Reports

Abstract Following the approval and notification of the first part of the Budget Law for the year 1403 [2024] in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the second part, which includes tables and details of government revenues and expenditures, was received by the Assembly on April 7, 2024. In this regard, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector in the government, by generating revenue resources of approximately 230 trillion Rials, has created about 0.8% of government revenues and, with credits of approximately 201 trillion Rials, consumes about 0.7% of the government’s general budget resources, which indicates the self-reliance and non-dependence of this sector on other government revenues. Similar to the procedure of previous years, the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA), by creating about 93% of the government’s revenues in the ICT sector amounting to 214 trillion Rials, ranks first in revenue generation in this field; this revenue is mainly obtained from the government’s share of operator revenues, and given the 30% increase in internet tariffs late last year, the government obtains stable and reliable resources from this source. After the revenues of the CRA, the total declared dividends (50% of special profit) of the Infrastructure Communications Company, Post Bank, and the Payam complex, amounting to approximately 13 trillion Rials, create 5.5% of the revenues of the Ministry of ICT. Among the performance indicators of the main outputs of the ICT sector in 1403 [2024-2025], the realization of two subjects—the objectives of the master plan and architecture document of the National Information Network and the connection of administrative, commercial, and residential premises to fiber optics—are among the most important indicators of this sector.

Abstract The Innovation Policy report series is published with the aim of analyzing the requirements and existing obstacles in the country for designing and implementing economic transformation programs and policies through emerging technologies. These technologies are often developed in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), and governments constantly strive to support these companies. In the present report, one program from each of the countries of Germany and South Korea in the field of SME support is introduced. In Germany, the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM) includes three parts: support for individual, joint, and network R&D projects, and grants are also allocated for consulting and services to companies. In the network section, R&D projects carried out in the form of a consortium of at least 6 companies are supported. This program received the award for the best innovation program in Germany in 2011. The South Korean government has also, in the New Technology Guaranteed Purchase Program, mandated government organizations to conduct at least 10% of their purchases from the products of SMEs. Through the performance certificate system and the performance insurance system, the government has assured public organizations of the quality of the technological products of SMEs. Among the points that can be learned from these programs are: supporting the formation of technological collaborations in addition to supporting company projects, encouraging international collaborations, supporting network management projects, determining precise criteria for project evaluation, providing targeted support according to the level of development of different regions, reducing the time for transferring financial support, pilot implementation of programs, continuous improvement of programs proportional to stakeholder feedback, and removing existing obstacles in cooperation with companies.

Abstract Organizing the broad issues of the transport sector and defining performance indicators proportional to each of these issues helps policymakers in determining general and operational goals. Furthermore, the existence of performance indicators in the transport sector is essential for making executive strategies and policies measurable and evaluating their effectiveness toward achieving general and operational goals. In the present study, using scientific resources, the opinions of experts, specialists, and executive bodies, 78 indicators have been identified for evaluating the intercity transport sector and categorized under 6 main goals. Regarding each of these indicators, the unit of measurement, the monitoring body, monitoring time intervals, and, if necessary, related explanations are provided. To utilize the performance indicators proposed in this report in the country’s transport sector planning system (including the determination of goals, strategies, and executive policies), it is recommended that these indicators first be calculated, analyzed, and used by policymakers in a pilot period with the agreement of the relevant executive body (including the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development and the Plan and Budget Organization) and the approval of the Civil Engineering Commission of the Assembly. After evaluating the results and defining a specific structure for the data collection process, indicator calculation, production of required knowledge, and determining the duties of executive bodies in this structure, its proposal and approval in the Assembly are recommended. Also, it is recommended that the Assembly, in cooperation with the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development and the Plan and Budget Organization, and considering the required financial resources and the country’s executive capacity, conduct the necessary reviews for optimal goal-setting for these indicators in the provisions of future development plans or related ordinary laws.

Abstract The Budget Bill for the year 1403 [2024] has been formulated in two parts: the budgetary provisions of the single article and the detailed annexed tables, and unlike the procedure of previous years, it has been submitted to the Assembly during two separate time intervals. The first part, including the single article, was notified in late March of last year after being reviewed and approved by the Assembly and confirmed and approved by the Guardian Council as the first part of the Budget Law for the year 1403 [2024]. The second part, including the annexed tables of the budget bill, was submitted by the government to the Assembly in April 2024. In the water sector, the expense credits of the Ministry of Energy in the 1403 budget bill have grown by nearly 50% compared to the approved figure in the 1402 [2023] budget law, rising from 7,613,594 million Rials in 1402 to 11,384,093 million Rials in 1403. The credits for capital asset acquisition projects in the water sector have also grown by 55%, from 309,470,590 million Rials in 1402 to 480,726,237 million Rials in the 1403 budget bill. The highest credits for capital asset acquisition projects among the companies and institutions affiliated with the Ministry of Energy belong to the mother-specialized companies for Water and Wastewater Engineering and Iran Water Resources Management. The related credits for the Water and Wastewater Engineering Company in the 1403 budget bill have grown by about 30% compared to 1402, and by about 83% for the Iran Water Resources Management Company. Furthermore, reviewing the credits for capital asset acquisition projects related to the water sector in the 1403 budget bill indicates a 51% growth of these credits compared to 1402, where the bulk of these credits, like previous years, pertains to programs such as water supply, dam construction, irrigation and drainage network construction, water transfer, river management, tunnel construction, establishment of wastewater facilities, and rural water supply complexes. Regarding miscellaneous row credits, a capital asset acquisition credit equivalent to 159,666,000 million Rials has been considered for some programs and projects in the water sector.

Abstract Establishing an optimal system of country divisions in the Islamic Republic of Iran has been proposed since the Second Development Plan, and despite the emphasis of the Fourth and Fifth Development Plans on providing a comprehensive bill for country divisions, this has not yet been realized. One of the cases that can help specialists in reforming the system of country divisions is knowledge of other countries’ experiences in reforming laws related to the system of country divisions. The present report is dedicated to the system of country divisions in Indonesia and the experience of said country regarding the reform of laws related to the formation, dissolution, and merging of political units. In total, since the independence of this country, seven laws—1948/22, 1957/1, 1965/18, 1974/5, 1999/22, 2004/32, and 2014/23—along with their inquiries and regulations, have determined the levels of divisions, indicators, and the processes of formation and dissolution of political units. The research findings indicate that in this country, in proportion to the increase in requests for the formation of new provinces, regencies, and municipalities, attempts have been made to make the process of forming new political units more regulated. While Law 1948/22 only referred to the divisional levels of this country and remained silent regarding the indicators and the process of their formation, Law 2014/23, while making the formation of a preparatory region and a trial period mandatory before the approval of the law for the formation of a new political unit, has defined the indicators that the said region must have and specified their measurement criteria accurately and in detail, also describing cases such as the process of forming preparatory regions and the method of their management and budgeting. Although territorial proliferation in Indonesia has become more difficult than in the past with the reforms carried out, these reforms have nonetheless been unable to end territorial proliferation in Indonesia.

Abstract The Bill for the Annexed Document (Protocol) Amending the International Road Transport Agreement between the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the government of the Republic of Belarus, consisting of a single article, was approved in the cabinet meeting on August 23, 2023, upon the proposal of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, and has been submitted to the Assembly for legal formalities. The annex to this single article includes the Annexed Document (Protocol) Amending the International Road Transport Agreement between the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the government of the Republic of Belarus. The original International Road Transport Agreement between the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the government of the Republic of Belarus was approved by the Assembly in March 2000 in the form of a preamble and 13 articles. According to paragraph “1” of Article (1) of the annexed document, the transport operator of one contracting party may temporarily enter the territory of the other contracting party with an empty vehicle or a vehicle carrying cargo for the transport of goods without a transport permit. Reviewing the traffic of freight vehicles by nationality for import, export, and transit procedures between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Belarus during the years 2015 to 2023 shows that in most cases, the number of Iranian fleets was higher, and from this perspective, the removal of the transport permit is evaluated as an advantage for the Islamic Republic of Iran. Given the role of road transport in the expansion of goods exchange and passenger movement and its positive effects on strengthening economic relations and other collaborations, the approval of the said agreement amendment bill is recommended while preserving national interests and observing Articles 77 and 125 of the Constitution, in order to facilitate transport operations between the two countries and also between Iran and Europe.

Abstract More than ninety years have passed since the determination of the framework for the content of the articles of association of commercial companies in 1932, and so far, except for minor reforms in 1968, no innovation has been carried out in it considering the requirements of governing the country. This writing seeks to answer the question of whether this content has the capability for review and reform consistent with the modern needs of governing the country, and whether it can be organized in a way that the time of the Assembly and the government is spent on handling vital and necessary matters of the country instead of dealing with repetitive and uniform subjects? The text of the articles of association of state-owned companies has a detailed and long content which, due to the similarity of a major part of the content of the articles of association with one another, is repeated for every state-owned company by the Assembly or the Cabinet at the time of drafting and approving the articles of association, and much time and cost of the Assembly, government, Guardian Council, and the board for reviewing and matching government resolutions with laws is spent on drafting, approving, and supervising such repetitive and similar texts. The results of this research, utilizing legal documents and adopting an analytical-descriptive approach, show that this perpetual problem can be resolved by restructuring the content of the articles of association of state-owned companies.

Abstract In April 2024, compared to the same month of the previous year, the production index of industrial companies listed on the stock exchange experienced a 1.3% decrease and the sales index experienced a 1.5% increase; furthermore, the production and sales indices in April 2024 faced a 13.6% and 33.9% decrease compared to the previous month, which is consistent with expectations resulting from the reduction of activities in the industrial sector during the April holidays. Also, according to the periodic procedure, in April, most activity branches of the industrial sector faced a decrease in the index. In April 2024, compared to the same month of the previous year, the production index of the automotive and parts activity branch had a 23.8% decrease and the sales index had a 9.3% increase. Also, the production and sales index of the chemical activity branch (excluding medicine) had a 4.2% and 5.7% increase compared to the same month of the previous year. In April 2024, the monthly growth rate of the prices of industrial activities on the stock exchange had a 1.4% increase, and also the point-to-point growth reached 18.4% with a 0.3 percentage point increase compared to the previous month. It is worth mentioning that the annual average price index in April 2024 remained unchanged compared to the previous month, showing a 20.5% increase.

Abstract Nearly four years have passed since the beginning of the implementation of Open Market Operations in February 2020 by the Central Bank. Prior to that, non-transparent and non-market mechanisms such as the Rial funds pool or direct Central Bank deposits in banks were used for Central Bank intervention in the interbank market, which possessed numerous economic and jurisprudential problems. Therefore, the beginning of open market operations and intervention in the interbank market in the new manner, although possessing problems and defects, is considered a step forward. Accordingly, the present report addresses the pathology of the actions taken by the Central Bank in the field of open market operations and presents reform proposals. The subjects for which pathology has been conducted include: how to choose between the open market operations system versus a system based on ceiling or floor, inappropriate targeting of the inflation rate, inappropriate targeting of the interest rate, considerations regarding the interest rate corridor, and how to choose between Repo operations and outright purchase. The results show that in order to improve the Central Bank’s actions in the field of using open market operations, proposals such as correct targeting of the inflation and interest rates, increasing the Repo ceiling, and using the outright purchase tool by the Central Bank, etc., can be proposed; of course, it is clear that performing the mentioned reforms alone is not sufficient for achieving inflation targets and it is necessary that effective reforms and actions in other fields be carried out alongside them.

