Samoa 1962 Constitution (reviewed 2017)

PART X. EMERGENCY POWERS

105. Proclamation of Emergency

1. If the Head of State is satisfied, acting in his or her discretion after consultation with Cabinet, that a grave emergency exists whereby the security or economic life of Samoa or of any part thereof is threatened, whether by war, external aggression, internal disturbance or natural catastrophe, he may by proclamation (hereinafter referred to as a Proclamation of Emergency) declare that a state of emergency exists.
2. A Proclamation of Emergency shall remain in force for a period of thirty days, if not sooner revoked, but the provisions of this clause shall not preclude the issue of a further Proclamation before the expiry of the period for which the immediately preceding Proclamation is in force.
3. If the Legislative Assembly is meeting at the time the Proclamation of Emergency is made, the Proclamation shall forthwith be laid before the Assembly.
4. If the Legislative Assembly is not meeting at the time the Proclamation of Emergency is made, the Head of State shall appoint a time for the Assembly to meet which time shall be as soon as the Head of State, acting in his or her discretion, considers that conditions make it practicable, and the Proclamation shall forthwith be laid before the Assembly:Provided that, if not less than one-half of the total number of Members of Parliament (excluding vacancies) by notice in writing to the Head of State require that a time for the meeting of the Assembly be appointed for the purposes of this clause, the Head of State shall appoint such a time which shall be not later than seven days after the date of receipt of that notice.

106. Emergency Orders

1. When a Proclamation of Emergency has been made and so long as it remains in force, the Head of State may from time to time make such orders (hereinafter referred to as Emergency Orders) as appear to him or her to be necessary or expedient for securing the public safety, the defence of Samoa and the efficient prosecution of any war in which Samoa may be engaged, for maintaining public order and the supplies and services essential to the life of the community, and generally for safeguarding the interests and maintaining the welfare of the community.
2. Emergency Orders may empower or provide for empowering such authorities, persons or classes of persons as may be specified in the Orders to make regulations, rules or bylaws for any of the purposes for which Emergency Orders are authorised under the provisions of this Article to be made, and may contain such incidental and supplementary provisions as appear to the Head of State to be necessary or expedient for making effective the powers conferred under the provisions of clause (1).
3. Every Emergency Order, if otherwise valid, shall have effect notwithstanding anything contained in Part II.
4. No provision of any Emergency Order, and no regulation, rule or by-law duly made under the provisions of any such Order, shall be invalid because it deals with any matter already provided for under any law or because of any inconsistency with any such law.

107. Orders to be laid before Legislative Assembly

1. If the Legislative Assembly is meeting at the time an Emergency Order is made under the provisions of Article 106, the Order shall forth-with be laid before the Assembly; and, if the Assembly is not then meeting, the Order shall be laid before the Assembly as soon as the next meeting thereof commences.
2. When an Emergency Order has been laid before the Legislative Assembly under the provisions of clause (1), a notice of motion, signed by six Members of Parliament and made within ten days of the day the Order was laid before the Assembly, praying that the Order be revoked shall be debated in the Assembly at the first convenient opportunity within four sitting days next after the day on which notice of motion was given and, if the Assembly resolves that the Order be revoked, it shall cease to be in force.
3. All Emergency Orders made under the provisions of Article 106, if not sooner revoked, shall expire on the date on which the Proclamation of Emergency ceases to be in force or, where more than one such Proclamation is made in respect of the emergency, when the last of those Proclamations ceases to be in force.
4. The revocation or expiry of an Emergency Order shall not affect the previous operation thereof, the validity of anything done or omitted to be done thereunder, or any offence committed or any penalty or punishment incurred.

108. Restriction on Detention

1. For the purposes of this Article, there shall be an advisory board, which shall consist of:
   1. a Chairman appointed by the Head of State from among the persons who are or have been Judges of the Supreme Court or are qualified to be Judges of the Supreme Court:
   2. two other members appointed by the Head of State, acting in his or her discretion after consultation with the Chief Justice.
2. Where an Emergency Order made under the provisions of Article 106 authorises the detention of any person
   1. any person detained under the provisions of that Order shall, as soon as possible, be informed of the grounds for his or her detention and, subject to provisions of clause (3), of the allegations of fact on which it is based, and be given an opportunity of making representations to the advisory board against his or her detention; and
   2. no person shall be detained under the provisions of that Order for a period exceeding three months unless the advisory board has considered any representations made by him or her under the provisions of subclause (a) and has reported, before the expiry of that period, that there is in its opinion sufficient cause for the detention.
3. This Article shall not require any authority or person who is authorised to detain any person under any Emergency Order made under the provisions of Article 106 to disclose facts whose disclosure would in its or his or her opinion be against the national interest.