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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers on August 4, 2021
The Council of Ministers met, at the Government Palace, in Dili, and approved the draft Decree-Law, presented by the Minister of Justice, Manuel Cárceres da Costa, which aims to make the Second Amendment to the Civil Procedure Code, approved by Decree-Law No. 1/2006 of February 21st and amended by Law No. 6/2021 of March 31st. With this Decree-Law, the Government, making use of the legislative authorisation granted by the National Parliament (through Law no. 3/2021, of March 2nd), provides more flexibility to the process reorganisation phase, in particular regarding the preparation of the hearing for discussion and trial, and contributes to the relief of civil justice. With this amendment, the reorganisation phase is maintained as an intermediate procedural phase of the proceedings, but it is no longer necessarily based on the specification and questionnaire, and alternative preparatory schemes are provided for. The selection of the preparatory scheme for the discussion and trial hearing is made by the judge, by non-appealable order, in accordance with the option that concretely proves to be most appropriate to the specific characteristics of the litigation.
The Council of Ministers approved the Second Amendment to decree-law no. 17/2020, of April 30th, which creates a remuneration supplement for public administration employees, agents and workers who perform their professional activity in the prevention or control services of COVID-19, or in conditions of direct exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
In this amendment, the list of categories of beneficiary workers is revised, given that the universe of workers who perform their respective activity in conditions of direct exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus is now broader than that provided for in the previous Decree Law, namely with the inclusion of technicians involved in the vaccination programme against COVID-19, prison guards and gravediggers, among others, who were not covered until now.
The amount of this remuneration supplement, to be funded by the COVID-19 Fund, ranges between 5 and 25 US dollars per day, depending on the degree of risk to which the employees are exposed, in accordance with the table approved with the present decree-law.
The amendments provided for in this Decree-Law shall come into effect from April 30th, 2020, the date of entry into force of the amended Decree-Law.
The right to supplements is extended until December 31st, 2021, without prejudice to the possibility of later extension through new legislative intervention.
The draft Government Decree, presented by the Minister of State Administration, Miguel Pereira de Carvalho, for the first amendment to the Government Decree regarding the remuneration of the Presidents of Municipal Authorities and Municipal Administrators was also approved. The purpose of this decree-law is to adjust the remuneration of the Presidents of Municipal Authorities and Municipal Administrators to the high responsibility that the performance of their office implies, as representatives, at municipal level, of the Central Government, who hold responsibilities over a wide range of services that the Government provides, locally, to citizens. With this draft Government Decree, as of January 2022, Municipal Presidents will receive a monthly remuneration of US$ 1,600, and Municipal Administrators will receive a monthly remuneration of US$ 1,300.
The Council of Ministers approved the draft Government Resolution, also presented by the Minister of State Administration, on the update of voter registration abroad and approval of the schedule for voter registration operations abroad, for the election of the President of the Republic to be held in 2022. The Government’s Resolution aims to ensure the conduct of voter registration operations abroad, to enable Timorese citizens residing abroad to exercise their right to vote. The voter registration and update activities will take place between September 3rd, 2021 and January 14th, 2022, which will be a longer period than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to diplomatic missions and consular posts, these activities will also take place at mobile registration posts in Australia, South Korea, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
Lastly, the Council of Ministers also deliberated to approve the draft Government Resolution that imposes a sanitary fence in the areas comprised by the Naimeco Suco (village), in the Administrative Post of Pante Macassar, and by the Bobometo Suco (village), in the Administrative Post of Oesilo, both in the Special Administrative Region of Oe-Cússe Ambeno, between 12:00 am on August 5th, 2021 and 11:59 pm on August 18th, 2021.
Thus, the movement of people between these areas is prohibited, except in cases duly justified for reasons of public safety, public health, humanitarian assistance, maintenance of public supply systems or the achievement of public interest. Individuals who can demonstrate full vaccination (two doses) against COVID-19, as well as minors under six years of age accompanying them, are not covered by this travel ban. END