Presidency of the Council of Ministers

Eighth Constitutional Government

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Press Release

Meeting of the Council of Ministers on April 27th, 2022

The Council of Ministers met, at the Government Palace, in Dili, and approved the draft Government Resolution for the appointment of João Amaral, as President of the Supervisory Board of the public company Bee Timor-Leste (BTL, E.P.), and Regina de Jesus de Sousa and Acácio Pinto as members of the Supervisory Board of BTL, E.P. It is the responsibility of the Supervisory Board, as a supervisory body of BTL, E.P., to ensure compliance with legal, statutory, and regulatory standards applicable to the company and supervise its financial management and assets. According to the statutes of this public company, these appointments have been proposed by the Government member responsible for the water and sanitation sector, Minister Abel Pires da Silva, and by the Government member responsible for the Finance sector, Minister Rui Augusto Gomes.

Four draft Resolution Proposals to the National Parliament were also approved, presented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Adaljiza Albertina Xavier Reis Magno, regarding the International Criminal Court and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. These drafts Resolution Proposals to the National Parliament aim to:

• Ratification, for accession, of the amendment to Article 124 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, adopted in The Hague on November 26^th, 2015;
• Ratification, for accession, of the amendment to Article 8 and other amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court relating to the crime of aggression, adopted at the review conference in Kampala, from May 31^st to June 11^th, 2010;
• Ratification, for accession, to the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court, done at New York, September 9^th, 2002;
• Ratification, for accession, to the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, adopted on May 23^rd, 1997.

The Council of Ministers approved a legislative package for the environmental area, composed of four draft Decree-Laws, presented by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Demetrio do Amaral de Carvalho.

• The first draft Decree-Law approved aims to create the National Environmental Licensing Authority, I.P. (ANLA) and approves its statutes. ANLA’s mission will be to ensure the implementation of the legislation on environmental licensing, being responsible for evaluating projects, classification, issuing environmental licenses and monitoring the activities of public and private entities in general, proponents and holders of Environmental Licenses, without prejudice to the powers of the Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals. This public institute will be supervised by the member of the Government responsible for the execution of policies for the environment area.

• The second project aims to make the first amendment to Decree-Law No. 5/2011 of February 9^th, on Environmental Licensing. This project will harmonize the existing legal regime on environmental licensing with the establishment of the National Environmental Licensing Authority and also ensure the possibility of submitting any relevant documentation under the environmental licensing procedure at a local level, either at delegations or representations of that National Authority that will be established, either to the Government department responsible for implementing policies for the environment area or its territorially based decentralized services or to any other public or private entity with which a contract or partnership for this purpose may be established.

• The third draft Decree-Law aims to establish the Designated National Authority for Combating Climate Change, I.P. (AND – Portuguese acronym) and approves its Statutes. The AND will exercise the functions of the Designated National Authority for the flexibility mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol, having as its mission, namely, to approve the participation of public and private national entities in projects, in the context of clean development and emissions trading, and will serve as an interlocutor between the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste and the Green Climate Fund.

• The last project presented by the Secretary of State for the Environment aims to make the first amendment to Decree-Law no. 15/2019, of July 10^th, on the Organic Law of the Secretary of State for the Environment. With the establishment of the two previously mentioned Public Institutes under the responsibility of this Secretary of State, it is now important to amend the Secretary of State for the Environment’s organic structure, to guarantee its compatibility with the technical, administrative, financial and patrimonial autonomy that is conferred to these public institutes.

Finally, a draft Decree-Law and two draft Government Decrees were approved, within the scope of the State Budget Framework Law and public financial management, presented by the Minister of Finance, Rui Augusto Gomes. The approved diplomas are:

• A Draft Decree-Law aimed at regulating the competence to authorize the expenditure of services and entities of the Public Administrative Sector.

With this diploma, when expenditures have a value higher than US$ 10 million, the authorization for the realization of expenditure falls under the competence of the Council of Ministers. When expenditures have a value equal to or lower than US$ 10 million, the authorization for the realization of the expenditure falls under the competence of the management bodies of the services and entities of the Public Administrative Sector with extended financial autonomy.

The management bodies of the Presidency of the Republic, the National Parliament, the municipalities and the independent administration are competent to authorize expenditure, regardless of the amount.

In the case of the Special Administrative Region of Oe-Cusse Ambeno, the authorization of expenditures exceeding US$ 10 million falls within the competence of the respective deliberative body.

• A Draft Government Decree that regulates the structure of budget classifiers. The specification of revenues and expenditures of the General State Budget is carried out through the use of budget classifiers, which assume the structure of organic classification, economic classification and functional classification.

• A Draft Government Decree that regulates the structure of budgetary programmes. The programme structure of the State Budget consists of grouping expenditures by objectives intending to pro results. The budget programmes are structured through three levels, the top-level, called programme, the middle level, called subprogramme, and the bottom level, called activity. The programme level presents general objectives aimed at producing results, the subprogramme level presents specific objectives aimed at producing results and the activity level presents a set of actions that contribute to the production of results. The code of the budgetary programmes is composed of seven alphanumeric digits, with the first three corresponding to the programme, the next two, to the subprogramme, and the final two, to the activity. END