National Assembly passes Foreign Investment Bill, Petroleum Bill, 2022

• National Assembly passed Foreign Investment Bill, 2022 with majority vote.
• Revised the fee structure as per the directions of Lahore High Court.
• Tarar assured that the legislation was completely Reko Diq specific.

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) on Monday unanimously approved the passage of the Petroleum (Amendment) Bill, 2022 to stop illegal sale of petroleum products.

Moved by Parliamentary Secretary for Petroleum, Chaudhry Hamid Hameed, the house passed after taking clause by clause. With an amendment, the illegal imports, transports, stores, sales produce, refine or blends any petroleum has been made punishable besides extending fine up to Rs5 million.

According to statement of objects and reasons, the amendment has substituted the word “Federal Government” with appropriate authority as per the cabinet direction in light of the definition of “Federal Government by Supreme Court decision vide PLD, 2016.”

Revised the fee structure as per the directions of Lahore High Court dated 07 -07 -2017.

A new sub-section has been added to create provision for punishment for those responsible for accidents in which loss of human life or serious injury to persons occur.

Inserted the word “Sale” in certain Sections of the Act as per the comparative list to stop illegal sale of Petroleum Products.

Petroleum Products have been classified as per the international standards. The definition of ‘Sale”, “OMC” and’ Dealer are added to avoid confusion. The term “Gallon” and ‘Fahrenheit” in certain sections have been replaced with the terms “Liter” and “Centigrade’ respectively as per the international standards.

Inserted the list of authorized testing officers with respect to their expertise. A new sub-section has been added to create provision for punishment of those responsible for accidents in which loss of human life or serious injury to persons occur.

The concept of ‘Magistrate’ has been substituted with “Judicial Magistrate” and “Deputy Commissioner in Section 25 and 27 of the Act, respectively to fulfil the core purpose of these sections and to avoid confusion.

Foreign Investment Bill

Meanwhile, the National Assembly (NA) on Monday passed the Foreign Investment (Promotion and Protection) Bill, 2022 with majority vote for promotion and protection of certain qualified foreign investments in the country.

The bill which was part of the NA’s supplementary agenda and already passed by the Senate presented by Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar on the floor of the house.

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Thanking house for passing the bill without any amendment, Tarar assured on behalf of the Prime Minister Muhammad Shebaz Sharif that the legislation was completely Reko Diq specific.

He said the provincial assemblies of Balochistan and Sindh had passed the resolutions under Article 144 of the Constitution authorizing the parliament for necessary legislation on the matter.

He said the following project would yield maximum fruits for Balochistan and it would provide from 35 to 40 billion dollars in the next 30 years to the province.

During this significant business, Balochistan National Party (Mengal)’s Muhammad Akhtar Mengal, Minister for Housing and Works Maulana Abdul Wasay, Balochistan Awami Party’s Khalid Hussain Magsi and Jamaat-e-Islami’s Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali expressed their apprehensions and opposed the bill.