Senate refers mediation of civil disputes law to Lower House

AMMAN — The Senate on Monday referred the draft mediation of the civil disputes law to the Lower House, disagreeing with MPs' rejection of the provision allowing private companies to provide notification of judicial action.

In July, the Lower House rejected the 2019 amendments to the bill, arguing that the law is skewed towards benefitting “certain parties”.

The Senate justified its approval of the law to its "contributions to improving the notification of judicial actions and speeding up the litigation process   through hiring institutions equipped with necessary tools and vehicles covering the entire Kingdom, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.  

The Senate’s decision said that these private companies are Jordanian and will be chosen by floating tenders and have to work under certain systems that will be linked to a surety to guarantee good performance. 

Attending the Lower House's deliberations over the bill in July, Justice Minister Bassam Talhouni explained that "the amendments were made to improve the notification process in certain cases", and that carrying out notifications through private companies “is not new”.

Also on Monday, the Upper Chamber endorsed the draft integrity and anti-corruption law, and a law cancelling the Utilising IT Resources in Governmental Institutions Law.

As for the integrity and anti-corruption bill, it identifies the authorities and tasks assumed to the chairman of the Jordan Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission, including supervising the commission, implementing the plans and programmes, representing the commission, signing the endorsed contracts and agreements, along with suggesting regulations besides other tasks.

Regarding the draft law on cancelling the Utilising IT Resources in Governmental Institutions Law, it considers the Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship as the legal successor of the information technology centre that was established under the cancelled law.