Abstract Establishing an optimal system of country divisions has been proposed since the Second Five-Year Economic, Social and Cultural Development Plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and despite the emphasis of the Fourth and Fifth Development Plans on presenting a comprehensive country divisions bill, this has not yet been realized. One of the matters that can help specialists in reforming the country divisions system is examining the existing situation of the territorial organization of other countries. In this regard, an attempt is made, in the form of a series of reports, to examine the country divisions system of Indonesia. The Republic of Indonesia, after independence, has faced the issue of the proliferation of political units. In a process known as “Pemekaran” (meaning blossoming), the number of provinces and other levels of political divisions has increased progressively. The present report is devoted to examining the trend of changes in the territorial organization of Indonesia, its causes and consequences. The official narrative in Indonesia is that creating new political units improves economic and democratic efficiency and brings the state closer to the people and the people closer to the state; however, contrary to official narratives, territorial proliferation in Indonesia should be analyzed and explained with attention to the simultaneous role of three factors: new or changing political institutions; territorial coalitions and the framework of competition and mutual benefit; and the relevant temporal and spatial context. In particular, reforms to the electoral and party system as well as reforms in fiscal-administrative decentralization since 1999 have increased local agency in regional development and therefore have created an inclination to establish new provinces and other levels of local government. Most conducted research does not evaluate the results of territorial proliferation as positive from financial, political, and developmental perspectives.

Abstract Industrial towns are among the most important institutions formed to facilitate business, and they also have a special place in our country. Naturally, many of the problems that other industrial units in the country face are also considered problems for units established in industrial towns, but some problems are also specific to industrial towns, the most important of which are infrastructure (including the provision of land, electricity, water, and gas), environment, and the provision and employment of labor. Despite numerous legal provisions, the problems of industrial towns in the field of infrastructure still persist and in some cases are increasing. One of the important infrastructure problems in industrial towns is the supply of electricity, both at the business start-up stage and throughout the period of operation. Other barriers and problems at the business start-up stage in industrial towns are environmental restrictions in some provinces. In addition, the failure to update some environmental laws and regulations and the strict enforcement of some of their provisions and the expansion of their scope have caused problems in some specific industrial units. The issue of inappropriate land policy is considered one of the main problems of industrial units established in industrial towns, which in practice affects other problems. At present, despite the existence of numerous industrial towns and the non-utilization of lands, investors practically face land shortages in industrial towns, and only a few investors will succeed in providing land for investment in industrial towns, especially in high-demand towns such as towns near the capital.

Abstract The Fund for Special and Intractable Diseases, pursuant to paragraph “N” of Note “17” of the Budget Law of 1401 [2022–2023], was established with the aim of aggregation and management of resources and in order to optimally finance services, medicines, and health-oriented goods for eligible persons, to improve insurance coverage and improve financial protection of patients against part of health expenditures, and by using the existing human resources and facilities of relevant agencies and without organizational expansion, representation, or branch creation. The conducted reviews show that despite the activities carried out and resources spent in this regard, the existence of some challenges including: the non-allocation of part of the approved resources of the fund; the incompleteness of the online information-exchange process between insurer organizations and the fund; failure to complete and update some hospital information systems (HIS) in patients’ use of the fund’s benefits; lack of online linkage between supplementary health insurance and the Fund for Special and Intractable Diseases; failure to determine and approve service packages for some diseases covered by the Fund for Special and Intractable Diseases; lack of an information system to estimate required resources; lack of integration of credits related to special and intractable patients in the Budget Law of 1402 [2023–2024]; lack of linkage between the National Document on Rare Diseases and the mechanisms for implementing the fund’s commitments; has made the implementation of the support mechanisms of the Fund for Special and Intractable Diseases in the country problematic. Accordingly, the following suggestions can be placed on the agenda of policymakers and relevant authorities: - anticipating mechanisms to strengthen a prevention-oriented approach regarding special and intractable diseases (with the aim of reducing incidence and preventing entries into the Fund for Special and Intractable Diseases and imposing a financial burden on it), - accelerating the creation of mechanisms for online linkage between supplementary health insurance and the Fund for Special and Intractable Diseases, - accelerating the implementation of service packages for special and intractable diseases in hospital information systems, - accelerating the determination of service packages for special and intractable diseases based on appropriate and transparent criteria and with the aim of achieving the optimal point of patients’ financial protection, - accurate estimation, provision, and timely allocation of required resources in order to cover disease groups and related services, - submitting periodic performance reports of the Fund for Special and Intractable Diseases to the Health and Treatment Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly.

Abstract The foreign policy of countries is the set of positions, actions, and decisions that national governments adopt toward one another or toward international organizations, and their main objective is to secure the interests of the national state as an integrated unit. Foreign policy entails both action and reaction. That is, a particular state may be the initiator of an action, or it may react in response to the actions of others. Therefore, the bill of agreement between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Portuguese Republic has been concluded with the aim of strengthening friendly relations through promoting and expanding cooperation in the fields of language, education, culture, sports, youth, tourism, and mass media. The said bill was announced as received by the Islamic Consultative Assembly on 1402/05/17 [August 8, 2023] under registration number 923. After expert reviews at the Parliamentary Research Center and the presentation of the report with serial number 19406 and the examination of the bill in the Cultural Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, some amendments were applied to the government bill. Given the limitation of applying amendments to the text of the agreement, minor amendments were made regarding the note to the single-article provision of the bill by adding Articles Seventy-Seven and One Hundred Twenty-Five of the Constitution and changing the scope of this note from Article (24) of the bill to all its provisions. It is worth noting that the plenary report of the bill is approved in terms of generalities and details and, without considering the existing limitations for making changes in the text of cooperation agreements between countries, has made a suitable amendment in the text of the initial bill. Regarding the implementation of the agreement, two issues—protecting the authenticity of educational courses and in particular the history course (paragraph “T” of Article (5) of the agreement) and also paying attention to plans that have passed the implementation deadline of the agreement (clause “1” of Article (26) of the agreement)—require supervision.

Abstract The cooperative sector of the economy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, with about 100,000 registered cooperatives and several steward organizations, is among the sectors that has inter-organizational relations and extensive relations with the popular base. According to the Constitution, the law on the general policies of Article (44), the law on the cooperative sector of the economy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the objectives of the resistance economy in popularizing the economy and also poverty alleviation for low-income strata, alongside taking on a 25% share of the country’s economy, this sector has great importance. Any disruption in it can have extensive consequences, including on the situation of people who are directly connected with this sector, or affecting the productivity decline of the cooperative sector. One area where this disruption emerges is inter-organizational relations in this sector; because based on numerous laws related to the cooperative sector, multiple organizations have become responsible for cooperative-sector affairs. Sometimes this division of labor has not been properly carried out in the text of the law, and ambiguities have added to inter-organizational conflict and competition. Parallel work, wasting resources, and confusion of cooperators when referring to organizations are among the consequences of this matter. Based on the findings of this research, laws are the most important factor affecting the challenges of inter-organizational relations, and by removing ambiguity in divisions of labor and job descriptions of steward organizations, this problem can be reduced to some extent. Attention to this matter is noteworthy that, in drafting laws in this way, factors have been effective. Among them, conflicts of interest of some influential actors, the existence of discourses that weaken the cooperative sector, the absence of an integrated and aligned discourse of the cooperative sector, and inequality in the resources of beneficiary organizations—which has given them different capacities for follow-up and bargaining—have caused some challenges in drafting laws and have affected inter-organizational relations of the cooperative sector.

Abstract Realizing the implementation of the general policies of the system, as the overall path of the country’s movement, is a necessity that requires anticipating appropriate mechanisms. The clearer a policy is in conceptual terms, and the clearer its definition and position are, the higher status it will enjoy in the legal system. This writing, considering the two domains of “policy determination” and “supervision over its proper implementation,” using a descriptive and analytical method and drawing on experiences gained in observations, seeks to answer this question: “How can one get closer to the realization of policies, or even achieve it?”

Abstract Given the importance of identifying successful industrial policies and correctly adopting industrial policy, the present study examines Brazil’s experience. In the past two decades, Brazil has witnessed a renewed rise and fall of industrial policymaking. From 2004, this country developed a three-stage industrial policy, among the most important policy lines of which were the active use of industrial policy to prevent deindustrialization and the effort to diversify production, the active use of public budget and expenditures to strengthen infrastructure and stimulate growth, and the effective use of the capacity of development banks and credit policy lines to strengthen production. Despite this, in the second half of the 2010s, together with a political crisis, this country set aside some of its most important industrial policies, although this was not the end of industrial policymaking in Brazil and the country has again proceeded to adopt industrial policies. The findings of the present report show that the most important reasons for the lack of success of Brazil’s industrial policymaking can be summarized in three axes: dependence on exports of mining (resource-based) industries and agricultural products and susceptibility to commodity boom-and-bust cycles, inability to steer private investment through tax incentives, and inability to formulate an industrial development strategy and policy swings. Specifically, Brazil’s industrial policy experience can be of attention to Iran’s economy from several important aspects, including: the importance of active industrial policymaking for achieving the development of manufacturing-based industries; increased vulnerability of the national economy to global shocks in case of reliance on resource-based industries; the dependence of attracting private-sector investment in production on creating long-term guarantees; the importance of improving the quality of industrial policymaking and the necessity of formulating an industrial development strategy.

Abstract Housing and its financing is one of the current necessities of the country’s economic system. One of the common methods of housing finance in all countries is the granting of long-term bank facilities; however, granting long-term facilities, especially when the profit rate of the facilities is fixed, will expose the banking system to various risks including liquidity risk, credit risk, and interest-rate change risk; therefore, solutions have been designed to address this challenge, one of the most important of which is issuing housing mortgage-backed securities and removing the related asset (outstanding housing facilities) from the bank’s balance sheet. Issuing these securities leads to enhancing the financing capacity of banks and financial institutions in the housing domain and is a tool for managing banks’ and financial institutions’ liquidity risk and interest-rate (profit) risk, which causes sufficient incentives to be provided for their long-term financing of the housing domain. Nevertheless, despite the economy’s need and the legal obligation of banks to grant long-term facilities in the housing domain in Article 4 of the Law on the Leap in Housing Production, this infrastructure has not been well prepared in the country’s economic system, and so far only two rounds of issuing housing mortgage-backed securities by Maskan Bank have taken place, which indicates the insufficient depth of this market and the existence of obstacles to issuing it. The review of this report shows that administered pricing on facilities granted in the housing domain and also on the profit of housing mortgage-backed securities is one of the important challenges and barriers to using these securities. Reforming the pricing of these securities and allocating an interest subsidy to them, issuing zero-coupon mortgage-backed securities, using a correct credit rating system in issuing securities especially housing mortgage-backed securities, and training and culture-building regarding investment in and use of these securities are among the recommendations of this report in order to remove the obstacles and challenges of issuing housing mortgage-backed securities.

Abstract With the passage of more than twelve years since the approval of the Law on Punishment for Arms and Ammunition Smuggling and Holders of Unauthorized Arms and Ammunition, some defects and legal gaps in this regard have been identified. Aligning punishments is the most important central topic of the plan to amend the Law on Punishment for Arms and Ammunition Smuggling and Holders of Unauthorized Arms and Ammunition. Also, removing some criminalization gaps, including advertising the purchase and sale of weapons in cyberspace, has been considered in this plan. Given that the commission’s approval in the open session dated - was considered ambiguous in some articles, it was referred back again to the relevant commission. Therefore, the commission revised and amended the previous approval in some cases. This report has also been revised based on the amended approval.

Abstract Although the roots of poverty are complex and poverty is essentially a multidimensional phenomenon, existing studies show that three categories of factors—“some household characteristics such as having a member with disability and …,” “macroeconomic conditions,” and “various shocks including natural disasters and incidents”—play a key role in this regard. Examining the characteristics of poverty in Iran shows that the increase in the poverty rate in Iran in recent years is to a large extent the result of macroeconomic conditions; therefore, to confront it we need an approach of strengthening economic growth along with rule-based support policies. Although the major role of macroeconomic conditions in the spread of poverty has limited the poverty-reduction capacities of the general budget, given the strategic importance of the issue of poverty, analyzing the general budget from the perspective of poverty reduction still has importance and is a key topic. Evaluating the poverty-eradication mechanisms in the Budget Bill of 1403 shows that the bill affects the poverty rate in two ways, directly and indirectly. The indirect impact of the Budget Bill of 1403 should be through strengthening economic growth and reducing inflation, but the current year’s budget bill has been formulated in a way that continues the trend of budget laws in past years, and given the budgetary capacities and limitations, one cannot expect much from the bill regarding guiding and strengthening economic growth and consequently poverty reduction, especially through the channel of capacity building for creating sustainable economic growth. However, the relatively contractionary approach of the budget and its high sensitivity to the issue of deficit—which shows itself in reducing the ratio of the operating balance deficit to the total general budget—can be considered positive from the perspective of reducing the negative effects of the budget on inflation and, consequently, poverty. On the other side, the direct impact of the budget bill on the poverty rate through support policies and tax financing shows that the budget has not anticipated a notable initiative to change the approach for poverty reduction through the channel of direct impact and has not created a new capacity to mitigate poverty. In fact, in the budget bill, the resources of subsidies and the budgets of support institutions, as the most important resources for confronting income poverty, have grown less than inflation.

Abstract Naming the current year as “Leap in Production with People’s Participation” by the Leader of the Revolution has provided a ground for renewed attention to the importance of the issue of popularization in the administration of society’s affairs and the redesign of governance structures and institutions in the country in the important subject of the leap in production. Although in recent years some economic indicators have had remarkable growth and the aggregate of the activities of the government and the Assembly shows movement on the path of progress, there is still a great distance to reaching the desirable point, and this requires the participation of all members of society and transformation in the governance pattern toward popularization and becoming participatory. Accordingly, in this report, “An Introduction to the Charter of People-Centered Governance in the Leap in Production,” based on approaches and modern governance models, “a set of requirements, rules, and mechanisms that direct the governance system at different levels of policymaking, regulation, structural transformation, facilitation, networking, and discourse-building” has been presented in line with activating people’s capacities in the leap in production in the country.

Abstract The increase in non-optimal consumption of various energy carriers on the one hand, and the inadequacy of production levels with consumption growth due to constraints on the other hand, has faced the country with an expanding challenge of energy imbalance. Although increasing production capacity and managing and optimizing energy consumption are two solutions facing this dilemma, due to the intergenerational nature of energy resources, the lower investment requirement of optimization projects, the sustainability of energy derived from optimization, and constraints in available energy and financial resources, optimization must be placed at a higher priority than production increase projects. One of the important tools in optimization is the energy and environment optimization market, which was created based on Article (3) of the executive regulations of Article (12) of the Law on Removal of Barriers to Competitive Production in 2017. The basis of the market’s operation is the sectoral and temporal tariff difference of energy, which makes optimization projects justifiable in consumption sectors with low tariffs. A review of the market’s performance shows that 6 years after its approval, no saving certificate has been issued so far and it has been without performance. The lack of economic incentive due to currency fluctuations, the lack of guarantee in the issuance and purchase of saving certificates, and ambiguity in the delivery of energy carriers equivalent to the certificate due to the lack of capacity and some defects in the process from submission to approval of projects in the market have been among the most important reasons for the market’s lack of performance. In this report, the performance of the regulations for creating the energy and environment optimization market is reviewed and solutions for its implementation are presented. It is worth mentioning that in the Seventh Progress Plan, special attention has also been paid to the optimization market, which will be addressed in another report.

Abstract The comprehensive audio-visual market in Iran is defined based on traffic economy. This is while this market must move toward a content economy and financial value creation based on content quality. Placing contextual requirements on the agenda practically leads to the quantitative and qualitative promotion of the comprehensive audio-visual market and the expansion of the production and consumption of indigenous content in this market. The results of this research show that the contextual requirements of this market should be considered in five axes including: interactions among various actors; competitive advantages of the comprehensive audio-visual market; cognitive and psychological components of the market; formal and informal norms; and the interaction of the comprehensive audio-visual market with other markets. The actors in this market, including producers, specialized regulators, the regulatory oversight body, the government/sovereignty, and consumers, are each connected with one another within various frameworks and paths. In addition, the competitive advantages of this market address various dimensions from competitive prices to Iranian cultural components and the development of interactive platforms. Also, the cognitive and psychological components of the comprehensive audio-visual market cover everything from the motivation of activists in this field to the financial and political independence of the regulatory body and the issue of media literacy. Accordingly, the norms of this market include items such as intellectual property, censorship (auditing), protection of children and women, as well as normalized advertising.

Abstract Regarding the continuation of the discussion on how to apply Divine Traditions in the field of governance, the “System of Divine Traditions” was proposed as a type of systematic view of Divine Traditions and with the aim of using Divine Traditions in analyzing and explaining phenomena in various fields of governance. Analyzing and explaining Divine Traditions in a systematic manner leads to a more accurate understanding of them and the presentation of more precise analyses and explanations of phenomena based on them. This characteristic can bring comprehensiveness in analysis for governors. The system of Divine Traditions was presented at four levels. The second level of the system of Divine Traditions specifically addresses the presentation of various sub-systems of Divine Traditions based on the verses of the Holy Quran, observing the first level of the system of Divine Traditions, i.e., the level of sub-traditions. The number of these sub-systems of Divine Traditions based on the verses of the Holy Quran was 42 titles, which increases upon referring to the narrations of the Ahl al-Bayt (PBUT). This report specifically is a review of the titles of the Quranic sub-systems of Divine Traditions. At the same time, an attempt has been made in each of these sub-systems to mention some of the sub-traditions related to them along with their Quranic evidence.

Abstract Creating a balance of power between workers and employers in the workplace with appropriate regulation by the government, in addition to realizing the demands of human resources, provides a suitable platform for increasing the productivity of production, industrial, and service units; a matter that depends on strengthening labor organizations. The present research, utilizing the power resources approach and using documentary studies, interviews with labor community activists, and expert analysis, while identifying the pathology of labor organizations in Iran based on the two sources of “institutional power” and “social power,” explores solutions for strengthening and reviving these organizations. Based on the findings of this research, the institutional power of labor organizations in Iran, according to some indicators such as “involving workers and organizations in the decision-making process of work units,” “institutional platform-building for correct representation of workers by organizations,” and “the role-playing of organizations in fair, fast, and flexible adjudication,” is not in a desirable state. Also, the social power of these organizations, due to defective structural, institutional, and cultural contexts, has not been in an acceptable state and has lacked the necessary ability for coalition-building and discourse-building. Accordingly, in order to revive the institutional and social power of labor organizations, it is necessary that matters such as “redesigning the decision-making system in work units,” “establishing an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system for labor,” “expanding and strengthening collective agreements and increasing their coverage ratio in various industries,” and “creating comprehensive discourses centered on trade union demands” be placed on the agenda.

Abstract Policy evaluation is considered among the most important requirements for achieving efficient policymaking and is a tool for policy-oriented learning toward the improvement and excellence of policies. In general, public policy evaluation consists of: comparing the predicted goals of a policy with the results derived from the implementation of the policy, carried out by governmental or non-governmental authorities. Policy evaluation helps in adopting policies that have the most effectiveness and the least cost, and through this, policymaking takes place more consciously. To put it better, through the process of policy evaluation, the critical success factors of a policy can be identified, and through this, a successful policy can be continued or an unsuccessful policy can be stopped. Therefore, identifying tools that can evaluate policy will be very necessary. In this report, after stating the nature and importance of policy evaluation, the identification of tools and models of policy evaluation is addressed, and the newest tools used in the field of policy evaluation will be identified and classified; so that through this, the Islamic Consultative Assembly, as the most important institution for policy evaluation, can, by capacity building in its supervisory function, engage in better and more effective evaluation of policies and take steps toward the excellence of the country’s policymaking system.

Abstract The valuable work of the Policy Research Bulletin is in fact a digest of the executive summaries of the reports of the Parliamentary Research Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. An Executive Summary describes the main objectives of a research product, helping the audience to grasp the depth of the points mentioned and the core of the research in a short time, without being forced to read all its content. This subject is generally of interest to senior managers, researchers, politicians, and professors of various scientific fields who are in search of valuable materials in a short time. In fact, the executive summary introduces the research strategy, which will have a very effective role in directing the relevant officials. Accordingly, the Parliamentary Research Center, as the sole research arm of the Assembly, with the motivation of making the representatives and honorable officials more goal-oriented and maximizing their oversight regarding announced bills and motions and the country’s central issues, has proceeded to prepare a volume named the Policy Research Bulletin. This work contains two areas of information: first, regarding the bills and motions under review in the plenary session of the Assembly or the specialized commissions of the Assembly, while mentioning the title of the motion or bill, it addresses the main problem, strengths and weaknesses, and finally the suggestions of the Research Center in 3 separate sections. In the second section, in reviewing reports prepared in the form of legislative and supervisory reports (other than motions or bills), while mentioning the title of the target report, it addresses the problem statement, key findings, and finally the legislative, supervisory, or policy suggestions in a goal-oriented manner in 3 separate sections. At the end, it is added that given the mission of the “Policy Research Bulletin” which is quick access to the abstract and policy core of the report, a matrix code (or 2D barcode) has been created for all reports so that they can be read with QR scanners by camera-equipped mobile phones in any location to answer the needs of you honorable elites. It is hoped that this work, under the shadow of Divine graces and the far-sighted guidelines of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, plays an effective step in advancing the goals of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic.

Abstract The Ministry of Interior holds a special importance and position due to the important role it plays in the sovereign dimension and the application of the government’s public policies in the geographical territory of the country through the presence of governors, prefects, and district governors as the high representatives of the government at the levels of country divisions. The extensive and important missions, responsibilities, and duties placed on this ministry are not comparable to any of the country’s agencies and institutions in terms of scope and importance. The main duties and missions of the Ministry of Interior include: security and law enforcement affairs, political and social affairs, civil affairs and municipalities, and coordination of economic affairs and regional development. The present report is devoted to reviewing the credits of the Ministry of Interior in the second part of the general budget bill for the year 1403 [2024]. In this regard, first a general picture of the credits of the Ministry of Interior and affiliated organizations is presented, and subsequently, the expense and capital asset acquisition credits are reviewed separately for the main agency of the Ministry of Interior and affiliated agencies, and considering the framework of duties and missions of the Ministry of Interior and affiliated agencies and also the provisions of high-level laws and other relevant laws, suggestions have been presented. Among the suggestions are: reconsidering the performance measurement units of the main outputs of the Ministry of Interior and affiliated agencies, providing a report on the performance of the 1402 budget law and also the results of the allocation of credits assigned to the Ministry of Interior and affiliated organizations according to the provisions of the Sixth Development Plan Law, and finally drafting a legal mechanism for distributing financial aid among parties and promoting the salaries received by the employees of the Ministry of Interior and affiliated agencies.

