UAE President HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has issued a royal decree amending provisions in Resolution No. 03 of 2006 regarding the method applied in selecting the representatives to the Federal National Council (FNC), reported state news agency Wam.

According to the newly issued decree, published in the latest issue of the Official Gazette, Article 4 (paragraph 1), Article 7, and Article 8 of Resolution No. 03 of 2006, have been amended to reflect the following: Article 4, section 1, now stipulates that National Elections Commission, referred to as 'Committee', shall be headed by the Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs, and shall see the membership of each of the Minister of Justice, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, Minister of State for Youth Affairs, Minister of the Federal Supreme Council at the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, and a representative from the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, a representative from the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, the Director-General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, an Under-Secretary from the Ministry of Federal National Council Affairs, an Assistant Secretary-General at the Ministry of State for Federal National Council Affairs, and Rapporteur, three members of the public selected by the Committee chair.

Article 7: The Ministry of State for Federal National Council Affairs shall act as the secretariat of the Committee and shall be headed by the Under-Secretary of the Ministry.

Article 8: The Ministry of State for Federal National Council Affairs shall submit an estimated budget for the implementation of the elections of the Federal National Council and provide them to the Ministry of Finance when preparing its draft budget in the fiscal year preceding the Federal National Council elections, in accordance with the procedures and decisions adopted in this regard, stated the report.

Article 2 of the Decree stipulates that the new sub-committees referred to in Article 8 of the UAE President's Resolution No. 03 of 2006, and its amendments shall add a new committee called "Smart Systems Committee", it added.