Month: March 2024

By Dagnachew Tesfaye, Managing Partner at DMLF

There was a legislative need for classification, declassification and handling of national security information generated by the Ethiopian government and its employees and contractors as well as information received from other governments. Hence the Council of Ministers on September 6,2023 has issued ‘Government Secret Information Classification and Protection Regulation No 539/2023 (hereafter the Regulation). The National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) is entrusted with oversight of the implementation of classification and protection of information carried out by government bodies.

Ethiopia has four levels of classification: Top Secret, Secret, Confidential and Restricted. Each level of classification indicates a decrease in degree of sensitivity. 

The classification of information shall be done by the government body whom the information generates or obtained in the course of performing its duty. However NISS may classify top secret information.

Classified information shall be accessible only to persons with security clearance to the extent necessary to perform their duties.

Declassification or revision of classified information shall be done by the government body that classified the information. As an exception, declassification for top secret information shall be done by NISS. As a rule any information cannot be kept classified for more than 30 years. However the government may request non-declassification with reasonable grounds and make the information remain classified. On the other hand classified information shall be reviewed every 10 years with a possible extension for force majeure up to a period not exceeding two years.

Thus Ethiopia has embarked up on a system that enables the classification of government secret information with clear, uniform and accountable legislative rules. Such measures shall ensure the country to be protected from threats posed on national security and interest.

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By Mahlet Mesganaw, Partner at DMLF

The FDRE Defense Force Proclamation No 1286/2023 ( the Proclamation), done as of September 19, 2023, repealed Defense Force Proclamation Nos. 1100/2019 and 1232/2021, for the purpose of consolidating laws on retirement age, rights, benefits and incentives for defense forces, national recall and medals and certification.

The Proclamation embodies seven parts and 87 articles. 

The FDRE Defense Force is organized to fight in 5 domains namely on land, air,  naval, cyber and space. The mission includes to defend the sovereignty of the nation, the constitution and constitutional system against any threats and attacks by foreign invaders as well as internal anti-peace elements. The defense forces have also the obligation to defend and protect the lives of the people, public and governmental institutions and developmental infrastructures from man made and natural disasters.

Depending on the rank from private to field marshal, the retirement age ranges from 45-60 years. There is a possibility of extension for further two years twice, with the possibility of unlimited extension for field marshals.

When the sovereignty and integrity of the nation is threatened, any member of the defense forces who has been discharged honorably may be recalled to return to active duty.

Any assignment to a military position or promotion to a higher military rank shall be on the basis of competitiveness and merit. Promotion shall ensure equitable representation of all the nations, nationalities and peoples and women.

The Proclamation has established military justice organs. These are the military police, the military investigators, the military prosecutors, military courts, military defense council and military prisons. On Article 42, the Federal Supreme Court is granted power of cassation over any final decision of the military court which contains basic errors of law.

There are medals and certificates awarded to those members of the defense forces for outstanding heroism. Amongst the medals, the Distinguished Medal of the Black Lion and the Medal of the Victory of Adwa are the highest awards given by the government.

Finally the Ethiopian Army Day shall be celebrated annually on October 25 as a National holiday.

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By Dagnachew Tesfaye, Managing Partner at DMLF

Agricultural Production Contract Proclamation No 1289/2023(the Proclamation) done as of July 6,2023 governs the particular nature of agricultural produce including processed feed, seed, breed; of plant(cereals, pulses, oil crops, vegetables, fruits, root crops, spices, forage, non banned stimulants, industrial crops, forest and forest products and other cultivated crops), animal (cattle, sheep, goat, draft animals, camel, chicken, bee, silkworm, pig, and any others that can be domesticated in the future) and fish and their products in a raw or produced and processed form between a producer and a contractor with a comprehensive legal framework. Agricultural Production Contracts(APC’s) are defined as  agreements between agricultural produce contractor and producer that is registered by an appropriate body to register contracts. Within APC, there are four types of contracts. These are out-grower contracts, centralized contracts, multiparty contracts and intermediary contracts.

The Proclamation covers the contractual journey of producer and contractor from the start to the end. APC’s can start through written or oral offer and acceptance. Once the offer and acceptance are known, the APC’s shall be made in writing attested by 3 witnesses and shall be registered.