Abstract The importance of the childhood and adolescence period in individuals’ growth on the one hand, and the increase in the rate of high-risk behaviors during puberty on the other hand, has placed the necessity of caring for students at the center of attention. Designing effective strategies and programs can lead to the prevention of high-risk behaviors and social harms and the positive growth of students. In this regard, one of the existing solutions to reach a comprehensive approach in line with caring for students is referring to global experiences in this field. Accordingly, the present report attempts to present an approach for the prevention of students’ social harms by reviewing existing approaches, strategies, and programs. Therefore, first a model for identifying students’ risk factors is presented, and then an attempt is made to present a picture of social care programs for children and adolescents with an emphasis on the school institution by referring to existing experiences. A review of other countries’ experiences shows that student care programs are graded in terms of growth. Also, these programs are defined in an institutional context, and various actors in this field, such as students, parents, and school staff, are involved in the social care process. In addition, attention has been paid to the characteristics of the school institution, such as their structural and procedural characteristics, such as the density of students in the school and the rules of its administration.

Abstract Given the announcement of the receipt of the second part of the 1403 budget bill, this report addresses the review of the credits of the main agencies in the field of women and family, related subjects, their compliance with the budgetary provisions of 1403, and completing the performance indicators under the agencies based on specialized duties and the resolution of the Seventh Progress Plan, and finally presenting suggestions for strengthening the bill and its greater monitorability.

Abstract Reviewing the second part of the 1403 budget bill in the field of education shows that the total budget of the Ministry of Education, including unapplied miscellaneous rows (Table 9), amounts to a total of 278 trillion Tomans, which means a 9.83% share of education from the country’s general budget resources. The student per capita, considering the total education credits (Tables 7 and 9 of the bill), is about 20.6 million Tomans, which has grown by 16.7% compared to last year. The per capita for nurturing activities and educational affairs of students, in case of considering the total credits of this field, has had a remarkable growth and has risen from 690 thousand Tomans for each student to 1 million 340 thousand Tomans in 1403. The expectation was that the 1403 budget would be proportional to the Seventh Progress Plan and provide the preliminaries for the implementation of the first year of the plan, but now many of the provisions approved in the Seventh Plan have not been considered. The 1403 budget bill will still create challenges for the education system in the coming year that will take away the capacity for transformational management and solving basic challenges of the country’s education and upbringing from the Ministry of Education. Among these problems, one can mention the lack of an accurate estimate of salaries and wages and teachers’ demands, the lack of full coverage of the costs of Farhangian University, the lack of proportional provision of the costs of printing textbooks, and the lack of proportional provision of the budget for building and equipping schools.

Abstract Interaction between scientific and, to some extent, technological elements with the industrial sector is difficult due to dual literature. For this reason, the challenges between these two groups have remained unresolved over the past decades. Investigations have shown that various countries around the world have used the solution of intermediary institutions to solve these challenges. In this report, despite the great diversity of knowledge and technology intermediaries in the world that have different titles and names, an attempt has been made to examine knowledge and technology brokers and their cooperation model with industries, universities, and the government, while providing a general picture of different intermediaries in the world and categorizing them. Accordingly, intermediary institutions are divided into two categories: primary and secondary institutions. Primary intermediary institutions are mainly governmental or profit-oriented institutions affiliated with the government. Among them, one can mention science and technology parks, government organizations mediating between industries and knowledge institutions, and industry-liaison offices in universities. Secondary intermediaries are mainly private or a combination of governmental and private shareholders and include inter-university centers, joint research funds, challenge-organizing companies, or knowledge and technology brokers. A review of global experiences showed that despite the development of various types of intermediary institutions in the world, private knowledge and technology brokers, due to having economic motivation, expertise in the field of matchmaking, and also the low cost of employing them compared to other models, are a suitable solution for increasing the cooperation of knowledge and industry institutions.

Abstract The Eleventh Parliament was formed based on four indicators: transparency, democratization, smartization, and efficiency. One of the requirements for the democratization of the legislative, supervisory, and diplomatic activities of the legislature is attention to the development of oversight by the people, civil institutions, and the community of experts on the activities and performance of representatives in specialized commissions, the floor of the parliament, and constituencies. In the meantime, initiatives and innovations by the secretaries-general (executive deputies) of global legislative assemblies have been prioritized in the direction of promoting citizen participation and the democratization of the parliament. Proponents of strengthening public oversight of parliamentary activities believe that this issue has a direct relationship with promoting transparency, legislative efficiency, and empowering the oversight and diplomatic activities of representatives. In this regard, in the parliaments of the world, initiatives are being examined to strengthen two-way relationships between legislators and citizens. Some measures are being implemented using the capacity of modern technologies and cyberspace, examples of which include the development of e-parliament infrastructure, holding online sessions of non-confidential specialized commissions, plenary sessions of the parliament, and field and direct observation of legislators’ performance by citizens. Parliaments’ attention to electronic citizen participation, the provision of email addresses specific to each representative and the uploading of separate websites for each of the legislators, and on the other hand, the provision of discussion forums on representatives’ websites, are part of the measures of the world’s parliaments for the democratization of representative activities. In the meantime, smartening the offices of legislators in constituencies and removing obstacles to the continuous communication of legislators with citizens and the community of state/provincial experts not only helps parliamentary democracy but has also caused parliamentary approvals to have more overlap with state (provincial) needs and national concerns. In some parliaments, representatives of constituencies, by screening and monitoring citizens’ demands, focus more on challenges that fall under national concerns and the country’s fundamental system of issues, and try to raise fewer ethnic and local demands on the parliamentary floor. At the same time, research centers and libraries of global legislative assemblies have moved toward the democratization of parliamentary approvals through systematic communication with the expert community, state think tanks, the private sector, and stakeholders. The subject of the democratization of legislative assemblies has also been considered at the level of international parliamentary forums, so that the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), in its spring and autumn sessions, holds hearing sessions with the expert community and citizens in order to identify global concerns from the citizens’ intellectual framework. In this regard, some of the world’s legislative assemblies try to strengthen the density of people-centrism and democratization in representative activities through creating intelligent public oversight systems, screening national needs in field inspections, designing models of people’s participation in the management of governance mega-challenges of law, and using the capacity of parliamentary factions as a middle role for communication between legislators and citizens.

Abstract In this report, the credit rows and macro tables in the 1403 budget bill related to the main agencies in the field of higher education, research, and technology are reviewed, and the growth of these credits compared to the approved figures of 1402 is estimated. The results show that the average growth of the total credits of the examined agencies in the field of higher education, research, and technology, including the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, universities and other affiliated higher education and research institutions, the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology and its affiliated agencies, the Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR) and its subsidiaries, the Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization and other affiliated research institutes, is estimated at about 33 percent, and these credits will not cover the costs of these agencies in 1403. Also, in this bill, the distribution of credits according to affairs, chapters, and programs of the agencies in charge of higher education and research in the country is ambiguous due to the non-submission of Table 6 of the single-article and Appendix 4 of the bill, a situation that carries consequences such as a reduction in the precise oversight of the Islamic Consultative Assembly on the government’s performance in carrying out legal duties and obligations, weakness in aligning annual budget laws with development programs, and ambiguity in the share of each of the agencies’ programs in the budget bill, such as the estimation of research credits. Other challenges of the second part of the 1403 budget bill include the lack of separation of the credit related to “repair and reconstruction of physical spaces of universities of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology and the Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR)” between the two main agencies, the reduction in research affairs costs of “state-owned companies, banks, and profit-oriented institutions affiliated with the government,” and the lack of clarity on how these credits are spent and the lack of clarity on the criteria for determining the main policymaking agency.

Abstract The authorization for the divestment of state-owned enterprises subject to groups 1 and 2, subject of Article (2) of the Law on Implementation of General Policies of Principle (44) of the Constitution, was considered every year in Note “2” of the annual budget laws, which has been removed in the 1403 budget bill. It is worth mentioning that according to the procedure of previous years, the resources obtained from the divestment of state-owned companies are included in Table 4 of the 1403 budget bill, but Table 13, which shows the expenditures obtained from divestment, has been considered in Table 8 under the title “Estimation of Acquisition of Financial Assets of 1403” and in the sub-section “Credits Subject to Share Divestment.” In this report, with the aim of reviewing the divestment of state shares in the “Resources Obtained from Divestment” section, first the government’s performance in the field of divestments of 1402 and the realization rate of budgetary obligations is evaluated, then comments are made regarding the amounts determined for resources obtained from state share divestment in the 1403 budget bill. The expenditures obtained from the divestment of state shares in the 1403 budget bill are also examined in the next section of the report.

Abstract The budget of the country’s executive bodies is usually presented in Table 7 of annual budgets and constitutes about three-quarters of the budget. This part of the 1403 budget bill has grown by nearly 29 percent compared to the 1402 budget law and has reached 2183 thousand billion Tomans. The budget of executive bodies includes 77 percent of the total public budget. In the 1403 budget bill, a significant part of the rows included in the miscellaneous table has been transferred to Table 7, and as a result of this, the share of miscellaneous in the total public budget has decreased and the share of the institutional budget has increased. The capital asset acquisition credits of executive bodies have grown by 66 percent, a large part of which is due to the transfer of capital credit rows of the miscellaneous table to Table 7. If we do not consider miscellaneous capital items, the growth of capital credits of executive bodies reaches 7 percent. Various executive bodies are divided into the three branches and other agencies, and the share of each from the total budget of executive bodies has been examined. 78.8 percent of total credits belong to the executive branch, 17.0 percent to other agencies, 3.9 percent to the judiciary branch, and 0.3 percent is the share of the legislative branch. Of course, it should be noted that the mentioned figures are merely the share related to the public budget ceiling, and by considering extra-budgetary items such as defense capacity credits, the mentioned ratios change. The Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education, and the Ministry of Education have the largest shares of the executive bodies’ budget respectively, and in total, they constitute more than 42 percent of the institutional budget.

Abstract Programs for reducing deprivation in various regions of the country have been continuously implemented over the past four decades, and significant progress has been achieved in some dimensions of deprivation, such as deprivation from infrastructure services and living facilities across the country. However, this reduction in deprivation has not been carried out in a balanced manner commensurate with the status of the regions. Therefore, severe deprivation is still observed in some regions of the country. Deprivation alleviation measures in the country are mostly of the nature of civil projects, and the government is the trustee for providing their resources. Therefore, budget laws are considered the most important one-year planning document for deprivation alleviation in the country. In this report, by focusing on deprivation alleviation credits in the 1403 budget bill, the current picture of deprivation in the country’s regions, the status of approved resources for this field, the provincial distribution of credits, and the challenges and pathologies of deprivation alleviation have been examined. The deprivation alleviation budget in the 1403 budget bill is considered at 108 thousand billion Tomans, which has grown by 13 percent compared to the approved budget in the 1402 budget law. Of course, the performance of the deprivation alleviation budget in previous years shows that the allocation of these credits is mainly less than 50 percent. The provincial distribution of credits in this bill, like in previous years, lacks the necessary transparency and balance in such a way that it is commensurate with the current status of deprivation in the country’s regions. Therefore, it does not seem that a change in the trend of deprivation alleviation in the country will occur in 1403, and the limited deprivation alleviation credits, by observing the priority of regions that currently have severe deprivation, will noticeably reduce the intensity of deprivation in these regions. Pathologizing the deprivation alleviation measures in the past few decades shows that making deprivation alleviation policies efficient requires a set of measures, including improving the facilities for collecting and monitoring deprivation data, redefining its dimensions and indicators, continuous revision in determining less-developed regions, and redesigning the annual deprivation alleviation credit distribution system.

