The popular regulatory initiative for IESS and Biess is on hold, after the death of the cross, says the constitutionalist

The The first popular normative initiative, which began to be discussed in the National Assembly, on the reform of the law on the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (IESS) and the IESS Bank (Biess), was suspended, before the crucifixion applied by President Guillermo Lasso, last May 17.

This legal proposal, which received the support of 54,557 people, with signatures collected by groups of citizens, sought to change the conformation of the Board of Directors of IESS, the way of appointing the Board of Directors of Biess, as well as to turn Biess into a first-rate bank and to pay the state debts to IESS with shares of public companies.

Pursuant to Article 103 of the Constitution, this type of initiative must be handled by the appropriate body (in this case, the Parliament). in 180 days, and “if not, the proposal will enter into force”.

When asked what will happen in this particular case, constitutionalist Ismael Quintana explained that although Article 103 gives that mandate to the Assembly, it goes without saying that it is requested that the Assembly does not delay the treatment and gives it priority. However, As there is no longer an Assembly, due to death on the cross, an extraordinary situation occurs and the specified term cannot be applied. “It’s not that the Assembly didn’t try because it didn’t want to, but simply that there is no Assembly at the moment.”

For Quintana, none of the fatal deadlines for laws are currently running: “Everything is on hold, because the Parliament is not working.”

It also refers to the tax law that was submitted to the Parliament by the executive on May 11, and which, being urgent, had only 30 days to resolve it. In this case, the deadline does not run, so much so that the Government itself submitted it to the Constitutional Court, i.e. transformed the process of approval.

Despite this legal criterionthe proponent of the people’s initiative, Henry Llanes, believes that the law should enter into force after 180 days from the communication to the Assembly. In this sense, he says that the State Electoral Council (HNS) informed the National Assembly about the verification of signatures in an official letter on March 15. It ensures that the law is clear and only indicates that if it is not resolved within the stipulated period of 180 days, it will go through the Ministry of Law”, he comments. For Llanes, the law is set to go into effect next September 11.

In any case, Llanes says that these days he will speak with the former president of the Assembly, Virgilio Saquicel, to point out this innovation in the law.

Through the Commission for the right to work and social security, the Assembly dealt with the law without much haste. He held working meetings with councilors and citizens’ representatives. The emergence phase has not yet begun.