Municipal Administration Act (Arab Union)

The Municipal Administration Act, 2000 (Arabic: قانون النظام البلدي لعام ٢٠٠٠ qānūn an-niẓām al-baladī li-‘ām alfayn) is an act passed by the Arab Congress on 1 May 2000, which was simultaneously passed the following day by all 20 republican congresses of the Arab Union's 20 republics. The Act abolished the previous multi-tiered system of local government, replacing it with a single tier of municipal council areas equally subordinate to the government of their respective republic.

The reason for the Act's ratification by the republican congresses is because of the federal nature of the constitution of the Arab Union: as most non-criminal legislation falls under the jurisdiction of the republics (and those organised territories with devolved legislative assemblies), the reforms detailed in the Act were entirely non-binding, acting essentially as a simple recommendation; as such, the Act's final clause, which detailed how the stated reforms should be implemented, included a formal request of republican and organised territorial governments to enact their own legislation officially implementing the proposed reforms. By the start of 2001, all republican and territorial governments had acceded to the request, each passing a namesake act of their own which legally implemented the federally-proposed reforms in their respective jurisdiction; these acts were virtually identical, each simply quoting the text of the federal Act in its entirety with the addition of a preface clause stating the government's formal agreement to the implementation of the proposed reforms subsequently quoted.

The primary and most progressive of the reforms was the total abolition of the three-tiered system of governorates, districts and municipalities, the last of which constituted the lowest level of local government (except in regions with a strong tradition of tribal autonomy, in which multiple villages with their own traditional tribal councils acted as administrative divisions of a single municipality, in a de facto four-tiered system). The tiered system of local government was replaced with a single-tiered system, in which all permanent communities would constitute, depending on their population, population density and physical size, either all or part of a municipality; municipalities would each have a municipal government called a "council" (مجلس majlis; pl. مجالس majālis), which would be responsible for public administration and the provision of civic services within its area of jurisdiction, excluding those services administered directly by republican/territorial governments or the federal government. Village/tribal councils were also formalised by the reform, creating an official two-tiered system in those municipalities where the tradition persisted; by 2010, however, at least 75% of all traditional councils had been voluntarily abolished as a result of increasing urbanisation, modernisation, and effectiveness of the reformed municipalities.

Theoretically speaking, at any time, one or more republics' congress may repeal the Municipal Administration Act in favour of another system of local government, regardless of the federal government's position. However, the system of local government administration throughout the 20 republics has proved more positive than negative in its uniformity, two examples being a significant reduction across the board in unnecessary bureaucracy and increased ease of public administration between the local, republican/territorial and federal levels of government, and as such no republic has to this date actually done away with the system implemented by the Act.