The draft amendment to Article 411 of the Commercial Code was the focus of a meeting on Wednesday at Carthage Palace between President Kais Saied and Justice Minister Leila Jaffel, who briefed him on the final version of the draft, according to a statement from the presidency.
The draft aims to strengthen the duties assigned to banks and enshrine their responsibility, as well as the use of payment mechanisms and alternative electronic solutions, and to improve banking practices in order to strengthen security standards in the handling of cheques and achieve social justice and economic development.
It also aims to adapt the penal policy to the specificity of the cheque business and to establish a system to regulate the status of those who have been sentenced by a court or are the subject of ongoing judicial proceedings for the crime of issuing a bounced cheque, «which contributes to preserving the freedom of the debtor and, at the same time, the right of the creditor.»
During the meeting, the President of t
he Republic cited a number of examples from comparative law, recalling the many “tailor-made” laws that “were developed at the end of the seventies of the last century in the light of the liberal tide experienced by Tunisia at the time and which led to many social explosions and the fall of martyrs”.
He also reviewed a number of other laws “that were drawn up after that date and from which the founders of small and medium-sized enterprises in particular did not benefit, but were among their victims”, noting that “the only beneficiaries were banking institutions that lend only on conditional terms and without any responsibility”.
He recalled what happened in the previous parliament when sessions were adjourned under the pretext of further consultations and resumed a few minutes later after amendments were made so that these laws would be “tailor-made”, according to the same statement.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse