Iraq's SJC cancels telecom fee, ruling it an unlawful tax

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has annulled a Communications and Media Commission decision imposing a 20% fee on mobile recharge cards and electronic applications, ruling that the charge constituted a tax levied without legislative authority.

Judge Ayad Mohsen Dhamad, head of the Appeals Board, said the fee in question was a sales tax in substance, regardless of how the commission had labeled it. He noted that Article 28/First of the Iraqi Constitution reserves the power to impose taxes and fees exclusively to the legislative authority, prohibiting their imposition except by law.

The commission had grounded its original decision in instructions issued by the Council of Ministers during a caretaker period. Judge Dhamad rejected that basis, stating that a caretaker government does not hold the legal authority to issue decisions that impose new financial burdens on citizens.

The ruling was issued as a final decision by consensus under Section 6/8 of Order 65 of 2004, canceling the fee decision and extinguishing all its legal effects.