Amman, July 12 (Petra) — The Lower House of Parliament on Sunday
held its first session of the extraordinary parliamentary session,
referring five draft laws to specialized committees for review,
including legislation related to local administration, higher
education, professional work and public services.

The session was chaired by Lower House Speaker Mazen Qadi and
attended by Prime Minister Jaafar Hassan and members of the
government.

The Lower House approved referring the 2026 Local Administration Law
draft to the Parliamentary Administrative Committee following its
initial reading, which included remarks from 90 lawmakers. It
rejected a proposal to return the draft law to the committee.

The Lower House also referred four other draft laws to the relevant
committees. These included the 2026 draft amendment to the Jordanian
Universities Law, which was referred to the Education Committee; the
2026 draft law repealing the Civil Service Consumer Corporation Law,
referred to the Economy and Investment Committee; the 2026 draft law
regulating professional work, referred to the Labor and Social
Development Committee; and the 2026 draft law establishing the
Accreditation and Quality Assurance Authority, referred to the
Education Committee.

The Local Administration Law draft aims to develop the local
administration system by defining the powers and responsibilities of
municipal councils and executive bodies, strengthening
municipalities’ role in planning and development, and improving the
quality of services provided to citizens.

The draft law also seeks to enhance governance and oversight, expand
community participation, and transform municipalities from a
traditional service-based role into a development and
investment-oriented role linked to governorate priorities. It further
aims to strengthen the role of governorate councils in development
planning and monitoring project implementation.

The 2026 draft amendment to the Jordanian Universities Law aims to
enhance higher education governance by reducing the number of members
on boards of trustees of public and private universities, amending
the mechanism for selecting presidents of public universities and
expanding the scope of the law to include university and community
colleges.

The draft law repealing the Civil Service Consumer Corporation Law is
part of efforts to merge the Civil Corporation with the Military
Corporation. It aims to unify work in the consumer goods and services
sector and integrate administrative and logistical capabilities. The
move is expected to improve supply, storage and distribution
operations and enhance the provision of essential goods at reasonable
prices.

The draft law regulating professional work aims to establish a
legislative framework for the professional and technical labor market
by regulating the practice of professions, licensing vocational
training providers and accrediting programs and trainers, ensuring
training outcomes are aligned with labor market requirements.

The draft law establishing the Accreditation and Quality Assurance
Authority focuses on developing accreditation and quality assurance
systems for education and training and unifying accreditation
procedures across public, higher education, vocational and technical
training institutions. It aims to improve the quality of educational
outcomes and better align them with labor market needs.

The extraordinary session was convened pursuant to a Royal Decree
summoning the National Assembly to convene beginning July 12, 2026,
to consider draft laws related to legislative modernization and
improving the performance of public institutions.

//Petra// AJ