(2017-02) Law Replacing the 16 February 2005 Decree on the Process for Preparing and Executing Finance Laws
Summary — Promulgated under Provisional President Jocelerme Privert and published in Le Moniteur's Special Issue No. 5 of 1 February 2017, this organic law (CL/2016-01) replaces Haiti's 16 February 2005 decree on the preparation and execution of finance laws, defining the categories of finance laws, the annual budget cycle running 1 October to 30 September, and the exclusive authority of the Minister of Finance over Treasury funds. The same special issue also carries a separate 2009 law, promulgated the same day, creating a Parliamentary Police Directorate within the Haitian National Police.
Key Findings
- Replaces the 2005 decree governing Haiti's finance-law process with a modernized organic budget law (CL/2016-01).
- Defines three categories of finance laws and fixes the fiscal year from 1 October to 30 September.
- Requires a multi-year (minimum three-year) budget programming document underpinning annual finance laws.
- Assigns the Minister of Finance exclusive responsibility for Treasury fund management.
- Promulgated together with an unrelated 2009 law creating a Parliamentary Police Directorate within the PNH, both signed by Provisional President Privert on 23 January 2017.
Full Description
This organic budget law (Loi No. CL/2016-01), voted by the Corps Législatif on the proposal of Senator Jocelerme Privert, replaces the decree of 16 February 2005 on Haiti's finance-law process, harmonizing it with the amended 1987 Constitution and simplifying execution of public expenditure. Its preamble recites an extensive legal history stretching from the 1870 law on official liability through the 1979 creation of the BRH, the 1984 Public Investment Fund, and the 2005 decrees on central administration organization and the Superior Court of Accounts. Title I defines finance laws as the instruments that authorize the State's resources and charges within an economic and financial equilibrium, requiring a multi-year budget programming document covering at least three years; Article 4 enumerates the three categories of finance laws (the annual/initial finance law, rectifying finance laws, and the settlement law), and fixes the administrative fiscal year from 1 October to 30 September. Article 9 assigns the Minister of Finance exclusive responsibility for managing Treasury funds and full responsibility for public funds engaged outside the law's prescriptions. Chapter II establishes that finance laws comprise the general budget, annexed budgets, and special Treasury accounts, with rules governing each category's creation, balance requirements, and reporting.
The same special Moniteur issue (No. 5, Wednesday 1 February 2017) opens with an unrelated 2009 law (Loi CL-007-09-09), voted by the Senate on 18 August 2009 and the Chamber of Deputies on 13 September 2009, which amends Article 29 of the organic law of the Haitian National Police (PNH) to create a Parliamentary Police Directorate, separating policing functions along Constitutional lines. Both laws were promulgated by Provisional President Jocelerme Privert on 23 January 2017, reflecting a substantial backlog of previously voted legislation formally issued together in this gazette.