RIYADH: The Shoura Council has voted against an objection 15 members submitted to legislation that fixed the age of adulthood at 18. The 15 members, who belong to the Social and Youth Committee, presented a proposal fixing the age at 15. They based their argument on the fact that a majority of scholars believe that those under 15 are considered to be children, in order to be consistent with other rules and their definitions, particularly Article 9 of the new legislation. This article prohibits children working before they are 15. The same is applicable to Article 162 of the Labor Law, which was issued by a Royal Decree. In essence, this Article prohibits employment of anyone who is under 15 and their being at work sites. This also conforms to the Civil Status Law, which stipulates that any Saudi individual who is 15 can approach the Civil Status Department to apply for a separate ID. The principle applied in Shariah courts is that judges look at those who are 15 years old as mature, but Shoura members approved the draft law's article that fixed the age of adulthood at 18. Following this, the Shoura Council heard the viewpoint of the Economic Affairs and Energy Committee on the companies' draft law, which was raised in previous sessions. It also reviewed the annual report of the Ministry of Transportation for the fiscal year 2009-2010. The company's draft law has approved the nominal value of the shares of the joint-stock companies at SR10 and bestowed powers upon the Minister of Commerce and Industry to amend this value, in agreement with the Capital Market Authority. The Council also heard a report by the Transportation and Information Technology (IT) Committee. A number of officials from the Ministry of Transportation attended the deliberations to listen to comments about the report. Some members of the Shoura Council urged Ministry of Transportation officials to further improve the ministry's performance in large cities to cope with steady population increases.
