Shafaq News-Baghdad
Iraq's SupremeJudicial Council (SJC) has annulled a Communications and Media Commissiondecision imposing a 20% fee on mobile recharge cards and electronic applications,ruling that the charge constituted a tax levied without legislative authority.
Judge AyadMohsen Dhamad, head of the Appeals Board, said the fee in question was a salestax in substance, regardless of how the commission had labeled it. He notedthat Article 28/First of the Iraqi Constitution reserves the power to imposetaxes and fees exclusively to the legislative authority, prohibiting theirimposition except by law.
The commissionhad grounded its original decision in instructions issued by the Council ofMinisters during a caretaker period. Judge Dhamad rejected that basis, statingthat a caretaker government does not hold the legal authority to issuedecisions that impose new financial burdens on citizens.
The ruling wasissued as a final decision by consensus under Section 6/8 of Order 65 of 2004,canceling the fee decision and extinguishing all its legal effects.