Government Decree No. 2017-390 of March 9, 2017, establishing a performance management unit for revising economic activity authorizations and the Tunisian Activity Nomenclature

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Government Decree No. 2017-390 of March 9, 2017, establishing, organizing, and setting the operating procedures for a performance management unit to carry out the project for revising authorizations for the exercise of economic activities and establishing the Tunisian Activity Nomenclature.

The Head of Government,
On the proposal of the Minister of Development, Investment and International Cooperation, Having regard to the Constitution, Having regard to Law No. 83-112 of December 12, 1983, establishing the general status of State personnel, local authorities, and public administrative establishments, as amended and supplemented by subsequent texts, notably Decree-Law No. 2011-89 of September 23, 2011, Having regard to Law No. 99-32 of April 13, 1999, on the national statistical system, and notably its Articles 4, 10, and 18, Having regard to Law No. 2015-33 of August 17, 2015, fixing senior civil service positions in accordance with Article 92 of the Constitution, Having regard to Law No. 2016-71 of September 30, 2016, on investment, as amended by Law No. 2017-1 of January 3, 2017, establishing a supplementary finance law for 2016, and notably its Articles 2 and 4, Having regard to Decree No. 94-780 of April 4, 1994, establishing the national business directory, Having regard to Decree No. 96-1236 of July 6, 1996, establishing performance management units, Having regard to Decree No. 99-2797 of December 13, 1999, fixing the composition, organization, and operating procedures of the National Statistics Council, as amended and supplemented by subsequent texts, notably Decree No. 2004-2659 of November 29, 2004, Having regard to Decree No. 2006-1245 of April 24, 2006, fixing the rules for granting and withdrawing central administration functional positions, Having regard to Decree No. 2014-3484 of September 18, 2014, on establishing a participatory process for simplifying administrative procedures governing economic activities under the ministries of the interior, equipment, spatial planning and sustainable development, tourism, and health, Having regard to Government Decree No. 2016-1164 of August 10, 2016, organizing the Ministry of Development, Investment and International Cooperation, Having regard to Presidential Decree No. 2016-107 of August 27, 2016, appointing the Head of Government and its members, Having regard to the Order of the Minister of Industry and Technology of September 15, 2010, repealing the Order of the Minister of Industry of July 2, 1996, homologating the Tunisian standard relating to the activity nomenclature, Having regard to the opinion of the Administrative Court, After deliberation by the Council of Ministers, Enacts the following Government Decree:

Article 1 - This Government Decree sets out provisions relating to:

• the creation of a performance management unit to carry out the project for revising authorizations for the exercise of economic activities within the framework of applying Article 4 of the aforementioned investment law,
• the Tunisian Activity Nomenclature provided for in Article 2 of the aforementioned investment law.

TITRE PREMIER
The performance management unit for carrying out the project for revising authorizations for the exercise of economic activities

Art. 2 - A performance management unit is established within the ministry responsible for investment to carry out the project for revising authorizations for the exercise of economic activities.

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Art. 3 - The performance management unit is tasked, in coordination with the ministries and bodies involved in the investment operation, notably with the following:

• studying and evaluating all legal and regulatory texts relating to the exercise of economic activities, as well as proposing and monitoring the implementation of reforms likely to enshrine the principle of investment freedom provided for in Article 4 of the investment law,
• drafting a revision program for investment operation authorizations, either by abolishing them or replacing them with specifications in accordance with the principle of investment liberalization,
• revising and simplifying the procedure for granting maintained authorizations,
• revising and updating the specifications for economic activities to enshrine the principles of procedure simplification and investment freedom,
• drafting the Government Decree provided for in Article 4 of the aforementioned investment law relating to:
  • fixing the list of activities subject to authorization and the list of administrative authorizations to carry out a project, the deadlines, procedures, and conditions for their granting,
  • fixing the list of activities exempt from the silence-is-consent principle.
• drafting the legal and regulatory texts relating to the abolition of authorizations or their replacement with specifications in coordination with the concerned administrative bodies,
• drafting a guide on the list of authorizations and specifications for all economic activities, specifying notably the granting procedures, required documents, bodies responsible for granting them, and response deadlines for authorization requests,
• monitoring the implementation of the revision program for authorizations for the exercise of economic activities by the concerned administrative bodies and working to rigorously achieve the expected objectives.