Abstract The study at hand has addressed the status of pension funds in the 1403 budget bill. According to the bill submitted by the government, more than 453 thousand billion Tomans have been considered for supporting pension funds, of which 256.5 thousand billion Tomans is related to the Civil Servants Pension Fund, 132 thousand billion Tomans for aid to the Social Security Fund of the Armed Forces, and 14.3 thousand billion Tomans for the Steel Pension Fund and the Ministry of Intelligence. Also, 50 thousand billion Tomans of aid for the adjustment of retirees’ salaries of the three civil, military, and steel funds from the value-added tax source has been considered, which in total, these credits have grown by 36.9 percent compared to the 1402 budget law. These allocated resources have accounted for 16 percent of the total public resources of the government in the 1403 budget bill, which has increased compared to the previous year’s figure. Also, the government has allocated 130 thousand billion Tomans for settling its definitive audited debt to the Social Security Organization and for the adjustment of salaries and also maintaining the purchasing power of Social Security retirees.

Abstract In this report, we examine the tax figures of the tables of the second part of the 1403 budget bill. This report consists of three main parts: in the first part, the generalities of revenues are examined, in the next part their components, and in the last part, suggestions for reforming the tax system. The total tax revenues in 1403 is equal to 1290 thousand billion Tomans. This figure is not consistent with the approval of the first part of the budget law (1365 thousand billion Tomans). Without import tax, these revenues reach 1147 thousand billion Tomans. Compared to the 1402 performance, this figure has increased by +42%. Of course, a part of the increase in tax revenues is related to legal reforms. The most important reforms include removing the ambiguity of tax exemption for industrial and mining units of less-developed regions with an income of 50 thousand billion Tomans and a 1 percentage point increase in the value-added tax rate with an income of 55 thousand billion Tomans in the three collectable seasons of the 1403 fiscal year. In the new year, the nominal economic growth, which includes inflation and real growth, is forecast at +39%. Therefore, the increase in revenues will be slightly more than this growth. On the other hand, for the first time, the share of tax revenues from total public resources is 50% and from current expenditures is 69%. These two changes are considered strengths of the bill. The ratio of tax revenues to GDP (4.43%) is higher than in the past 4 years, but still much lower than around the years 2016-2017 (6.83%). Realizing taxes from expensive houses and cars and empty residential units requires special measures, especially in providing infrastructure. Finally, reforming tax exemptions, moving toward wealth tax, approving comprehensive income tax, and merging the functions of tax collection and insurance premium collection are the most important suggestions of the report.

Abstract In order to determine the necessary frameworks for providing services to the honorable veteran community of the country, various laws and regulations have been enacted, one of the most important of which is the Comprehensive Law on Services to Veterans. Despite more than 10 years having passed since the approval of this law, so far, no precise assessment of its performance has been carried out by the trustees, especially the Martyrs and Veterans Affairs Foundation, and this issue has led to the creation of different interpretations regarding the extent and reasons for its non-implementation. The Parliamentary Research Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, considering the provisions of Article (74) of this law and in cooperation with the Martyrs and Veterans Affairs Foundation, has conducted an expert assessment of the financial and operational performance of the Comprehensive Law on Services to Veterans, broken down by chapters of the comprehensive law and by the subject of the articles of each chapter of the law, with a focus on the years of implementation of the country’s Sixth Development Plan during the period (2017–2021). Given the high volume of provisions related to the eight chapters of the law, the assessment of the performance of the relevant executive agencies will be presented in the form of a series of reports (separately and considering the volume of the chapters). This report will be the third report from the series of reports on the assessment of the performance of the Comprehensive Law on Services to Veterans and will address the examination of the provisions of Chapter Six (Livelihood and Welfare Sphere).

Abstract One of the governance mega-issues in various governments of the world is citizen participation in governance affairs. This issue has even greater importance in our country due to religious foundations and political conditions. A look at the statistics of electoral participation and the presence of youth in protest movements indicates the importance of special examination of this subject. In the series of public participation monitoring reports, it is intended that the status of public participation be monitored and, with forecasts based on artificial intelligence, futures studies, and necessary scenario-writing, be charted. The current report, by utilizing the results of the series of social capital monitoring reports with the computational social science method, past surveys, and meta-analysis of theoretical literature and expert analysis, presents a model for measuring public participation in the field of youth. This report, by utilizing the viewpoints of thinkers and experts in this field, has introduced four components: “cultural identity,” “relative deprivation,” “trust in governance,” and “social hope” as the most important factors affecting public participation with an emphasis on youth. These indicators have been redefined in the relationship between government and nation and enriched with various components of theoretical literature and past surveys. The result is that by measuring these four components alongside contextual variables and the individual’s socio-economic status, one can estimate the aspirations of youth and predict the extent of their participation (whether in the form of support or protest). Also, at the end of the report, commensurate with the status of each of the four components, the dynamics of solutions in the four realms of cultural, economic, social, and political has been presented.

Abstract The increase in population and urban development have caused the volume of waste production to grow rapidly over the past few decades, which has brought about the waste of natural resources and the emergence of environmental problems. Utilizing science, technology, and innovation in line with smart waste management can lead to the transition from the current situation to optimal waste management through increasing operational efficiency, minimizing energy consumption, reducing the emission of pollutants into the environment, reducing costs, creating sustainable job opportunities, and generally promoting the resilience of urban management. The current report has attempted to examine the scope and extent of smartizing waste management in the world and investigate the challenges of implementing smartization in the country. Systematizing activities in various sectors of the waste management process, smart education of citizens using applications, smart collection of dry waste, and the use of dry waste self-receiving machines (reverse vending machines) have been among the actions of the country’s municipalities in the field of smartizing waste management. However, the development of smart waste management in the country has faced challenges such as the inadequacy of executive infrastructure, the lack of a social and cultural attachment in smartization plans, and the lack of utilization of appropriate methods for promoting citizen participation. In this regard, promoting transparency and combating monopolism by utilizing the capacity of the private sector, systematizing all waste management activities, penetrating smart technologies into all tasked elements of waste management, creating and developing the necessary infrastructure, and conditioning the development of smartization methods on pilot implementation and compiling a social and cultural attachment must be considered by policymakers and executive managers.

Abstract The National Botanical Garden of Iran, with a long history of 55 years, houses over 4,000 native, endemic, rare, and endangered plant species and has become a unique national asset over recent decades; so much so that the value of the recreational-protective services of this national treasure alone is estimated at 543 million dollars per year. Contrary to the policies of Tehran’s comprehensive urban plans in the years (2007 and 1992) and the approved regulations of the National Botanical Garden’s perimeter, which set the maximum permissible construction height for authorized land uses in this zone—observing other perimeter regulations—at 15 meters; unbalanced urban development in District 22 and high-rise building projects have created concerns regarding the decay of this garden. Unfortunately, such high-rise building can bring about dire consequences such as a severe reduction in the region’s and the garden’s groundwater aquifers, premature leaf fall of plant species, the withering of sensitive and semi-sensitive plants, disruption in gas exchange and photosynthesis in plants, an increase in noise pollution, and as a result, the migration and destruction of animals existing in this ecosystem. In the current report, to prevent the gradual decay of the National Botanical Garden due to the issuance of high-rise construction permits, suggestions such as maintaining the perimeter and observing the regulations for establishing service-sector units, halting construction and canceling issued permits while respecting rights and preventing damage to owners, registering the National Botanical Garden as a UNESCO World Heritage site, clarifying the position of the Botanical Garden as a national asset and treasure for the general public of Islamic Iran, and approving perimeter regulations for other botanical gardens in the country have been presented.

Abstract Childhood and adolescence are the most important periods during which an individual’s personality, identity, and lifestyle are formed and belief and value systems are laid in their foundation. Therefore, content production and consumption in the cultural ecosystem of children and adolescents is a strategic and lifestyle-making necessity. In the meantime, “literary content” plays a bold role in the dynamism of this ecosystem and in modeling lifestyle. Investigations show that the share of the child and adolescent sector in upstream documents is insufficient. Also, there are no clear, tangible, and purposeful policies and strategies in the field of content production and promotion for children and adolescents, and the few existing cases are general, neutral, and inoperative. In more specialized approvals and regulations, the existing policies and strategies are feeble and lack holisticity and comprehensiveness. The most central issues and challenges of this field from a policy and legislative perspective are: 1. Lack of a strategic roadmap in the field of children and adolescents, 2. Neglect of many subject areas needed by the audience, 3. Serious gap in authorship and training of creators, 4. Incorrect approach of focusing on content instances, 5. Island-like activity and non-interactive approach of responsible institutions. In line with the mentioned issues, these solutions are suggested: 1. Compiling a strategic plan and setting up an institutional mapping, 2. Constant monitoring and identifying the needs of children and adolescents, 3. Training creators and supporting authored works, 4. Building the profile (fame) of institutions and creators in the field of children and adolescents, 5. Strengthening the value chain and utilizing the capacities of cultural merchandising, 6. Strengthening the flow of adaptation and investment in the comic industry, 7. Improving inter-agency interaction.

Abstract Effective protection of economic security and investment in a legal system is considered among the criteria for the efficiency of the economic system. The Judicial Transformation Document, as the most important strategic document of the Judiciary that has been approved by the Supreme Leader, must be revised according to part 4 of clause 26 of the Seventh Development Plan’s general policies, in terms of legal and judicial protection of economic security and investment; also, the validity of the aforementioned document ends in 2024 and must be revised for the coming years. Using the descriptive-analytical method and by referring to legal documents, institutional procedures, and other library sources, an attempt has been made to answer the question: What are the vulnerabilities of the Judicial Transformation Document in terms of legal protection of economic security and investment in the field of legislation and regulation, and what solutions and strategies exist to resolve the aforementioned vulnerabilities? In this report, the legal protection section is considered solely in terms of the positive effects of the Judiciary on legislation and regulation.

Abstract Today, the production of various types of computers, telecommunications equipment, mobile phones, cars, home appliances, defense systems, products in the field of aerospace and robotics, alongside other emerging and transformative phenomena such as artificial intelligence, electric and autonomous vehicles, 5G communications, and the Internet of Things, increasingly depend on semiconductor chips, or in other words, the microelectronics industry. The purpose of this research is to examine the status of the microelectronics industry in the country and to propose strategies for the development of this industry. The findings of this research show that due to the technical and economic complexities of the microelectronics industry, the global nature of this industry’s supply chain has been one of the key reasons for its success to date, and achieving complete self-sufficiency in the field of semiconductors is considered an impossible matter for any company or country. Nevertheless, due to the acceleration of geopolitical tensions, rebalancing and strengthening the position of countries in the global chip supply chain is considered essential for governments. In these circumstances, playing a role in the global semiconductor production chain for a country like Iran, which is affected by direct and indirect restrictions related to this field in the world, is of even greater importance and complexity. In this regard, for Iran as well, in a minimal approach, planning to reduce the negative effects and potential economic and security threats of this industry, and in a maximal approach, trying to provide the grounds for playing a role in the global semiconductor chain is considered inevitable.

Abstract In order to resolve some social problems and judicial flaws and ambiguities resulting from considering thefts of less than two hundred million Rials and the crimes of transferring another’s property and fraud of less than one billion Rials as compoundable; the plan to amend Article (104) of the Islamic Penal Code was approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly on April 16, 2024. In another part of the approval, with the aim of creating a unified approach in considering the crime of publishing falsehoods as compoundable in the country’s legal system, the crime of computer and telecommunications publishing of falsehoods, subject of Article (746) of the Islamic Penal Code (Book Five; Ta’zirat and Deterrent Punishments), was also added to the mentioned Article (104) so that this crime, like the traditional crime of publishing falsehoods, subject of Article (698) of the Islamic Penal Code (Book Five; Ta’zirat and Deterrent Punishments), is also considered compoundable. This approval was sent to the honorable Guardian Council for confirmation. The honorable Guardian Council considered the approval of the Islamic Consultative Assembly in the part related to considering the crime of computer and telecommunications publishing of falsehoods as compoundable to be contrary to Sharia and clause 10 of Article 3 of the Constitution. In this report, the approval of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the opinion of the honorable Guardian Council have been examined.

