The Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Fidelis Manuel Leite Magalhães, presented to the National Parliament Committee A, on January 14th, 2021, three Law Proposal drafts, in the scope of the legislative and administrative reform processes. The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Justice, Manuel Cárceres da Costa and the Secretary of State for Vocational Training and Employment, Alarico do Rosário.
Two of the legislative initiatives presented, the Law Proposal on the Legal Regime of Voluntary Arbitration and the Legislative Authorization Law Proposal to make an amendment to the Code of Civil Procedure, aim at the improvement of the business environment and the strengthening of the legal certainty of commercial transactions and compliance with contracts.
Also, to this end, a Resolution Proposal for Timor-Leste’s accession to the 1958’s New York Convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral sentences, has already been submitted to the National Parliament. Timor-Leste’s accession to this Convention, which is an essential pillar of international arbitration, and has already been ratified by 161 States, is an important incentive to intensify foreign trade relations and a factor in promoting foreign investment.
These Law Proposals, in the improvement of Justice’s service delivery and in the Program of Public Administration Reform framework, aim to create out-of-court solutions for the resolution of contractual conflicts between private parties, but also between private and State parties, on contracts of a private nature, promoting greater simplification and greater agility in the judicial resolution of conflicts of commercial nature.
The third Law Proposal, for legislative authorization on public administration organization’s general bases, aims to improve the structure and organization of Public Administration, defining the different components of that organization and their attributions, competences and relations. Thus, the aspects needed to ensure greater efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, quality and meritocracy of Public Administration will be developed and modernised.
In the Public Administration Reform Programme’s framework, led by the Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, other legislative initiatives are also being prepared, aiming at strengthening and clarifying the organisational foundations of Public Administration, which are fundamental for its modernisation and for improving the Civil Service and public institutions’ performance.