Abu Dhabi: The Federal National Council (FNC) Tuesday passed a draft maritime law designed to transform the UAE's shipping industry into one of the country's major economic sectors.

The draft law, which requires the President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan's signature to come into force, will allow foreign ships to register in the country.

The National Transport Authority (NTA), a federal government entity since 2009, has been working on the new maritime legislation which revamps the current rules on foreign ownership and mortgage registration in an effort to modernise ship registry. The aim of the legislation will be to create the foundation on which the UAE's maritime economy will grow. The law ends the rule that only UAE-owned ships can fly the UAE flag, and allows ships that are 100 per cent foreign-owned to fly the UAE flag.

The law also provides measures to combat dealing in narcotics and human trafficking against any foreign ship docked at UAE ports or sailing in UAE waters.

Review

A discussion of the country's laws on bounced cheques was postponed to the next FNC session because Hamad Al Midfa, the FNC member who called for a review of the law, did not attend yesterday's session.

The amount of money involved in bounced cheques declined by 25 per cent in the first four months of last year to Dh18.6 billion compared with Dh24.8 billion in the corresponding period of 2009, Central Bank data shows. This is despite the total number of bounced cheques increasing eight per cent in the same period, from 544,196 cases in January-April 2009 to 588,570 in the first four months of 2010. Although the money involved declined by a quarter, the number of bad cheques as a percentage of total cheques has gone up from one in every 18 cheques for the first four months of 2009, to one in every 16, data shows.

Members protest

A minister's remark triggered debate in FNC Tuesday.

During discussion of a draft law allowing the Emirates General Petroleum Corporation (Emarat) to raise its debt ceiling, Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, said the Government could have waited until the end of the House's term to get the law passed.

Yousuf Al Nuaimi, a member from Ras Al Khaimah, said the minister's remark implied disrespect of the legislature. "The Government should respect the House as the fourth power in the country. The remark showed disrespect of the council," he said.

However, Ali Jasem, member from Umm Al Quwain, disagreed and said the minister was expressing interest in the legislature's review and approval of the law instead of waiting for the end of the FNC's term to get it passed without its approval.

Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash, minister of State for FNC Affairs, said the remark was taken out of context and "if it caused any misunderstanding the Government would ask for taking it out of the session's minutes." - S.S.