also recommended that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission conduct intensive and periodic awareness campaigns related to the new penalties and fines resulting from violating the provisions of the General Electricity Law.
The draft General Electricity Law defines the duties and powers of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission. It also addresses keeping pace with technological developments, introducing the concept of electrical energy storage, and creating an attractive investment environment for investment in the electricity and green hydrogen sectors.
The draft law adds the concept of independent self-generation and an independent electricity transmission system. It also regulates the Ministry of Energy's preparation of reports on the possibility of introducing competition in the electricity sector.
Furthermore, the draft law for the Jordanian National Commission for Women, approved by the Council, establishes a legal framework for regulating women's affairs by establishing a national civil body to oversee women's affairs, ensuring its sustainability, granting it legal personality and financial and administrative independence. This ensures the complementarity of roles and responsibilities between official and civil institutions.
The draft law also defines the institutional framework for the Jordanian National Commission for Women to support its work in accordance with the tasks and responsibilities assigned to it since its establishment in 1992, to advance the status of women and empower them in the political, economic, and social spheres, in cooperation and coordination with official and civil institutions.