Abstract The “Plan for Organizing the Staff of Executive Bodies Subject to Article (29) of the Sixth Economic, Social, and Cultural Development Plan Law of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” which was initially raised under the title “Plan for Organizing Government Staff” and then under the title “Plan for Organizing Personnel Contracted with Manpower Supply Contracting Companies in Executive Bodies Subject to Article (29) of the Sixth Economic, Social, and Cultural Development Plan Law of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” with the aim of determining the status and organizing corporate forces working in executive bodies, was approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly on February 20, 2023, and after being sent to the Guardian Council, it faced ambiguities and objections from the Guardian Council and the High Supervisory Board on the proper implementation of general policies of the system. The aforementioned plan was approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly with amendments on August 21, 2023, in order to resolve the objections, and after being sent to the Guardian Council, it again faced objections from the Guardian Council and the High Supervisory Board. The Assembly again amended this plan on January 28, 2024, in order to resolve the objections of the Guardian Council and the High Supervisory Board, and after being sent to the Guardian Council, despite the lack of objection by the Guardian Council to the approval, only the High Supervisory Board considered it objectionable, and for this reason, it was declared contrary to clause “2” of Article (110) of the Constitution. The Social Commission, by examining the objections of the High Supervisory Board to the “Plan for Organizing the Staff of Executive Bodies Subject to Article (29) of the Sixth Economic, Social, and Cultural Development Plan Law of the Islamic Republic of Iran” on May 12, 2024, insisted on the previous approval of the Assembly regarding Note “2” of the single article. In the following, the objections of the High Supervisory Board to the aforementioned plan will be examined.

Abstract The Islamic Consultative Assembly, as the most important legislative authority in the country, has played an effective role in advancing and realizing national policies and in implementing the country’s various laws. To achieve this objective, it requires public and social support and synergy—one of the most important aspects of which is the participation of the general public in the processes of oversight and evaluation of laws in the country. Evaluation and oversight, as among the most important stages in the public policy cycle and the lawmaking process, have always attracted the attention of researchers and scholars in the field of public policy. In this study, based on a review of international research, we seek to identify the foundations, approaches, and models of participatory evaluation and to provide solutions and recommendations for the Islamic Consultative Assembly aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of the legislature’s oversight mechanisms through leveraging broad public participation.

Abstract The plan to establish the Judiciary Protection and Intelligence Organization, aimed at ensuring the integrity of its components and emphasizing the independence of this body in supervising and monitoring Judiciary personnel, was formally announced (declared received) on 2 March 2022 (1400/12/11). Among the objectives stated for proposing this plan are protecting and ensuring security within the Judiciary—including judicial authorities, affiliated organizations, and dependent centers—as well as persons connected to judicial cases such as lawyers, official experts, consultants, social workers, arbitrators, and individuals influencing judicial processes in prosecutor’s offices. The plan was referred to the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission for review. With amendments applied to the text, the Commission first approved the plan on 29 January 2023 (1401/11/09) and submitted it to the plenary, where it was examined in the Parliament Research Center report with serial number 19467 [1], and related considerations were published—chiefly concerning the fiscal burden resulting from establishing this organization, ambiguity regarding the relationship between this enactment and other laws, and inconsistency with Article (85) of the Constitution. After the matter was raised in the plenary on 7 January 2024 (1402/10/17), Members of Parliament agreed to the generalities of the plan and to examining it under a two-reading procedure pursuant to Article (139) of the Parliament’s Rules of Procedure. In the second reading, the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission applied amendments to the text on 15 April 2024 (1403/01/27). These amendments include: “merging clauses ‘b’ and ‘kh’ of Article (1),” “specifying the conditions for appointing the head of the organization,” and “removing the exemption from the scope of Article (74) of the Civil Service Management Law regarding the organization’s allowances,” which will be examined below.

Abstract Throughout history, human beings, in order to understand the phenomena around them and to convey their mental concepts, have needed shared words and meanings [3]. However, over time, proliferating concepts—sometimes appearing in the form of theories—become problem-generating, thereby making the typologizing and classification of concepts and theories necessary. With changes in typologies, fundamental changes occur in our perception of the phenomena under study, which is a prerequisite for transformation. Familiarity with typologies of instances of corruption and the creation of new frameworks for classifying them enables a more active and more effective engagement with anti-corruption programs. Over the past two or three decades, the multidimensional, multilevel, and multifactor phenomenon of corruption has attracted substantial attention from sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, economists, scholars in management studies, law, political science, and other disciplines, and, as a result, an extensive body of knowledge and research literature has been produced at different levels. In a general reading, this report, drawing on this broad body of knowledge and research literature, as well as useful insights available in the aforementioned sciences, examines in detail various typologies of corruption manifestations, corruption actors, and the contexts and enabling environments of corruption. Accordingly, the discussions in this section—while presenting a conceptual framework necessary for discussing the phenomenon of corruption—lay the foundations needed for what follows.

Abstract The bill titled “Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Information Security between the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Government of the Russian Federation,” which had been approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly on 10 December 2023 (1402/09/19), was discussed and reviewed in the session of the honorable Guardian Council dated 17 January 2024 (1402/10/27). The honorable Guardian Council raised one ambiguity regarding the enactment. The National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, in a session convened on this matter, discussed and reviewed the views of the honorable Guardian Council and, by amending the single article, sought to address the Guardian Council’s concern. Below, we will examine the view of the honorable Guardian Council and the enactment of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission in this regard.

Abstract Pursuant to Note “3” of Article (1) of the Law on the Administration of Free Trade–Industrial Zones of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the establishment of new free trade–industrial zones and the determination of their boundaries shall be based on the Government’s proposal and the approval of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. Accordingly, the bill titled “Development of the Gilan Free Trade–Industrial Zone (Anzali),” with due regard to its justificatory preface, was introduced—within the framework of the plans and policies of the Twelfth Government—toward developing the Anzali free trade–industrial zones, removing obstacles to export growth and development, and creating employment and economic peorsperity (upswing) in the said region, and it was formally announced in the Tenth term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. The bill was approved with amendments in the public session of Tuesday dated 12 May 2020 (1399/02/23) and, in implementation of Article 94 of the Constitution, was sent to the Guardian Council. In its letter No. 99/102/17/17683 dated 2 June 2020 (1399/03/13), the Guardian Council declared the aforementioned enactment contrary to the Constitution. With the end of the Tenth term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the bill was re-announced in the Eleventh term under registration number 40. The Economic Commission approved amendments to the Assembly’s previous enactment in order to meet the Guardian Council’s view. After these amendments were approved in the plenary session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly on 31 July 2022 (1401/05/09), it was once again returned by the Guardian Council to the Assembly due to the existence of ambiguities and the failure to meet the view of the High Supervisory Board, and it has been examined in the Economic Commission. In the continuation of the report, we examine the extent to which the ambiguities raised by the Guardian Council and the objections of the High Supervisory Board regarding the aforementioned plan have been removed- or not removed- in the Economic Commission’s report.

Abstract The bill titled “Agreement on Security and Law Enforcement Cooperation between the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic,” which had been approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly on 22 July 2023 (1402/05/01), was discussed and reviewed in the session of the honorable Guardian Council dated 2 August 2023 (1402/05/11). The honorable Guardian Council raised one objection regarding the enactment. The National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, in its convened session, discussed and reviewed the view of the honorable Guardian Council and, by approving amendments, sought to address the Guardian Council’s concern. Below, we will present and examine the view of the honorable Guardian Council and the enactment of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly in this regard.

Abstract The “Bill on the Agreement on the Establishment and Framework of Activity of Cultural Centers between the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Government of the Russian Federation,” which had been approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly on 4 December 2023 (1402/09/13), was discussed and reviewed in the session of the honorable Guardian Council dated 27 December 2023 (1402/10/06). The honorable Guardian Council raised two objections and two remarks regarding the enactment. The Cultural Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, in its session dated 7 January 2024 (1402/10/17), discussed and reviewed the views of the honorable Guardian Council and, by approving amendments in the single article and the text of the agreement, sought to address the Guardian Council’s view. Below, we will present and examine the views of the honorable Guardian Council and the enactments of the Cultural Commission in this regard.

Abstract The 1403 Budget Bill, as the first budget law prepared on the basis of the country’s Seventh Development Plan, allocates approximately 250 trillion rials from the public budget to media institutions. The appropriations envisaged for these institutions are as follows: (1) about 240 trillion rials for the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) (current, capital, and miscellaneous expenditures); (2) about 3.73 trillion rials for the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) (current and capital expenditures); (3) about 810 billion rials for the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA); (4) about 220 billion rials for the Supervisory Council over IRIB; (5) about 200 billion rials for the International Quran News Agency (IQNA); and (6) about 190 billion rials for Khaneh Mellat News Agency. It should be noted that in the 1403 Budget Bill, an amount of 66 trillion rials has also been estimated as dedicated revenue for IRIB; taking this amount into account, the total appropriations envisaged for this organization (Line Item 283500, miscellaneous and dedicated) amount to 310 trillion rials. In addition, an amount of 830 billion rials has been projected as dedicated revenue for the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA); including this amount, the total appropriations envisaged for this agency in the 1403 Budget Bill (Line Item 282500 and dedicated revenues) amount to 4.57 trillion rials. Moreover, the appropriations of the media sector in the 1403 Budget Bill have increased by 59 percent compared with the 1402 Budget Law. This is while, of the total appropriations of the media sector in 1403, about 98 percent has been allocated to IRIB. The most important findings and proposals resulting from the analysis of the tables and annexes of the 1403 National Budget Bill include the fact that, unlike previous years, the programs of the media chapter have not been separately disaggregated under the affairs of culture, physical education, and tourism in the 1403 Budget Bill, resulting in a lack of the information necessary regarding program appropriations and their titles; the proposal to add evaluable indicators to the text of the bill in order to increase IRIB’s public appropriations in exchange for reducing the volume of commercial advertising; the projection of specific appropriations to make the Supervisory Council more effective in order to strengthen the Law on the Manner of Implementing Article (175) of the Constitution in the oversight dimension; and the necessity of removing ambiguity regarding the criterion for dividing the resources envisaged in clause “b” of Note “13” of Part One of the 1403 Budget Law among executive bodies.

