MINISTERIAL ORDER NO. 25/INSURANCE DATED 4..8.1977 WITH RESPECT TO THE FORMATION OF THE DISPUTE SETTLEMENT COMMITTE MENTIONED IN ARTICLE 104 OF THE LAW ON SOCIAL INSURANCE.

The Minister for Labour and Social Affairs, After referring to the Law on Social Insurance issued by Decree Law No. 24/1976 which has been amended by Decree Law No. 27/1976 and Decree Law No. 12/1977; And to Ministerial Order No. 17/Insurance dated 26.4.1977 concerning regulations and procedures to be followed by the General Organisation for Social Insurance with regard to collecting its entitlements from employers and assertion of the said entitlements thereunder and which provided for the setting up of a committee for the settlement of such disputes that may arise between them in accordance with the provisions of Article 104 of the above- mentioned Law on Social Insurance, And after the approval of the Board of Directors of the General Organisation for Social Insurance at its sitting held on 20.4.1977 of the above- mentioned Order, Hereby orders :

Firstly: Formation of Committee and Summoning Meetings

Article 1

The Dispute Settlement Committee referred to in Article 104 of the aforementioned Law on Social Insurance and Article 7 of Ministerial Order No. 17/Insurance issued by ourselves on 26.4.1977 shall be formed in the following manner :

Article 2

The Chairman shall summon meetings of the Committee; he shall determine the time and place of the meetings as well as the agenda to be debated at each meeting.

Article 3

The meetings of the Committee shall be valid only with a quorum of at least one from the employer and one from the workers.

The deliberations of the Committee shall be in camera and the resolutions shall be passed by a majority vote of the members present; in case of a tie, the chairman shall have a casting vote.

Article 4

The Director of the General Organisation for Social Insurance shall select the Committee's Secretary from among the employees of the said Organisation.

Secondly : Procedures

Article 5

The Secretary of the Committee shall maintain a record in which he shall enter systematically the dates of the receipts of applications regarding any topic that may have reached the Committee. On the same application, he shall record the hour and date of receipt and the entry number and he shall sign beside the statement of these facts. He shall also keep a file for each subject pertaining to the disputes submitted to the Committee and in the said file he shall maintain a record of all the papers and documents submitted by the parties to the dispute. The Secretary of the Committee shall submit regularly, as and when received, to the Chairman the topics received or at the most the next day to enable a date to be fixed for referring the matter to the Committee.

Article 6

The Committee's Secretary will check whether the objections lodged by the employers were made on the due dates prescribed for so doing. If it is ascertained that any of the objections is filed after the prescribed date which is 30 days from the employer's receipt of the notice with respect to insurance contributions and additional amounts calculated, in accordance with Article 4 & 5 of Ministerial Order No. 17/1977, he shall prepare a resume of the said objections to be submitted to the Committee Chairman within one week at the most, from the date of its receipt by the Secretary for the purpose of fixing a date for consideration thereof.

Article 7

The Committee Chairman will summon a representative of the General Organisation for Social Insurance to the meeting in order to obtain the views of the Organisation regarding the dispute submitted to the Committee. In this matter, he has the right to summon the employer or whosoever deputises him to appear before the Committee to state his case. He may also request either or both of them to make available to each other written submissions supporting their cases to the Committee. But the Chairman will decide the period within which the said written submissions should be sent up. The Committee is empowered to take evidence of witnesses.

The Committee Chairman may request when necessary, the above mentioned General Organisation to furnish the Committee with the file dealing with the subject matter or to forward copies of documents required by the Committee.

The documents shall be sent by the Organisation annexed to a voucher enumerating the enclosures.

Article 8

The Committee Chairman is empowered to cause any expert to appear before the Committee to give his opinion on any matter touching the dispute which has been submitted to the Committee.

He may call upon the expert to write a report based on his opinion within the time-limit fixed for this purpose.

Article 9

After a consideration of all the matters for and against the subject-matter of the dispute, if any, the Committee's decisions should be fortified by a sound reasoning besides a statement of the reasons for the objection, if any. All these should be recorded in the minutes and endorsed by the chairman.

The Committee's Secretary shall return the file belonging to the General Organisation for Social Insurance or any other documents which may have been forwarded to the Committee, after the Committee Chairman shall have minuted to that effect.

Article 10

The Committee's Secretary shall notify the parties to the dispute with a certified duplicate of the Committee's decision immediately after endorsing the minutes within one week, at most, of the date of the delivery of the said decision. In every case, the said notice should include the issues on which the said decision was based.

The notice including the duplicate of the decision shall be served by a registered letter with an acknowledgement slip on the address provided in the documents.

Article 11

If the General Organisation for Social Insurance or the employer were to appeal against the decision of the Dispute Settlement Committee to the High Civil Court, the Committee shall forward the file to the Court if noticed to do so or if applied for by one of the parties to the dispute.

Thirdly : Final Provisions

Article 12

The application, regarding the dispute, to the Disputes Settlement Committee should contain the following particulars :

Article 13

Each of the parties to the dispute is entitled to make the application without any fees.

Article 14

Two copies of each summons to be issued by the Committee Chairman shall be made and signed by him or the seal put thereon. The said summons will be served, when necessary, by the secretary or by any other employee authorised for this purpose by the Committee Chairman.

Article 15

If any member of the Committee has a personal interest in any of the disputes sent up to the Committee or if such a member is related in the fourth degree to any of the employers who is a party to the dispute, it shall be his duty to declare such interest or relationship and beg leave of absence from attending the meeting wherein the dispute is gone into. This shall be entered in the minutes.

Article 16

The Committee Chairman may, if need arises and after consulting the other members, request the General Organisation for Social Insurance to cause a Ministerial Order to be issued for the appointment of a substitute member to replace the member who begged leave of absence from attending the meeting wherein the dispute is gone into.

Article 17

This Order shall be published in the Official Gazette and it shall come into effect from the date of its publication.

Essa bin Mohamed bin Abdulla Al Khalifa Minister for Labour and Social Affairs

Dated : 4.8.1977