Art. 4 - The duration for carrying out the performance management unit's work is set at three years from the date of entry into force of this Government Decree. This duration comprises two phases:
First phase: It spans one year from the date of entry into force of this Government Decree and includes notably:

• conducting studies and evaluating all legal and regulatory texts relating to the exercise of authorized economic activities, as well as administrative authorizations to carry out a project, deadlines, procedures, and conditions for their granting,
• fixing the list of activities subject to authorization and the list of administrative authorizations to carry out a project, deadlines, procedures, and conditions for their granting, and drafting the draft Government Decree relating thereto in accordance with Article 4 of the investment law,
• drafting the program for abolishing authorizations or replacing them with specifications, as well as the implementation schedule.
  This phase must be concluded by drafting a report comprising recommendations and concrete proposals for simplifying authorization granting procedures and reducing them. Second Phase: It spans two years from the date of closure of the first phase and includes notably:
• implementing the program for simplifying authorization granting procedures, their abolition, or replacement with specifications in accordance with the schedule set during the first phase of the performance management unit's work,
• drafting the legal and regulatory texts relating to the abolition of authorizations or their replacement with specifications in coordination with the concerned administrative bodies,

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• revising and updating the specifications relating to the exercise of economic activities,
• drafting a guide on the list of authorizations and specifications for all economic activities, specifying notably the granting procedures, required documents, bodies responsible for granting them, and response deadlines for authorization requests.

Art. 5 - The results of the performance management unit's work are evaluated according to the following criteria:

• compliance with project execution deadlines in accordance with Article 4 of this Government Decree,
• achievement of the project's expected objectives,
• degree of achievement of the unit's annual work programs,
• degree of achievement of the recommendations of the project monitoring and steering committee established in accordance with Article 7 of this Government Decree,
• difficulties hindering execution and measures taken to resolve them,
• efficiency of the regulatory intervention to regulate the execution pace.

Art. 6 - The unit comprises the following functional positions:

• the unit head, holding the rank and benefits of a central administration general director,
• two senior officials holding the rank and benefits of a central administration director,
• two senior officials holding the rank and benefits of a central administration deputy director.

Art. 7 - A commission is established within the ministry responsible for investment, chaired by the minister responsible for investment or their representative, tasked with monitoring the missions entrusted to the aforementioned unit and evaluating them according to the criteria defined in Article 5 of this Government Decree. The commission is composed of members representing the ministries and public bodies concerned by the authorizations, including a representative of the ministry responsible for public service and governance. The commission members are appointed by order of the minister responsible for investment. The commission chair may, when necessary, convene any person whose opinion is deemed useful and have them participate in its work, among representatives of ministries and concerned bodies, as well as any other instance, organization, or association concerned with the investment sector. The commission meets upon convocation by its chair at least once every three months and whenever necessary. It may only deliberate in the presence of at least half of its members. If the quorum is not met, the commission will be convened to meet a second time within fifteen days thereafter. In this case, its deliberations will be considered legal regardless of the number of members present. The commission issues its opinion by majority vote of the members present. In case of a tie, the commission chair's vote is decisive. The minister responsible for investment submits an annual report to the Head of Government on the performance management unit's activities.

Art. 8 - The unit may utilize the expertise and competence of State agents, local authority personnel, and public establishments and enterprises, who will be designated by decision of the minister responsible for investment upon advice from their administrative superiors. It may also utilize experts and competencies from the private sector when necessary, designated by decision of the minister responsible for investment. The unit head may, when necessary, call upon representatives of ministries and concerned bodies, as well as representatives of any other instance, organization, or association concerned with the investment sector.

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TITRE II
The Tunisian Activity Nomenclature

Art. 9 - The Tunisian Activity Nomenclature represents the unique, updated national reference for all economic activities. It enables their classification across all sectors according to harmonized national categories and internationally comparable standards, notably through the codification of economic enterprise activities and the development of statistical databases relating to economic and social activities.

Art. 10 - The Tunisian Activity Nomenclature aims notably to:

• group and classify economic and social information by activity for statistical purposes and in accordance with unified criteria,
• exchange harmonized data between public and private bodies,
• facilitate the conduct of analytical studies and statistical comparisons at the national and international levels.

Art. 11 - The Tunisian Activity Nomenclature is composed of the following elements:

• the general framework: it sets the objectives for adopting the nomenclature and determines the definitions and terminologies enabling its effective application to guarantee its harmonization with comparable international nomenclatures,
• the detailed structure: it determines the structure and codification system adopted to digitize the various nomenclature categories,
• explanatory notes: they clarify the content and scope of the nomenclature categories.
  The detailed structure of the 2009 Tunisian Activity Nomenclature is attached to this Government Decree.