Abstract Pursuant to the amendments to Articles (180) and (182) of the Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, the budget bill is examined in two stages. This report is devoted to reviewing the status of the budget line items of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts. The total appropriations of this ministry and its affiliated institutions in the 1403 Budget Bill amount to 71,795,990 million rials (equivalent to 7.179 trillion tomans), representing a 92.63 percent increase compared with the 1402 Budget Law. Also, compared with the 1402 Budget Law, the ministry’s current expenditures increased by 18.27 percent and its capital asset acquisition appropriations increased by 18.27 percent. The total appropriations of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, with a 22.87 percent increase relative to the 1402 Budget Law, amount to 1,729,719 million rials (equivalent to 172 billion tomans). The appropriations of the Iran Touring and Tourism Development Company also amount to 296,552 million rials (equivalent to 29 billion tomans), which is the same amount determined for the previous year. Examination of the transferred miscellaneous line items shows that their total appropriations amount to 2,326,540 million rials (equivalent to 232 billion tomans), approximately 62 percent more than in the 1402 Budget Law. It should be noted that current expenditures increased by 81 percent relative to the 1402 Budget Law, while capital asset acquisition appropriations decreased by 17 percent relative to that law. The most important reason for the decline in capital asset acquisition appropriations is the nearly 88 percent reduction in the appropriations allocated to strengthening the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit, an issue that should be seriously reconsidered. The total revenues of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts from museum and historical site entrance fees and other resulting sources in the 1403 Budget Bill have increased by about 220 percent relative to the 1402 Budget Law. In addition, in the 1403 Budget Bill, the total revenues of the said ministry from the issuance or renewal of permits or the collection of fines under the Law on the Development of the Touring and Tourism Industry increased by nearly 25 percent compared with the 1402 Budget Law. Overall, the ministry’s public and dedicated revenues from these two line items in the 1403 Bill increased by 212 percent relative to the 1402 Budget Law. Although the performance metrics of agencies in the 1403 Budget Bill are not aligned, in terms of criteria and type of metric, with the metrics presented in the Seventh Development Plan Bill, estimated appropriations have nonetheless been considered for the metrics table and for two provisions of the Seventh Plan, with an emphasis on the tourism sector. Therefore, the apparent alignment of the budget bill with the metrics and part of the provisions of the Seventh Development Plan Bill may be affirmed. Clause “j” of Note “3” of the 1403 Budget Bill concerns the allocation of 5 percent of provincial capital asset acquisition appropriations to the development of tourism infrastructure and the restoration of historic fabrics; the same rule had previously been approved in clause “ʿayn” of Note “9” of the 1402 Budget Law. The examinations show that, due to the absence of precise data disaggregated by province and field of activity, this provision is ambiguous. Therefore, in the absence of transparency in reporting, there is a possibility that this ambiguity will be repeated.

Abstract Review of the 1403 Budget Bill in the field of religion and religious propagation shows that the proposed budget for this field amounts to about 232 trillion rials, representing a growth of 34.18 percent. Among the agencies in this sector, the greatest increase in appropriations pertains to the Headquarters for the Establishment of Prayer (with a growth of 87.63 percent). The Islamic Propagation Office of the Qom Seminary (with a growth of 76.41 percent) and the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (with a growth of 71.34 percent) rank next. The smallest increase in appropriations pertains to the Endowments and Charity Affairs Organization (with an overall growth of 17.8 percent). Also, the largest increases in capital asset acquisition appropriations in this bill have been considered for the Supreme Council of Seminaries and the Institute for Islamic Culture and Thought, at 89.05 percent and 31.9 percent respectively. By contrast, for 24 agencies, the increase in their capital asset acquisition budget was less than 25 percent. The examinations show that the programs of the religion and propagation sector suffer from problems, especially in the area of performance metrics, which will confront their desirable performance in the coming year with challenges. These obstacles include: failure to formulate programs aimed at realizing some of the most important provisions in the field of religion and propagation in the Seventh Development Plan Bill, such as the mosque-centered scheme in the Seventh Development Plan; the generality of the programs; the lack of transparency of some programs; the bill’s lack of serious attention to performance-based budgeting and its monitorability and transparency; emphasis on performance measures rather than performance indicators (attention to the number of activities rather than the quality of performance/achievement of goals); the dominance of a quantitative approach in designing performance metrics; and the lack of proportionality or ineffectiveness of performance metrics for some programs.

Abstract Part Two of the 1403 Budget Bill was formally announced following changes to the Rules of Procedure of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and includes the detailed tables of budget figures. This report analyzes and describes the data of the budget bill, the current, capital asset acquisition, and dedicated appropriations of the main bodies related to the culture and arts sector in the 1403 Budget Bill, compares them with the appropriations approved for 1402 and the appropriations of the miscellaneous line items in the 1403 Budget Bill, and also examines the output performance metrics of the principal policymaking bodies in the culture and arts sector. In the 1403 Budget Bill, the share of the appropriations of the principal bodies of the culture and arts sector in relation to the Government’s public budget expenditures is about eight-tenths of one percent. The greatest increase in appropriations among the principal bodies of the culture and arts sector pertains to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, whose total appropriations have grown by about 266 percent compared with the amount approved in 1402. This growth is due to the increase in estimated dedicated appropriations in 1403, which is mainly related to the estimated spending of one percent of the expenditures of state-owned companies referred to in Article (5) of the Civil Service Management Law, which has been included for the first time in Part Two of the bill in order to detail clause “b” of Note “13” of the 1403 Budget Law. Regarding the output performance metrics of the principal policymaking bodies in the culture and arts sector, it should be noted that in some cases the actions and metrics are highly general and ambiguous, and in practice a specific and transparent measurement and evaluation of agency performance is impossible; they therefore require greater precision, more detail, and in some cases a qualitative orientation.

Abstract The total appropriations of the Ministry of Sports and Youth and its affiliated institutions in the 1403 Budget Bill amount to 159,607,406 million rials (equivalent to 15.960 trillion tomans), representing an increase of 185 percent compared with the 1402 Budget Law. Of this total, current expenditures amount to 55,263,171 million rials, equivalent to 5.526 trillion tomans (an increase of 51 percent relative to the 1402 Budget Law), and capital asset acquisition appropriations amount to 80,162,417 million rials, equivalent to 8.016 trillion tomans (an increase of 356 percent relative to the 1402 Budget Law). The total appropriations of miscellaneous line items amount to 3.308 trillion tomans, which is a 7.6 percent increase compared with the 1402 Budget Law. Of this, total current expenditures amount to 16,186,000 million rials (equivalent to 1.618 trillion tomans), and total capital asset acquisition appropriations amount to 16,901,000 million rials (equivalent to 3.075 trillion tomans). Among these, the 124 percent increase in the “0.27 percent value-added tax appropriation,” the 105 percent increase in “television broadcasting rights of domestic sports competitions,” and the 100 percent increase in “assistance to the Wrestling Federation” in this sector’s line items have caused these changes. It should be noted that in the 1402 Budget Bill, an appropriation equal to 24.3 trillion rials had been considered for the television broadcasting rights of domestic sports competitions, but evaluation of performance during the first nine months of 1402 with respect to the payment of media broadcasting rights indicates the non-realization of this line item; although the communication of these appropriations is assessed positively, the main issue in this area is the lack of cooperation in preparing the coordination and allocation bylaw among the beneficiary agencies. Considering a capital asset acquisition appropriation of 1 trillion rials (equivalent to 100 billion tomans) for assistance in constructing the large cultural and sports complex of Shahr-e Aftab under line item 55000073 is not approved in principle, given the absence of a territorial planning document for sports, the insufficient allocation of appropriations to sports, and the incompletion of a large portion of development projects due to lack of funding. Examination of the performance metrics of the Ministry of Sports and Youth’s outputs and comparison thereof with the provisions and metrics envisaged in the Seventh Progress Plan shows that the said metrics are not a cross-section of the Seventh Plan Bill, and there is doubt regarding their overlap.

Abstract The preparation and drafting of a comprehensive plan for the empowerment of women heads of household was emphasized in the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Development Plans; however, at present, despite the completion of the implementation of the Sixth Development Plan, no such plan has yet been sent by the Government to the Islamic Consultative Assembly for approval. This is despite the fact that, according to the Iranian Welfare Atlas, by the end of 1399, 37.7 percent of female-headed households were located in the lowest three household income deciles. In this report, after identifying summary shortcomings, which are mainly related to prerequisites and to the process and content of legislation, the quality of implementation of empowerment plans for women heads of household in various executive agencies is analyzed pathologically. Therefore, at the end of the report, in light of the shortcomings mentioned, proposals are presented, the most important of which are: “revising the laws related to women heads of household covered by support institutions and enacting a comprehensive law concerning them,” “designating a single steward for regulation in the provision of support and empowerment services,” “establishing a comprehensive and integrated system regarding the status of women heads of household,” and “regional and local planning toward the empowerment of women heads of household.”

Abstract In 2022, the value of global exports of cement and clinker was about 13.5 billion dollars, of which 32.5 percent was clinker, 5.1 percent was white cement, and the remainder (62.4 percent) consisted of various types of ordinary cement. The examinations show that global trade in Portland cement is not experiencing growth, but it is still recognized as the principal product in this value chain. Global markets for white cement and other cements are limited and no growth is observed in them. However, with respect to the trade in clinker and concrete products, notable growth is observed. Among Iran’s regional competitors, Turkey’s most important distinction has been the high share of Portland cement and white cement in its export basket and the extension of the products of this chain beyond neighboring countries. The value of the country’s cement exports in 1401 was about 332 million dollars (less than 1 percent of the total value of non-oil exports), mostly to neighboring countries such as Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Clinker is the main product in the country’s export basket. This is while, given the saturation of domestic demand coverage, there exists the capacity to export 20 million tons of products in the cement chain. The examinations show that export sales in cement-producing companies are carried out merely to preserve the level of production and company income and to generate foreign-exchange earnings. The difference between domestic and export prices is also volatile, such that at times the domestic selling price has been higher than the export selling price. Therefore, planning to increase the value added of products and to diversify export destinations is of importance.

Abstract The institutional study of Iran’s communication–media bodies shows that Iran’s media structure is characterized by multiplicity and dispersion in policymaking, supervisory, regulatory, and facilitative institutions. In addition, laws and directives in the field of media and media institutions have not been clearly drafted and organized. This multiplicity, dispersion, and ambiguity in laws have advanced to such an extent that the jurisdictional domain of the actors has become contentious and has, in some cases, created territorial disputes or forms of neglect in sectors such as content-media services of the National Information Network. These issues in the architecture of the country’s media system appear to be among the factors behind the inefficiency of media governance and the decline of media authority and trust. The most important challenges identified in evaluating the institutional architecture of Iran’s communication–media bodies, which have increased inter-agency friction, may be listed as follows: 1. the error of disconnecting the internal elements of the agencies’ institutional architecture and disregarding other roles; 2. the creation of parallel bodies within the structural hierarchy under the dual logic of sovereign-state/governmental arrangements; 3. a divergent institutional architecture based on old media concepts in communication–media bodies; 4. the absence of a clearly demarcated hierarchy and reciprocal duties among agencies, producing a structure outside the logic of cohesion and synergy; 5. lack of attention to the place of the people in media administration; 6. lack of attention to the evolution of media and to changing media laws in proportion to transformations; 7. multiplicity and non-differentiation of the duties and supervisory scope of overseers at different levels and the absence of appropriate enforcement guarantees; 8. the unbalanced development of the normative and institutional wings of media regulation in the absence of a clear and specific legal evaluation framework; and 9. the failure to define clear and fair facilitation mechanisms. It should be noted that the present report, as the first step in a series of reports on rearranging the institutional architecture of Iran’s communication–media bodies, is devoted to the pathology of this issue; subsequent reports will address the comparative study of the institutional architecture of communication–media bodies in world countries (2), and the collection of the views of Iranian academic and executive elites and the presentation of policy recommendations (3).