The content of the APC’s should reflect among others the names and addresses of the parties, the rights and obligations of the parties, type, quality and quantity of the agricultural produce and description of units of measurement, price and term of payment, system of transportation and related costs, the duration and validity date of the contracts, dispute resolution mechanisms.

Force majeure circumstances are redefined taking into consideration the particular relationship of the producer and contractor. Serious illness of producer, if he himself is responsible to perform, extreme high or low temperature, fire accident, earthquake or landslide, man made accident affecting more people including the producer and extreme animal or crop disease or pest outbreaks are the force majeure conditions included in the Proclamation.

Producer and contractor can agree on specific conditions that entitles them to terminate the contract. However, the party that terminates without mutual consent shall be liable to compensate the other party for the damage arising from termination of the contract. Council of Ministers shall determine the calculation of the compensation for damage due to termination by a regulation.

Disputes shall be first settled amicably. When amicable settlement fails to produce result, then the parties may agree to resort to mediation by a 3rd party or settle the matter by arbitration. Where the parties fail to resolve the dispute through mediation or arbitration, they may take the matter to court of law with relevant jurisdiction.

To sum up, APC Proclamation aims to modernize transactions in agricultural produce and bring the agricultural sector intertwined with customary practices to a level of standard laws and procedures of transaction. Due to this, the Proclamation declares that  no law or customary practice shall insofar as the laws are inconsistent with the Proclamation shall have no effect on matters provided in the Proclamation. The aim of the Proclamation is to bring the agricultural sector to a modern level of contractual agreement, ensuring  the sector benefiting itself and the agro processing transformation of the country.  

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By Mahlet Mesganaw, Partner at DMLF

The Ministry of Women and Social Affairs Directive on Alternative Child Care and Support, Directive No 976/2023 was issued in October 2023. The Directive shall enter into force as of the date the Directive has been registered by the Ministry of Justice and posted on the website of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs.

As part of family based care systems, foster care is a temporary form of care where a child is placed by foster care provider to foster carer. The latter shall make an application to be registered as a foster carer by submitting an application to the relevant bureau. The foster care provider shall select, train and approve the foster carer. The foster carer cannot be the child’s parent(s), relative or guardian. Rather the foster carer is an outsider who is interested in undertaking care and maintenance of a child.

Foster care bases itself on a contract agreement. The foster care contract has to specify the rights and obligations of the child, the foster family, the biological parents(if alive) and of the foster family care service provider organization.

The foster care grants the foster parent the parental responsibilities of maintaining and caring for the child. However, a foster carer cannot take the foster child outside of the jurisdiction of Ethiopia without the approval of leave from a court of law. Such leave shall only be granted upon exceptional circumstances being shown. Which court has jurisdiction to hear such cases  i.e. the regional court or federal court is not mentioned. Principles and details of what constitutes an ‘exceptional circumstances’ to grant or disregard leave to travel  outside of the jurisdiction of Ethiopia have not been provided by the Directive.

The foster care applicants have to fulfill the following conditions: they should be Ethiopian nationals and solely resident in Ethiopia permanently. If they are foreign nationals of Ethiopian origin, they have lived in Ethiopia for at least two years preceding the foster care placement. The minimum age for a foster carer is 25 and above. If married, the spouse has to give full consent.The consent of any other member of the household may also be necessary, including that of the prospective foster parent’s children. In addition to these, documents such as Identification card or passport, marriage certificate, proof of income, police clearance certificate, medical certificate, two references of good character, photograph are required to be attached.

Long-term foster care is the placement of a child in foster care, potentially until the foster child reaches the age of 18 years.A short-term foster care, on the other hand, is a placement of a child in foster care for up to twelve months, upon which the placement can be renewed on an annual basis by relevant bureau or Child Protection Expert for up to three (3) years. Another form of foster care is emergency foster care. In emergency foster care, the emergency foster carers are willing to provide care and protection for the child with short advance notice or on the same day or less than 24 hours. Emergency placement is established for up to ten (10) to fifteen (15) days prior to review by a Child Protection Expert, after which the placement may be converted into short-term foster care as suitable and necessary.

Hence, foster care has been recognized as one form of family based care services. However due to foster care’s temporary nature, at least long term foster care  is a recommended form of family care  after reunification with birth parents, or placement in extended family or adoption.   Community based care or residential care is treated as a  last resort. 

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