Art. 12 - The National Institute of Statistics is responsible for:

• providing technical assistance to concerned public bodies to apply the Tunisian Activity Nomenclature through training and coding assistance,
• updating and revising the Tunisian Activity Nomenclature in coordination with concerned bodies within a steering committee to be created for this purpose.
  Public bodies are called upon to take all necessary means and tools to adopt the Tunisian Activity Nomenclature as their unique activity nomenclature and to take necessary measures to revise their relevant data in accordance with the attached nomenclature, within a maximum period of two years from the date of publication of this Government Decree. The National Institute of Statistics is responsible for evaluating the degree of use of the Tunisian Activity Nomenclature among concerned public bodies.

Art. 13 - Regulatory texts relating to the updating of the Tunisian Activity Nomenclature are drafted by the National Institute of Statistics and submitted to the National Statistics Council for opinion.

Art. 14 - The Minister of Development, Investment and International Cooperation and the Minister of Finance are each responsible, within their respective areas of competence, for implementing this Government Decree, which will be published in the Official Journal of the Tunisian Republic.

Tunis, March 9, 2017.
For Counter-signing
The Minister of Finance
Lamia Boujnah Zribi
The Minister of Development, Investment and International Cooperation Mouhamed Fadhel Abdelkefi The Head of Government Youssef Chahed

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ANNEXE: The detailed structure of the 2009 Tunisian Activity Nomenclature

Section	Division	Group	Class	Title (NAT 2009)
A	AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHING
		01		Crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities
			01.1	Non-permanent crops
			01.11	Growing of cereals (except rice)
			01.12	Growing of rice
			01.13	Growing of vegetables and melons, roots and tubers
			01.14	Growing of sugar cane
			01.15	Growing of tobacco
			01.16	Growing of fiber crops
			01.17	Growing of leguminous crops and oil seeds
			01.18	Growing of fodder crops
			01.19	Other non-permanent crops
			01.2	Permanent crops
			01.21	Growing of grapes
			01.22	Growing of dates
			01.23	Growing of citrus fruit
			01.24	Growing of pome fruits and stone fruits
			01.25	Growing of other tree and bush fruits and nuts
			01.26	Growing of olives
			01.27	Growing of beverage crops
			01.28	Growing of spices, aromatic, drug and pharmaceutical crops
			01.29	Other permanent crops
			01.3	Plant propagation
			01.30	Plant propagation
			01.4	Animal production
			01.41	Dairy cattle farming
			01.42	Raising of other cattle and buffaloes
			01.43	Raising of horses and other equines
			01.44	Raising of camels and camelids
			01.45	Raising of sheep and goats
			01.46	Raising of swine/pigs
			01.47	Raising of poultry
			01.49	Raising of other animals
			01.5	Mixed farming
			01.50	Mixed farming
			01.6	Support activities to agriculture and post-harvest crop activities
			01.61	Support activities for crop production
			01.62	Support activities for animal production
			01.63	Post-harvest crop activities
			01.64	Seed processing for propagation

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Section	Division	Group	Class	Title (NAT 2009)
			01.7	Hunting, trapping and related service activities
			01.70	Hunting, trapping and related service activities
		02		Forestry and logging
			02.1	Silviculture and other forestry activities
			02.10	Silviculture and other forestry activities
			02.2	Logging
			02.20	Logging
			02.3	Gathering of non-wood forest products
			02.31	Gathering of wild rubber
			02.32	Gathering of wild cork
			02.33	Gathering of other non-wood forest products
			02.4	Support services to forestry
			02.40	Support services to forestry
		03		Fishing and aquaculture
			03.1	Fishing
			03.11	Marine fishing
			03.12	Freshwater fishing
			03.2	Aquaculture
			03.21	Marine aquaculture
			03.22	Freshwater aquaculture
B	MINING AND QUARRYING
		05		Mining of coal and lignite
			05.1	Mining of hard coal
			05.10	Mining of hard coal
			05.2	Mining of lignite
			05.20	Mining of lignite
		06		Extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas
			06.1	Extraction of crude petroleum
			06.10	Extraction of crude petroleum
			06.2	Extraction of natural gas
			06.20	Extraction of natural gas
		07		Mining of metal ores
			07.1	Mining of iron ores
			07.10	Mining of iron ores
			07.2	Mining of non-ferrous metal ores
			07.21	Mining of uranium and thorium ores
			07.29	Mining of other non-ferrous metal ores
		08		Other mining and quarrying
			08.1	Quarrying of stone, sand and clay
			08.11	Quarrying of ornamental and building stone, limestone, gypsum, chalk and slate
			08.12	Operation of gravel and sand pits; mining of clays and kaolin

