Syrian Arab Republic

Legislative decree no 54

The President of the Republic, according to provisions of constitution

Issues the following:

Chapter one

Public definitions

Chapter one- public definitions:

Article 1- the following phrases in this decree define as:

Economic Plan: it defines as the social and economic developmental plan, according the laws that includes issuing economic plans for a specific period, which achieves the developmental targets and indicators.

State’s Public Budget: is the annual primary financial plan to execute the economic plan, which achieves this plan’s targets and agrees with its entire and detailed structure.

Public Body of Administrative Nature: is a public administrative legal entity performs the public services, like security, guard, fair, social; education; health services, and preserving the public property by his executing staffs.

Public Body of Economic Nature: is a public legal entity enjoys by administrative and financial independence. And contributes in developing the national economy, and exercises an industrial, commercial, agriculture, touristic, or financial activities directly or by what he construct, or contribute in, or join with any establishments or enterprises.

Local Administration Units: are the units of administrative and financial independence and the legal entity that presents the local decentralization that’s responsible of executing the state’s public policy and its local plans under the supervision of Central Authorities.

Endowment Directorates: are the bodies of administrative and financial independence and the legal entity of Endowment ministry as mentioned in the law which organizing this ministry affaires.

Public Expenditures: consist of the current expenditure on the salaries, wages, administrative expenditures, social and economic transference, investment expenditure against the imported equipment or the performed services or the implemented works, payments the internal and external debts and its interests, working capitals, grants and donations, and other expenditures.

Public Revenues: contain the current revenues of tax, duties, revenues of produced public services, state’s investment, grants and donations, investment revenues resulting from economic surpluses and that within the decided limits in this decree, and any other revenues.

Grants and Donations: contain the monetary and concrete grants and donations whither were internal or external.

Expenditure Contract: is the event which constructing the obligation of the public body.

Liquidating and spending the Expenditure: is fixing the debt of public body, identifying its value and maturity, didn’t terminate it by time or for any reason, and giving its payment command.

Administration’s Accounting: is administrating the financial and accounting affairs in the public body of administrative nature to execute the public budget according to the regulation laws and the optimal using of the allocated credits. And the Finance minister’s decision nominates the administration accountant from the ministry’s property, who connects directly with the commanding of payment.

Budget’s Surplus: is a part of the available surplus for development, and presents the state’s share from the profits of public side of economic nature after deduction the profits income tax, reserves of industrial expansion, and the capital’s share (if there is).

Liquidity’s Surplus: it contains depreciation of fixed assets and the supplies, which are not allocated for more than one year, for the public body of economic nature.

The monetary base: is the accounting base in recording the collecting revenues and the actual spending during the financial year.

Maturity base: is the accounting base in recording the revenues and the mature expenditures during the financial year.

Closing Account: is the account that includes the result of executing the public budget in real numbers at the end of the financial year. This account would be organized according to the acting accounting regulations.

Chapter two

Public Principles

Article 2- the state’s Public Budget includes these estimations:

A- Expenditures and revenues of ministers and public bodies of administrative nature.

B-The surpluses of public bodies of economic nature, local administrative units, and endowment directorates.

Within the decided limits in this law.

C- The loans

Article 3-

First- the ministers and public bodies of administrative nature share in the public budget with whole their expenditures and revenues.

Second- the budgets of public bodies of economic nature, endowment directorates, and local administrative units are separated from the state’s Public Budget. And all these budgets connect with the public budget according to the following bases:

1-      The budget’s surplus of all mentioned bodies occurs in the public budget.

2-       Some credits are allocated in the state’s Public Budget for investment projects for public bodies of economic nature, within the mentioned limits in the economic plan.

3-       The surpluses of endowment directorates, local administrative units are inserted as a total unified number in the public budget. Therefore if it was a negative surplus it would be mentioned in an independent subdivision within the relevant division of the ministry of these directorates and units, but if it was a positive it would be mentioned in an independent subsection with the revenues.

Third- the surpluses of endowment directorates, and local administrative units are defined by the Cabinet’s decision according to the Finance minister’s suggestion.

