CHAPTER 8: THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR DISABILITY AFFAIRS

CHAPTER EIGHT The Public Authority For Disability Affairs

ARTICLE (47)

An authority concerned with the affairs of people with disabilities, and of nominal personality called ((The General Authority for People with Disabilities)) shall be established, and will be subject to the supervision of the first deputy for the prime minister.

ARTICLE (48)

The authority shall be specialized in all the works and tasks ensuring the care of people with disabilities, and specifically the following:

Approving the general policy of caring for people with disabilities and following up with the reports of its execution and development.
Setting the special basis of determining the basic needs for caring for and habilitating people with disabilities.
Setting the rules and determining the procedures related to executing the commitments of the state mentioned in this law.
Preparing and supervising the execution of an integral work plan including everything that concerns caring for and habilitating people with disabilities in the short and long terms, and coordinating with the concerned bodies of the state.
Forming the committees needed to undertake the study, organization, preparation, presentation of suggestions, follow up work, and determining the functions of these committees.
Acceptance of unconditional allowances and grants, and determining the aspects it is paid for.
Setting the rules and systems of managing the amounts deducted for people with disabilities and determining the aspects of its investment.
Proposing the rules concerning caring for and habilitating people with disabilities.
Approving the yearly plan of participating in conferences, local and international meetings, and exchanging experience and information in the field of caring for and habilitating people with disabilities.
Studying and following the international and regional agreements with regard to the affairs of people with disabilities, expressing opinions of joining them, and coordinating with the concerned bodies.
Encouraging scientific research, and conducting surveys and statistical studies, and exchanging experience and information in the fields of disability between the competent bodies having local and international relations within the legal frames determined for them.
Setting integral plans and programs needed to provide local cadres, and train them scientifically and practically on caring and habilitating methods for people with disabilities.
Guaranteeing the rights of children with disabilities, building their capabilities, improving their skills, and enhancing their incorporation into society.
Setting a statistical database for people with disabilities to ensure the inclusion of improvement plans and state programs for all the needs and services that concern them.
Ensuring equality of chances and indiscrimination of rights on the basis of disability, and using other countries’ experiences in the fields of caring for people with disabilities, securing their rights, cooperating with the bodies concerned with the rights of people with disabilities to provide support ways for them, caring for, habilitating, and rehabilitating them.
Presenting a yearly report about the works of the authority to the national assembly and the Cabinet regarding what had been accomplished throughout the past year, and what is planned for the next year.

ARTICLE (49)

The authority shall have a board specialized in setting the goals and general policies for the authority. This assembly is formed by the first deputy of the prime minister or deputy, and the membership of each:

The Minister of Labor and Social Affairs.
The Minister of Health.
The Minister of Education and the Minister of Higher Education.
The Director of the General Authority for Sports and Youth Board. The Board shall include representatives of nonprofit organizations and clubs working in the disability field nominated by the governing bodies of such associations and clubs, and two with qualification and experience with disability issues. To be nominated, it is required that nominees do not have material interests in the authority, and shall be appointed by a decree depending on a proposal from the president for four years, renewable for one similar time, and their remuneration is determined by a decision issued by the Cabinet. And the Board shall issue internal regulation governing the procedures of its work and how to issue its decisions, and the board shall hold at least two meetings a year and the meeting shall not be considered valid unless attended by the majority of the members, including the president or his deputy. And the General Director of the Authority is the determiner of the Board.

ARTICLE (50)

Non-profit organizations, associations, and clubs working in the disability field shall meet to nominate and elect their representatives in the Board and Board of Directors of the Authority according to the invitation of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

ARTICLE (51)

The authority shall have a General Manager appointed by a decree - according to the nomination of the President - in the rank of Undersecretary of specialists and experienced in the diagnosis, care and habilitation of persons with disabilities and for four years, renewable once for a similar one, and shall be responsible for implementing policies set by the board and the decisions taken by the board of directors, and the general director shall represent the Authority before the courts and in its relation to others, and may have one or more deputies appointed by a decree on the nomination of the board.

ARTICLE (52)

The Authority shall have a board of directors formed by a decision from the Board chaired by the General Director and the membership of each:

A representative from each the Ministry of Health, Education and Higher Education, Social Affairs and Labor, the General Authority for Youth and Sports, and the Civil Service Bureau. And the competent minister nominates all of them, in a rank no less than the rank of an assistant undersecretary.
Four representatives of the non-profit organizations and clubs in the disability field selected by the boards of these associations and clubs, two qualified and experienced with disability issues to be chosen from outside the authority upon the nomination of the general director for a period of four years, renewable once for a similar one. To be nominated it is required that the nominees shall not have material interests with the Board. The remunerations of members of the Board of Directors are determined by a resolution issued by the Cabinet, and it is not allowed to combine the member-ship of the Board and the Board of Directors. The Board is entitled to hire experts and professionals it deems appropriate to express their views without giving them the right to vote on decisions.

ARTICLE (53)

The Board shall issue the internal regulation of the Board of Directors according to the proposal of the Board directors, and the regulation includes particularly the following:

The organization of the financial work of the Board of Directors, the mechanism of issuing its decisions, the rules of holding meetings of committees, and working teams the way it deems shall be formed.
Determining the functions of the General Director and his deputies.
Determining the remunerations of members of the committees and working teams, experts, and consultants.

ARTICLE (54)

The Board of Directors is specialized with the following:

Implementing the general policy of the Authority.
Issuing decisions and regulations related to the administrative and financial affairs of the Authority.
Consideration of periodic reports presented to the authority about the progress of work.
Considering all that the board’s President or one of its members deems appropriate to propose of subjects that fall within the functions of the Authority.
Taking decisions it deems necessary to achieve the purposes for which the Authority was set.

ARTICLE (55)

The Authority shall have a budget attached to the state’s budget prepared by the General Director and approved by the Board of Directors. The fiscal year of the Authority starts from the first of April of each year and expire at the end of March the following year. The exception is that the first fiscal year starts from the date of applying this law and ends at the end of March the following year. The General Director shall set the draft of the final account of the authority preparing to be submitted to the Board of Directors for approval.

ARTICLE (56)

The resources of the Authority shall be allocated from the State’s budget each year, and what the Board of Directors accepts of subsidies, grants, and the commandments.

ARTICLE (57)

The Cabinet, on the suggestion of Board, issues its decision to the bodies and departments which will move their subordination and functions to the authority, after coordination with the bodies they follow.

ARTICLE (58)

The employees working at the Supreme Council for Disabled Affairs, issued by law No. 94 of 1996, regarding the care of the disabled, shall be transferred to the Authority, and the aforementioned shall preserve their ranks and functional levels they occupy in the Supreme Council for Disabled Affairs.