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As enacted
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Part VIII · General

46. Interpretation

Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires –

“budget” shall include the Appropriation Act for the relevant fiscal year;

“budget call circular” means a circular issued by the Department of National Budget, requesting submission of the revenue and expenditure of public institution for the relevant fiscal year for the purpose of preparation of the budget;

“Committee” means any Committee of

Parliament;

“Committee on Public Finance” and

“Committee on Ways and Means” means the Committee on Public Finance and

Committee on Ways and Means appointed by Parliament in terms of the

Standing Orders;

“Constitutional

Council”

means the

Constitutional Council referred to in

Article 41A of the Constitution of the

Democratic Socialist Republic of

Sri Lanka;

“costing” means an assessment of the cost of a policy proposal referred to in section 4 or a Bill tabled in Parliament, if implemented would change the budget surplus or deficit or would best suit the resources of the country in relation to the existing laws but -

(a)

it is not an assessment of the merits of a policy and it should not provide any policy recommendations;

(b)

it does not assess any economic impacts of a policy or Bill except the impact on the budget; and

(c)

it does not assess the non-financial impacts of a policy;

and shall include-

(i)

an assessment of the overall cost of the proposal;

(ii)

the description of the methodology used to prepare the policy costing; and

(iii)

the inputs used for the analysis;

“election” means an election under the

Parliamentary Elections Act, No.1 of 1981;

“independent group” means a group consisting of Members of Parliament, politicians or candidates at an election, who are not otherwise affiliated with or is a member of, any recognised political party;

“information” shall include-

(a)

financial, commercial, individual and programme data possessed by public institution;

(b)

financial models and costing models; and

(c)

non-financial data, such as data from the Department of Census and Statistics, and legal advice that the Government relies on to design and implement a policy or Bill tabled on Parliament;

“manifesto” means a publication issued by a recognised political party or an independent group before an election and may include any commitments made at an election platform;

“public corporation” shall have the same meaning assigned to such expression in the Constitution Democratic Socialist

Republic of Sri Lanka;

“Public Institution” means any Ministry,

Department of Government, public corporation, local authority and business or other undertaking within the meaning of the Conversion of Government Owned

Business Undertakings into Public

Corporations Act, No. 22 of 1987, or a company registered or deemed to be registered under the Companies Act,

No. 07 of 2007, in which the Government, a public corporation or any local authority holds more than fifty per centum of the shares and any Ministry or

Department of any Provincial Council or any Authority established by or created by a Provincial Council;

“public resources” means any property or asset owned by any Public Institution, including, but not limited to, money, funds, land, buildings, facilities, equipment, supplies and vehicles; and

“recognised political party shall have the same meaning assigned to such expression in the Constitution Democratic Socialist

Republic of Sri Lanka.

Read on from s 47