Fourth-

1- public bodies of economic nature keep the estimated liquidity surplus; to use it in the exchange and recreation projects accumulatively, in the light of the decided credits in the state’s Public Budget.

2- the state’s share (the owner) is defined from the estimated budget surplus in public bodies of economic nature. And regulating instructions for provision, requirements, and percentages of surplus deduction, by a decision of Finance minister, in the light of the estimated budgets results, in accordance with public body’s activity, actual requirements, and financial status.

3-The non-transferred amounts in paragraph 2, 4^th item of this article, are subjected to a legal interest, where the Finance minister’s decision defines its quantity, its account bases, its payment beginning.

Article 4- the losses of public bodies of economic nature compensate from the reservation amounts of those bodies according to the defined percentages by Finance minister’s decision.

Article 5-

A- the state’s Public Budget is formed and comes into force for one year starts from 1/January and finishes at the end of December.

B-     Monetary base is adopted in the state’s Public Budget, with inserting the duplicate band principles. The monetary base still adopted until there are necessary bases to transfer towards the maturity principles.

C-     At the end of financial year, the unused credits during it, are terminated.

Article 6- if the legislative authority didn’t approve on the state’s Public Budget project before the beginning of the financial year, so temporary monthly credits should be opened by a decree. Based on 1 part of 12 parts from the previous financial year credits. And the revenues are collected according to the acting laws.

Article 7-

A-the state’s Public Budget is formed, taking into consideration the balance between the public expenditures with the public revenues.

B- In conditions that require preserving the public budget’s balance, the Cabinet has the right to stop some public expenditure contract, according to Finance minister’s suggestion.

Chapter three

Classification the public expenditures and revenues

Article 8- the public budget expenditures are classified as following:

1-     Functional classification: is the one that presents the budget expenditures based on the state’s functions.

2-     Administrative classification: is the one that presents the expenditures of each public body. Where each ministry has an independent division and each public body relevant to that ministry has an independent subdivision.

3-     Typical classification: is the one that presents the expenditures of each public body based on the nature of expenditure. Where this classification presents its investment expenditures, and its current expenditures components which based on allocating an independent subsection for each kind of these expenditures and based on distributing the detailed expenditures for each subsection to defining items, and each item to paragraphs.  

4-     Local classification: is the one that presents independently the Central Administration in the State’s authority. And the expenditures of each governorate in Syrian Arab Republic.

5-     Economic classification: is the one that presents the economic nature of expenditure. And its executing defined by Finance minister’s decision.

Article 9- the budget revenues are classified in a typical way, and if there is a necessary it could have a functional, administrative, local, economic, and any other classification, by Finance minister’s decision.

Article 10- Finance minister defines by his decision:

A-     The necessary types to implement the classification kinds of public revenues and expenditures, which mentioned in the previous articles /8-9/ and exposing the details of each classification.

B- The items which should be distributing to paragraphs.

Chapter Four

The state’s Public Budget cycle

First subdivision- prepare the state’s Public Budget

Article 11-

A- the mentioned bodies, in the article no /3/ of this decree prepared the primary estimations for investment and current expenditures, and their public revenues. Which will be mentioned in the state’s Public Budget, and sending them to these bodies’ ministry. The ministry reviews these estimations, agrees on, and sends them to Finance Ministry attached with all documents, statistics, and explanations to justify each credit.

B-   Finance Ministry discusses the primary estimations for investment and current expenditures, and modifies them corresponding with those bodies’ reality, requirement, and financial abilities, in condition that all these procedures should executed in the frame of economic plan, and after consulting with the relevant ministry according to priorities. And the ministry coordinates those estimations in a unified project according to classification kinds which mentioned in articles /8-9-10/ of this decree, and adds to them its expenditures estimations and the collected revenues.

Article 12- Finance Minister submits the state’s Public Budget project to the Cabinet, attached with his report that includes a broad view of economic and financial status and its relationship with the state’s Public Budget project. And also includes analytical study for expenditures’ and revenues’ numbers, and compares them with the previous financial year.