Abstract In the 1403 Budget Bill, total capital asset acquisition appropriations within the Government’s general expenditures amount to 400 thousand billion tomans, distributed as follows: (1) 263 thousand billion tomans for projects of national executive bodies (Annex 1); (2) 71 thousand billion tomans for appropriations of provincial/local executive bodies in the provinces; and (3) 66 thousand billion tomans for miscellaneous line-item appropriations. The development (construction) appropriations of national executive bodies are presented in the form of 2,325 projects in Annex (1) of the 1403 Budget Bill. Of these, 558 are ongoing projects with the subject of repairs, procurement, and equipping of machinery and facilities, with total appropriations of about 20 thousand billion tomans; and 1,767 are non-ongoing (project-based) projects with total appropriations of about 243 thousand billion tomans. Reducing the share of miscellaneous appropriations and increasing their transparency by adding these appropriations to the projects of executive bodies are among the strengths of the 1403 Budget Bill. This report presents details related to these projects, compares them with the 1402 Budget Law, and provides supplementary points regarding the Government’s development projects. Some notable points regarding the 1403 development projects are as follows: (1) the average age of the projects listed in Annex (1) is more than 17 years; (2) an amount of about 2,000 thousand billion tomans has been estimated as necessary to complete all projects in this annex, of which 243 thousand billion tomans can be financed in 1403; therefore, with this financing trend, completing these projects within 7 to 8 years is not unexpected; and (3) of the 144 projects which, under the 1402 Budget Law, were supposed to be completed by the end of that year, 90 projects are still included in the 1403 Budget Bill, indicating a delay of at least 63 percent of those projects. Given the intense competition between current expenditures and development appropriations for attracting the Government’s general resources, attention to mechanisms for efficient management of development projects is of special importance. Creating a process for screening projects aligned with strategic objectives, and planning to accelerate progress in these projects, can both create productive economic infrastructure and strengthen public trust in the Government’s effectiveness.

Abstract In the 1403 Budget Bill, the resources and expenditures of state-owned companies have increased by about 29.7 percent compared to the 1402 Budget Law. It should be noted that if the budget of state-owned companies is examined at constant prices (removing the effect of inflation), it becomes clear that the turnover of these companies over a 13-year period has generally had a downward trend. On the other hand, clause “b” of Note (Tabserah) 13 of the 1403 Budget Law addresses the deduction of one percent of the expenses of state-owned companies (with the exception of bank and insurance profit and penalty costs) and its allocation to cultural affairs. Under this clause, it is provisions that 36 thousand billion tomans, from the expenses of state-owned companies, be allocated to the rows listed in Table 12 of the 1403 Budget Bill. Because of the magnitude of this amount and its coverage of all state-owned companies (even loss-making companies and those with accumulated losses), this rule will create many problems for these companies. Notably, one percent of expenses in 77 profitable state-owned companies exceeds the total profit projected for the next year (in some companies, this figure is more than 400 times that company’s profit, and in some others, more than 1,000 times the company’s capital expenditures funded from internal resources). Meanwhile, for 180 companies, zero profit has essentially been projected, and paying one percent of expenses for them will, in practice, with significant probability be equivalent to a loss. Overall, it can be said that for 257 state-owned companies (equivalent to 76 percent of state-owned companies), this amount is greater than the total profit of these companies. It is clear that approving such rules and extracting the financial resources of state-owned companies at this scale will disrupt the core function of state-owned companies, namely investment.

Abstract The “Plan to Amend the Law on the Guild System of the Country,” approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly on 1402/12/22, was sent to the Guardian Council for review and comment. The Guardian Council announced its opinion on the said approval pursuant to letter No. 102/41610 dated 1403/02/12. Subsequently, the Guardian Council’s opinions and the commission’s approval dated 1403/02/23 have been examined, and proposals—observing the formalities set out in the Rules of Procedure—have been presented to remove ambiguities, contradictions, or remarks.

Abstract Knowledge-based cooperatives, in addition to benefiting from all the advantages that apply to other knowledge-based companies and institutions (such as creativity, innovation, creating dynamism and sustainability in the economy), also have unique characteristics that help them play a special role in pursuing the goals of the resistance economy. Cooperatives’ attention to social objectives, the public good, and the social mode of organizing cooperatives provides a special capacity for realizing resistance-economy goals. This report shows that policies and laws in the field of knowledge-based cooperatives—by taking this issue into account, namely the effect of the social aspect of knowledge-based cooperatives in the resistance economy—can prepare the ground for placing knowledge-based cooperatives in their special position: a position that provides the greatest benefit both for these companies themselves and for the interests of the national economy. Based on the results of this research, it is necessary that the “Law on the Cooperative Sector of the Economy of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” which was written nearly two decades before the communication of the general policies of the resistance economy and the new requirements of the country’s economic scene, be rewritten based on current needs and necessities, especially in redefining cooperatives, empowerment, education, and financial and non-financial support for cooperatives.

Abstract Media measurement is a general term referring to the review of performance, evaluation, and oversight of the activities of a media organization across a wide range of topics such as content, human resources, technical facilities, audience polling, media impacts, and so forth. Measurements are conducted to provide feedback and suggestions to media organizations to improve performance and enhance content quality, and—whether continuous or case-specific—identify deviations from established standards and indicators and, while pointing out shortcomings, provide solutions for achieving a desirable situation. The present oversight report is an introduction to the discussion of the “pathology of measuring public-service media in Iran,” an important topic raised under “media authority,” and considered as one of the tools for understanding the status of media authority. This report seeks to present a picture of the current status of measurements being carried out by research centers and institutions in the field of public-service radio and television (specifically IRIB). By identifying these centers—their missions and objectives, the mechanisms for carrying out different types of measurement, and their capacities and limitations—it offers proposals for conducting a more precise study and pathology of the measurement situation. For this purpose, first, using a documentary study method, after identifying centers responsible for or related to the measurement of IRIB, the missions, objectives, and responsibilities of the centers responsible for or participating in these measurements were examined. Then, through interviews with managers and experts of the centers, a picture of capacities and limitations related to measurement processes was extracted. This report is only a conceptual mapping of the measurement process—including types, dimensions, indicators, methods, and so forth—in the centers studied, and, in summary form, depicts challenges of carrying out measurements solely based on information and data from interviewees in the relevant centers. It is only a preface to the topic of the pathology of measuring public-service media, based on identifying internal and external centers responsible for IRIB measurement and introducing their goals and missions.

Abstract As a continuation of the previous report, which explained the position of divine norms (sonan-e elahi) in the realm of governance, this report explains how to apply divine norms in governance. In other words, the main question is defined as follows: how can divine norms be used in governance? Accordingly, “norm research” (sonnat-pezhūhī) and its steps are presented as a new approach for using divine norms in governance. Norm research is defined on the basis of identifying phenomena and explaining them according to divine norms and the causal relations based on them. Norm research addresses researching divine norms and discovering them, explaining the conditions and manner of theiraccomplishment, classifying them, and explaining how they interact with one another, and introduces them for analyzing and explaining future events. Next, the source for discovering divine norms and the logic of extracting them are explained as the manner and method for discovering norms based on Qur’anic verses and narrations. Finally, the “system of divine norms” is explained as a systematic view of divine norms with the aim of using them in governance.

Abstract Growth and development of handicrafts, while promoting culture and preserving a society’s civilizational foundations, can today also play an important role in the country’s economic growth. One of the most important measures for developing the country’s handicrafts and removing obstacles to their development is carrying out the necessary supportive actions for handicrafts activists and artists. For this purpose, the Law on Supporting Artists, Master Artisans, and Activists of Handicrafts was adopted by the Islamic Consultative Assembly on 1396/10/26 and communicated in the Twelfth Government. Since more than 6 years have passed since the adoption of this law, oversight of its implementation can make it possible to identify the issues and challenges of implementing this law. This report, emphasizing the first four articles of the law, addresses defining and identifying instances of handicrafts (Article (1)), insurance coverage for activists (Article (2)), and the duties and actions of executive bodies (Articles (3) and (4)). Nearly 53 percent of the provisions reviewed are assessed as having performance. Also, 88 percent of the clauses of Article (3) and only 26 percent of the clauses of Article (4) have performance. Among the reasons for the incomplete realization of this law are: lack of explicitness of some phrases in the law; failure of responsible bodies to follow up on implementing assigned duties; failure to foresee financial resources in annual budgets; an incoherent structure and substantive flaws in the text of the law; failure to foresee necessary enforcement guarantees for implementing the provisions; and a four-year delay in the process of drafting and communicating the executive bylaw. To remove obstacles to realizing the said law, measures are proposed such as: removing ambiguity from the definition of handicrafts in Article (1); revising the criterion for decision-making on termination of the insurance of beneficiaries under Article (2); obligating continuous ex post oversight to prevent the sale of any non-handicraft product in exclusive handicrafts stores; emphasizing the use of the capacity of border and non-border marketplaces to increase sales of handicraft products (with the proposal of two notes to clause “sh” of Article (4)); and using the capacities of all executive bodies that have relevant capabilities.

Abstract Reviewing the Judiciary’s budget—considering its degree of conformity with the general policies, especially the general policies of the Seventh Plan; the degree of consistency of figures with the provisions contained in the 1403 Budget Law; and observance of other laws, principles, and legal rules in the relevant tables—is important for achieving the goals of this branch. Through a legal review of Part Two of the 1403 National Budget Bill, issues such as “failure to fully realize the Judiciary’s approved budget,” “the double-ceiling nature of the budget regarding revenue surplus over revenue from judicial services,” “the entry of zero in the tables for revenue arising from surplus immovable properties,” and “failure to determine a specific budget related to the expansion of legal and judicial culture” are raised. The report also analyzes and examines the extent of the Judiciary’s budget increase in line with the general policies of the Seventh Plan, and the growth rate of the budget of each of the Judiciary’s bodies.

Abstract Review of Part Two of the 1403 National Budget Bill shows that the amount of identifiable appropriations for the rural and nomadic management and development domain, extracted from relevant projects in the annexes of the major tables, Annex One (capital asset acquisition projects) and Annex Three (budget of state-owned companies and …), is 16,267 billion tomans, which shows about a 24 percent decrease compared to the corresponding projects in the 1402 Budget Law. Of this amount, 32.75 percent is current-expenditure appropriations and 67.25 percent is capital asset acquisition appropriations. Compared to the 1402 Budget Law, current-expenditure appropriations increased by 16 percent, but capital asset acquisition appropriations experienced a decrease of 34.97 percent. Overall, the identifiable and transparent share of rural and nomadic areas from total public-budget resources in 1403 is equal to 0.6 percent, which, compared to the 1402 Budget Law, faces a 39.4 percent decrease. In addition, about 11 percent of identifiable appropriations—amounting to 1,850 billion tomans—are miscellaneous appropriations, of which 350 billion tomans are current expenditures and 1,500 billion tomans are capital asset acquisition. In general, the identifiable appropriations and the titles of projects and envisaged quantitative objectives show that Part Two of the 1403 National Budget Bill has a severely weak alignment with the basic challenges of the rural and nomadic management and development domain—especially employment and production—which over the past decade have consistently been emphasized by the Supreme Leader in the annual slogans. It cannot have a significant impact on the flourishing of the rural and nomadic economy and the reduction of inequalities, especially in education and health, and consequently in reducing the trend of rural-to-urban migration. Moreover, for some related obligations of the Seventh Progress Plan—especially the establishment of the Organization for the Progress and prosperity of villages and nomadic affairs (title of subpart “1” of clause “a” of Article (51))—no budget line has been foreseen. In this regard, proposals have been raised for revising project titles and objectives.

Abstract The capital market is one of the important financial markets that transfers financial resources from holders of surplus funds to applicants for financial resources. To achieve this important function, it is necessary that its infrastructures- including legal infrastructures—be provided. The Law of the Securities Market of the Islamic Republic of Iran, adopted in 1384, is the most important capital-market law and addresses multiple dimensions of the capital market. With more than 18 years having passed since the adoption of this law, and simultaneously with the growth and development of laws in the financial domain, it is necessary to take action to complete this law. Therefore, the Economic Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly has acted to amend the Securities Market Law, and aspects of that law have been upgraded. This report reviews the Economic Commission’s report regarding amendment of the Securities Market Law adopted in 1384.