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Section	Division	Group	Class	Title (NAT 2009)
		08.2		Mining of chemical and fertilizer minerals
			08.20	Mining of chemical and fertilizer minerals
		08.9		Other mining and quarrying n.e.c.
			08.91	Mining of chemical and fertilizer minerals (except phosphates)
			08.92	Peat extraction
			08.93	Salt extraction
			08.99	Other mining and quarrying n.e.c.
		09		Support activities for mining and quarrying
			09.1	Support activities for petroleum and natural gas extraction
			09.10	Support activities for petroleum and natural gas extraction
			09.9	Support activities for other mining and quarrying
			09.90	Support activities for other mining and quarrying
C	MANUFACTURING
		10		Manufacture of food products
			10.1	Processing and preserving of meat and production of meat products
			10.11	Processing and preserving of meat
			10.12	Processing and preserving of poultry and production of poultry meat
			10.13	Production of meat and poultry products
			10.2	Processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans and molluscs
			10.20	Processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans and molluscs
			10.3	Processing and preserving of fruit and vegetables
			10.31	Processing and preserving of potatoes
			10.32	Manufacture of fruit and vegetable juice
			10.33	Processing and preserving of tomatoes
			10.34	Processing and preserving of other vegetables, except tomatoes
			10.39	Processing and preserving of fruit
			10.4	Manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats
			10.41	Manufacture of oils and fats
			10.42	Manufacture of margarine and similar edible fats
			10.43	Refining of oils and fats
			10.44	Manufacture of margarine and similar edible fats
			10.5	Manufacture of dairy products
			10.51	Operation of dairies and cheese making
			10.52	Manufacture of ice cream and ice
			10.6	Processing of grain; manufacture of flour-mill products; manufacture of starches and starch products
			10.61	Milling
			10.62	Manufacture of macaroni, noodles, couscous and similar farinaceous products
			10.69	Manufacture of other farinaceous products
			10.7	Manufacture of bread; manufacture of fresh pastry goods and cakes; manufacture of sugar confectionery
			10.71	Manufacture of bread; manufacture of fresh pastry goods and cakes
			10.72	Manufacture of biscuits and other baked goods
			10.73	Manufacture of macaroni, noodles, couscous and similar farinaceous products

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Section	Division	Group	Class	Title (NAT 2009)
			10.74	Manufacture of macaroni, noodles, couscous and similar farinaceous products
			10.8	Manufacture of other food products
			10.81	Manufacture of sugar
			10.82	Manufacture of cocoa, chocolate and sugar confectionery
			10.83	Processing of tea and coffee
			10.84	Manufacture of condiments and seasonings
			10.85	Manufacture of prepared meals and dishes
			10.86	Manufacture of homogenized food preparations and dietetic food
			10.89	Manufacture of other food products n.e.c.
			10.9	Manufacture of prepared animal feeds
			10.91	Manufacture of prepared feeds for farm animals
			10.92	Manufacture of prepared pet foods
		11		Manufacture of beverages
			11.0	Manufacture of beverages
			11.01	Distilling, rectifying and blending of spirits
			11.02	Manufacture of wine from grape
			11.03	Manufacture of cider and other wine of fruit
			11.04	Manufacture of other non-distilled fermented beverages
			11.05	Manufacture of beer
			11.06	Manufacture of malt
			11.07	Manufacture of soft drinks; production of mineral waters and other bottled waters
			11.08	Manufacture of ice
		12		Manufacture of tobacco products
			12.0	Manufacture of tobacco products
			12.00	Manufacture of tobacco products
		13		Manufacture of textiles
			13.1	Preparation and spinning of textile fibres
			13.10	Preparation and spinning of textile fibres
			13.2	Weaving of textiles
			13.21	Weaving of cotton textiles
			13.29	Weaving of other textiles
			13.3	Finishing of textiles
			13.30	Finishing of textiles
			13.4	Manufacture of made-up textile articles, except apparel
			13.41	Manufacture of cotton woven blankets and covers
			13.42	Manufacture of other made-up cotton articles
			13.9	Manufacture of other textiles
			13.91	Manufacture of knitted and crocheted fabrics
			13.92	Manufacture of made-up textile articles, except apparel
			13.93	Manufacture of other made-up textile articles