Tunis — A Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani at the Government Palace in Kasbah Wednesday approved the draft law amending the provisions of Article 411 of the Commercial Code relating to penalties for the offence of issuing bad cheques.

The bill aims to mitigate the penalties (both criminal and financial) associated with bad cheques by proposing the possibility of replacing imprisonment with an alternative sentence, according to a statement from the Prime Ministry.

It also seeks to criminalise the receipt of a guarantee cheque, establish the principle of cumulative sentences handed down in the same trial, review prison sentences handed down by different courts, and extend the scope of conciliation procedures to include the enforcement phase of sanctions.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Justice presented at the meeting, 204 people out of 496 had been imprisoned for the offence of issuing bad cheques, by the end of April 2024.

In addition, the Ministry of Justice reports that 11,265 complaints have been lodged in relation to cheque offences involving insufficient funds.

Addressing the meeting, the Prime Minister praised the efforts of all stakeholders to improve economic indicators, recalling that the Tunisian economy has faced several challenges in recent years, mainly due to the COVID-19 health crisis (in 2020 and 2021) and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

He also praised the joint action and approach taken in drafting the draft law amending the provisions of Article 411 of the Commercial Code.

This bill, which was approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday, will soon be submitted to Parliament for ratification, according to the same source.