Article 13- the Cabinet studies the state’s Public Budget project, and when they agree on its final drafts, they should submit it to the legislative authority, attached with Finance Minister’s report minimum before two months from the beginning of the financial year of that budget.

Article 14- the estimated budgets for the public bodies of economic nature should prepared according to the rules of the financial regulations of these bodies.

The Second Subdivision- the Approval on the state’s Public Budget

Article 15- the state’s Public Budget project presented to the legislative authority according to the rectified classification.

Article 16- additional credits are approved as in the Public Budget.

Article 17- allocated credits for the current and investment operations are divided into items and paragraphs by Finance Minister’s decision.

Article 18-

A- the transference of allocated credits for the current operations take place in subsections and items by Finance Minister’s decision according to the relevant minister's suggestion.

B- the transference of allocated credits for the current operations take place in subdivisions and divisions by a decree.

C- the transference of allocated credits for investment projects take place in items and paragraphs by Finance Minister’s decision according to the relevant minister's suggestion.

D- the transference of allocated credits for investment projects take place in subdivisions and divisions by the Prime Minister’s decision according to Finance minister's suggestion.

E-      Proceeding the transference between public budget credits shouldn’t reach out the mentioned limits and targets in the economic plan.

Article 19- the budgets of public bodies of economic nature are approved according to the rules stated by financial system of these bodies.

The third subdivision- The Execution of the public budget

Public Expenditure:

Article 20- Public expenditures are contracted by the specialized legal authority in accordance with rules, regulations and allocated credits in the state’s Public Budget.

Article 21- the choice of the Contractor with the state, the basis of agreement with him, and the rules of ratification, execution and termination of the contract are happened according the acting rules and regulations.

Article 22- it's not allowed to make expenditure that may cause an obligation for the coming financial years except:

A- Appointment employers and workers.

B- the contracts of business, rent, maintenance and periodical supplying, and these may be contracted for more than one financial year, and not exceeding three years. However, if these contracts last for three years not exceeding five years, the approval should be obtained from the Finance Ministry and if it exceeding five years the approval should be obtained through a decree. Anyway, the cost of the contract shouldn't be increased, every coming year, more than the allocated credit in the budget of that year.

C- it's allowed making contracts for the projects, which can't be divided. And the execution should be continue to beyond the current financial year, provided respecting the annual allocated credits in the budget for each project, as well as the decided limits in the economic plan.

Article 23- The specialized legal authority accomplishes liquidating and spending the expenditure in accordance with the available credits in the budget, provided that the expenditure should be mature according to the acting rules and regulations. It's allowed, by the Prime Minister’s decision according to Finance Minister’s suggestion, to open necessary credits in the budget to deal with disasters, urgent expenditures, or state’s security necessaries, and its supreme interest. These expenditures occur in the total account of the budget.

Article 24-

A- all debts for public treasury interest are terminated and aren't paid. These debts aren't requested to remit before the end of the forth-financial year, which follows the financial year of those debts.

B- As the above-mentioned termination in the previous paragraph of this article, it is not allowed to execute a judicial award of these debts, unless this judgment presents the absence of substantial causes of termination.

C- the provisions of paragraph/A/ of this article aren't imposed on the debts that hasn't been paid during the previous period for management's reason or for cases in the court.

Article 25- Ministries, Administrations, and public bodies have the right to authorize other with expenditures’ spending contract on some allocated credits of their budgets. Authorization and spending happened according to the instructions of Finance minister.

Public Revenue:

Article 26- Taxes, fees and the rest of public revenues are collecting according to the relevant rules and regulations.

Article 27- Taxes, fees and public money for the state's rights never terminated, except after fifteen years from the date where the taxpayer notifies the payment document.

