Abu Dhabi, December 09: Abuse of the state’s official emblem and seal for commercial, industrial, personal and advertising purposes will invite a prison term not less than one year and a fine upto Dh100,000, according to a new amendment of some articles of the federal law.
Using the emblem for these purpose will only be allowed by special permission from the President.
The Federal National Council (FNC) passed the amendments in its Tuesday’s session which was chaired by its Speaker Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair and attended by Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister for Cabinet Affairs, Humaid Mohammed Obaid Al Qattami, Minister of Education and Dr Rashid Ahmed bin Fahd, Minister of Environment and Water.
FNC Member Khalifa bin Huweidan raised a question about the legal opinion of trends by some citizens who show their love to the nation by posting the emblem on their cars, homes or companies.
FNC Member Hamad Hareth Al Midfa said 24,000 national unemployed pensioners in the age bracket of 35-45 are low earners and need to raise their income to meet their ends. These groups can be hired as part of efforts to reduce the dependancy on foreign workforce and rectify the imbalance in the demographic structure.
He asked Humaid Al Qattami, Minister of Education and Chairman of the Federal Human Resources Authority, about the possibility of employing those pensioners.
Al Qattami said the Authority would start in next April to reinforce the new federal law on human resources which calls for hiring pensioners in coordination with government concerned bodies.
“A memo for hiring pensioners on special contracts was submitted to the federal cabinet,’’ he said, noting that the Authority has already appointed a number of pensioners in the inspection section at the Ministry of Labour.
Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister for Cabinet Affairs, said the official emblem was designed to preserve the dignity and prestige of the state and it is confined to the president and government only.
“Any other uses than these will harm the state and will be punishable by the law. Those who use the emblem in their cars, buildings, homes or shops are breaching the law. Law enforcement agencies are empowered to apprehend those persons, companies or shops,’’ he said.
The public will be granted a three month grace period from the date of publishing the law in the gazette to enable the government to educate them about the law.
While debating the dangers of personal loans, the house recommended among other proposals introduction of a unified form for loans whose conditions and terms be designed by the UAE Central Bank.
In a written answer to a question by Huweidan in this respect, Minister of State for Financial Affairs Obaid Humaid Al Tayer said the apex bank is currently polling the banks operating in the country about the form in order to issue a final action.
Huweidan said the answer was not satisfactory noting that the minister said in a session held on June 24, 2008 that the Ministry of Finance was drafting a new legislation for creating a federal credit agency to control personal loans.
“The draft law was supposed to be tabled to the FNC but that didn’t happen despite the growth of loans from Dh146 billion in 2007 to Dh424 billion in 2008. The ministry should step in swiftly to introduce a set of recommendations set by the house since 18 months,’’ he noted.
–Agencies