Burkina Faso 1991 Constitution (reviewed 2015) - Page 7 of 24

Table of Contents

TITLE VI. OF THE RESPECTIVE DOMAINS OF THE LAW AND OF REGULATION

Article 97

The law is a deliberation, regularly promulgated[,] of the National Assembly.

The law to which the Constitution confers the organic character is a deliberation of the National Assembly having for its object the organization or the functioning of the institutions. It is voted by the absolute majority and promulgated after declaration of its conformity with the Constitution by the Constitutional Council.

The law relative to the laws of finance is a law of organic character.

The initiative of law belongs concurrently to the Deputies and to the Government.

The drafts of texts emanating from the Deputies are called “proposals of law” [propositions de loi] and those emanating from the Government “bills of law” [projets de loi].

The proposals and bills of law are deliberated in the Council of Ministers before their deposit with the Bureau of the National Assembly.

Article 98

The people exercise the initiative of law by way [voie] of petition constituting a proposal[,] written and signed by at least fifteen thousand persons having the right to vote under the conditions specified by the law.

The petition is deposited with the Bureau of the National Assembly.

The right of amendment belongs to the Deputies and to the Government whatever the origin of the text may be.

Article 99

The ordinance is an act signed by the President of Faso, after deliberation of the Council of Ministers, within the domains reserved to the law and in the cases specified in Articles 103, 107 and 119 of this Constitution. It enters into force on its publication.

Article 100

The simple decree is an act signed by the President of Faso or by the Prime Minister and countersigned by one or more competent members of the Government.

The decree in the Council of Ministers is an act signed by the President of Faso and by the Prime Minister after the opinion of the Council of Ministers: it is countersigned by one or more competent members of the Government.

Article 101

The law establishes the rules concerning:

citizenship, civic rights and the exercise of the public freedoms;

constraints arising from the necessities of the National Defense;

nationality, the state and capacity of persons, the matrimonial regimes;

inheritance and gifts;

the procedure according to which custom may be asserted and harmonized with the fundamental principles of the Constitution;

the promotion of gender;

the determination of crimes and misdemeanors, as well as the penalties which are applicable to them, the penal procedure, [and] amnesty;

the organization of judicial and administrative tribunals and the procedure before these jurisdictions, the status of the magistrates, [and] of the ministerial and auxiliary officers of justice;

the basis, the rate and the modalities of collecting taxes of all kinds;

the regime of the issuance of money;

the credits and financial engagements of the State;

the electoral regime of the National Assembly and of the local assemblies;

the nationalization of enterprises and the transfers of property of enterprises of the public sector to the private sector;

the creation of categories of public establishments;

the state of siege and the state of urgency.

the electoral circumscriptions;

the number of seat and their allocation;

the mode of the ballot;

the conditions of election and of replacement by new elections in case of vacancy of [a] seat, as well as the regime of the ineligibility and of the incompatibilities;

the status of the Deputies and the amount of their indemnities.

The law determines the fundamental principles:

of the protection and of the promotion of the enviromnent and of sustainable development;

of the drafting [elaboration], of the execution and of the review of the national plans and programs of development;

of the protection and of the exercise of the freedom of the press;

of the general organization of the Administration;

of the general status of the Public Function;

of the organization of the National Defense;

of Education [enseignement] and of Scientific Research;

of the integration of the national cultural values;

of the regime of property, of the rights of real property and of civil and commercial obligations;

of the right to Work, of the syndical right, and of the social institutions;

of the alienation and of the management of the domain of the State;

of the penitentiary regime;

of insurance and of savings;

of the organization of production;

of the regime of transportation and communications;

of the free administration of the territorial collectivities, of their competences and of their resources.

Article 102

The law of finance determines, for each year, the resources and the obligations of the State. The bill of the law of finance must specify the receipts necessary for the integral coverage of expenses.

Article 103

The National Assembly votes the bills of law of finance and the bills of law of regulations in accordance with the conditions provided for by the law.

The National Assembly is referred to [the matter] of the bill of the law of finance at the opening of the second ordinary session.

The provisions of the bill can be put into force by ordinance if the National Assembly has not decided at the latest on the date of cloture of the session and only if the budgetary year is about to expire. In this case, the Government convokes an extraordinary session, in order to demand the ratification. If the budget is not voted at the end of the extraordinary session, it is definitively established by ordinance.

If the bill of the law of finance has not been dealt with in a timely fashion [temps utile] to be voted and promulgated before the beginning of the fiscal year [exercice], the Prime Minister demands of urgency of the National Assembly the authorization to restore the budget of the preceding year by provisional twelfths.

Article 104

In the course of the execution of the budget, when the circumstances require it, the Government proposes to the Parliament, the adoption of rectifying laws of finance.

Article 105

The National Assembly regulates the accounts of the Nation according to the modalities specified by the law of finance.

It is, to this effect, assisted by the Court of Accounts which is responsible for all inquiries and studies concerning the collection [recouvrement] of the [public] receipts and the execution of the public expenses, or the management of the national treasury, of the territorial collectivities, of the administrations or institutions arising from the State or submitted to its control.

Article 106

The National Assembly meets of plain right in the case of [a] state of siege, if it is not in session. The state of siege can only be extended more than fifteen days with the authorization of the National Assembly.

The declaration of war and the sending of military contingents or observers abroad are authorized by the National Assembly.

Article 107

The Government can, for the execution of its programs, demand of the National Assembly the authorization to take by ordinance, for a limited time period, measures which are normally of the domain of the law.

The ordinances are taken in the Council of Ministers after the opinion of the Constitutional Council. They enter into force on their publication, but become lapsed if the bill of law of ratification is not deposited with the National Assembly before the date established by the enabling law [loi d’habilitation].

On the expiration of the time period mentioned in the first paragraph of this Article, the ordinances may only be modified by the law in those of their provisions which are of the legislative domain.