The Forth Subdivision- Supervision on Execution

Article 28-

A- Finance Ministry supervised the public expenditures and revenues execution through the administration accountants, who represent Finance minister in all state ministries, its administrations, its public establishments, and its local commissions. Those accountant are in contact directly with commanding of payment, and they sign on expenditure contract before its issuance, since it is legal and its credit is sufficient, as well as they sign on the payment orders before it is paid. In addition, they supervised the use of credits, supply the legal due amounts for public treasury, certify public accounts that related to ministries, administrations or public establishments. In which they work, before sending them to the mentioned authorities in the article/31/, and supply Finance Ministry with all data and statistics which may help this ministry to continue the execution of public expenditures and revenues in all public sector bodies.

B- Detailed specializations of administration accountants are defined in Finance Ministry’s property.

Article 29- The Central Authority for Financial Control supervises the execution of the state’s Public Budget and state’s money according to the mentioned provisions of this authority law.

Chapter Five

Public Accounts

Article 30- every ministry, administration, public body of administrative nature, local administrative unit or endowment directorates are considered as an independent accounting unit. Central Bank of Syria and its branches act as their fund. And it may open an account in the working banks by Finance minister’s decision.

Article 31-

A- every ministry or public body of administrative nature should prepared a closing account for the finished financial year. The account distributes according to the classification mentioned in the accounting system of public body of administrative nature, then send it to the central treasury and account directorate in Finance Ministry and to the Central Authority of Financial Control during three months of ending the financial year.

B- Finance Ministry prepares the closing accounts of the finished financial year for ministries and public bodies of administrative nature, after obtaining the approval, properly, from the Central Authority of Financial Control during six months of ending the financial year. These accounts contain the settlement accounts and the attached financial lists as mentioned in the instruction of Finance Ministry.

C- the closing accounts mentioned in the paragraph (B) of this article is submitted to the Cabinet to be approved properly, before ending the financial year.

D- public bodies of economic nature prepare its closing accounts and budgets and acknowledge the directorate of establishments in Finance Ministry and Central Authority of Financial Control during three months of ending the financial year, according to the rules mentioned in the financial system of these bodies.

Article 32- Legislative authority approves by a law, the closing accounts for the finished financial year.

Article 33- A decree is issued according to Finance minister’s suggestion for:

- Accounting system for public bodies of administrative nature.

- Accounting and financial system for public bodies of economic nature.

Chapter Six

Final Provisions

Article 34- Prime Minister issued by a decision according to Finance Minister’s suggestion, the necessary instructions to occur the accounting settlement for the liquidity’s surpluses of public bodies of economic nature for the financial year, which precedes this legislative decree.

Article 35-

A- Finance Ministry is responsible for managing the governmental debt coordinating with the relevant bodies.

B-Technical committee is formed from the relevant bodies to study the agreements of loans for public bodies, according to the acting rules and regulations, which are issued by the Prime Minister’s decision according to the suggestion of Finance minister.

C- the committee submits its studies of every agreement of loan to the Cabinet in order to obtain the necessary approval.

D- Finance minister or Prime Minister may authorize someone to sign on the final drafts for agreements of loans.

Article 36- by Finance Minister’s decision, some workers in the State Planning Commission SPC (Budget of Investment Credits) might be sent to Finance Ministry’s property, preserving their category, wages and qualification of promotion. So they are actually stated in Finance Ministry’s property and end their works in the SPC.

Article 37- the provisions of:

- Legislative decree no./92/for year 1967 and its amendments, which includes the Primary Financial Law.

- Decree no./1811/ for year 1969 and its amendments, which includes the accounting system for public bodies of administrative nature.

- Decree no.26/T for year 1974, which includes the financial system for public bodies of economic nature (except public construction establishments and enterprises).

- Decree no./2686/ for year 1977, which includes the financial system of the public construction establishments and enterprises.

- Decree no./287/ for year 1978, which includes the unified accounting system for all public bodies of economic nature (except public construction establishments and enterprises).

- The Cabinet's decision no./1885/ for year 1982, which includes the accounting system for public construction establishments and enterprises.

Are terminated.

Article 38- This legislative decree should be published in Gazette and come into force 1/1/2008.

Damascus 8/9/1427 pursuant to 1/10/2006

The President of the Republic

Bashar Al-Assad