Reading a statute that is in force
The Law Office of Ali Barakat in Baghdad starts with a single question before any opinion or transaction is built on a statute: what is the text in force? The answer is not taken from a circulating summary or from a commentary page. It is taken from the instrument issued by the legislating authority and published in the official journal, after confirming that it remains in force and that later amendments have been brought into the reading.
This page sets out the office's method of reading: where a federal text is obtained, how it is read together with its amendments, what differs in the Kurdistan Region, and when it is enough to state the effect of a provision without reproducing it verbatim. Related pages cover searching the database, official references, quoting the official wording, and recent confirmed changes in labour, social security and companies legislation.
Where is a federal text obtained?
Two official sources complement each other; neither removes the need to check the other. The first is the Official Gazette (al-Waqa'i al-Iraqiya), the official journal in which the Ministry of Justice publishes legislation. The issue number and its date are usually the key to publication. The running of time generally starts from that date, or from a different commencement date if the statute itself so provides.
The second is the Iraqi Legislation Database of the Supreme Judicial Council, the interface from which a consolidated text is often retrieved, with an indication of amendments and of whether the instrument is in force. Retrieval from the database makes reading easier; it does not replace the Gazette publication data when there is a discrepancy, or when a copy of the issue is required.
The Iraqi text is the one published in the Official Gazette (الوقائع العراقية). If a summary or a translation conflicts with the Arabic published in the Gazette, the official Arabic prevails.
Force, amendment and the consolidated text
The number and year of a statute are not enough on their own. A law published years ago may have been amended more than once, or repealed and replaced, or left in force only in some of its articles. The legislation record is therefore read for status, amending laws and any correction notices are considered, and the article is then read in the form it has after those changes.
A consolidated text is useful because it shows the article as amended, but consolidation is a later editorial step. Where a time limit, a vested right or a penal provision is in issue, the commencement date of each amendment is verified, so that a later wording is not applied to an earlier set of facts.
Some statutes set a commencement date different from the date of publication. A text may, for example, come into force after a stated period from publication in the official journal. In that case the issue date alone is not sufficient; the date is counted from the wording of the instrument itself.
What differs in the Kurdistan Region?
The Kurdistan Region enacts its own legislation through its legislative authorities, and regional instruments are published in the Region's official journal. A federal statute may be brought into force in the Region by a special provision, have its application modified by a regional law, or be displaced by a regional regime on the same subject. It is not assumed that a federal text applies in Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok or Halabja in the same way as in the governorates that are not organised in a region, until the instrument that gives it effect in the Region has been reviewed.
Regional laws are passed by the Kurdistan Parliament and published in Waqai'i Kurdistan, the Region's official gazette. When a regional text is read, its regional source is named as such. A federal ministry is not confused with a directorate in the Region. The page on official legal references sets out this distinction and where each source is obtained.
What does reading a text mean in the office's work?
Reading comes before contract drafting and before filing a claim. The office will, on request, state the effect of an article or an amendment after verifying it against its official source: whether the rule is still in force, which body applies it, and whether a later text has overtaken it. A power of attorney in litigation and the drafting of a contract are separate engagements.
If the question concerns company registration, workers' social security, or a work permit for a non-Iraqi, the reading points to the relevant statute — Companies Law No. 21 of 1997, the Workers' Retirement and Social Security Law No. 18 of 2023, or Labour Law No. 37 of 2015 — and then to the practice page for that area. The procedure itself then runs before the body that handles the file: the Companies Registrar at the Ministry of Trade, the Department of Pension and Social Security for Workers at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, or the Department of Labour and Vocational Training at the same Ministry.
Three dates in one statute: the workers' social security example
The Workers' Retirement and Social Security Law No. 18 of 2023 shows why a single date is never enough. Its preamble records passage by the Council of Representatives under article 61(First) and article 73(Third) of the Constitution, and decision by the President of the Republic on 20/8/2023. It then appeared in the Official Gazette, issue 4734, on 28/8/2023. Yet its article 109 provides that it comes into force ninety days after publication. Enactment, publication and commencement are three separate points, and facts falling between publication and commencement are not governed by the new text. By contrast, article 13 of Instructions No. 1 of 2026 on foreign workers brings them into force on the date of publication, which was issue 4863 of 30/3/2026.
Repeal, renaming and transitional rules
Repeal does not necessarily sweep away everything issued under the repealed statute. Article 108 of Law No. 18 of 2023 repealed Law No. 39 of 1971 but kept the regulations and instructions issued under it in force until replaced or revoked. Some provisions substitute a name rather than a rule: article 128 of Execution Law No. 45 of 1980 replaces "head of execution" with "the judicial executor" (al-munaffidh al-adl) wherever it appears in laws and regulations. Article 125 of the same Law is a transitional rule: it applies to execution files pending at commencement from the stage they had reached.
The hierarchy of instruments
Instructions draw their force from an enabling provision. The foreign-worker Instructions rest on article 33 of Labour Law No. 37 of 2015, and Internal Regulation No. 3 of 2026 rests on article 101 of Law No. 18 of 2023, which assigns the Department's structure to an internal regulation issued by the fund's board and ratified by the Minister. The enabling provision named in the preamble is read before any reliance is placed on a subordinate text. On the Legislation Database, the "later relations" tab of a record is where amending or repealing instruments usually appear.
Limits on citing numbers and articles
An article number, a time limit or the name of a public body is taken from the official source on the date of the reading. If the text cannot be opened, or the rule remains unclear, the sentence is left without a number until the point is established. An English translation of an Iraqi statute — unless an official body has issued that translation — remains unofficial, and the Arabic text published in the Gazette is given precedence.
Legal basis and sources
- Iraqi Legislation Database (Supreme Judicial Council)
- Ministry of Justice — Official Gazette (al-Waqa'i al-Iraqiya)
Frequently asked questions
Is the number and year of a statute enough to say that this is the text in force?
No. Status is checked, amendments and correction notices are read, and the commencement date of each amendment is respected if it differs from the date of publication.
If a circulating summary differs from the Iraqi Legislation Database, which text is authoritative?
The Arabic text published in the Official Gazette is authoritative, together with what the Legislation Database records after the publication data have been verified. An unofficial summary is not preferred to the official source.
Is a Regional law the same as the federal statute?
Not necessarily. The federal statute may be brought into force in the Region by a special provision, or the subject may be governed by a Regional law. The instrument that gives effect in the Region is reviewed before any reliance is placed on the federal text.
Topics in this area
- 01How to search for an Iraqi statute in the Legislation DatabaseA practical method for finding a federal Iraqi statute in the Iraqi Legislation Database: by title, number or year, then checking status and amendments.
- 02Official references for federal law and Kurdistan Region legislationWhere to obtain the official text of a federal Iraqi statute and of Kurdistan Region legislation, and how the Gazette and the Legislation Database differ.
- 03When should the official wording be quoted, and what is its authority?When the Arabic Official Gazette text should be quoted verbatim, what an unofficial translation is worth, and what does not count as citing the source.
- 04What recent changes are confirmed in labour, social security and companies law?Recent instruments in the Iraqi Legislation Database on labour, social security and companies or branches, without any claim that the list is complete.
- 05Does the same rule apply in Baghdad, the Kurdistan Region and Basrah?How the 2005 Constitution decides which law applies in Baghdad, in the Kurdistan Region and in Basrah: exclusive federal powers, the Region's right to amend how federal law applies there, Kurdistan legislation since 1992, and the powers of a governorate council outside a region, with examples from the Income Tax Law.