Social Insurance Body Willing ‘to Seize Everything’ to Recover Debt

The Syrian authorities continue their practice of making provisional seizures a routine procedure that any public institution or entity can impose on its debtors, rather than limiting it to judicial action. This time, the General Organisation for Social Insurance (GOSI), also known as the Social Security Organisation, is targeting with provisional seizures those who failed to pay taxes and fines due to GOSI, despite a clear law granting them a deadline until the end of this year to pay.

After a ten-day grace period that ended in mid-July, the Rural Damascus branch of the GOSI began imposing travel bans and administrative seizures on the assets and properties of 6,383 traders and industrialists from the private sector due to delays in paying GOSI the monthly instalments for workers officially registered in their establishments. An administrative seizure is a precautionary asset seizure that some ministries and their institutions can impose without judicial oversight.

The GOSI, which falls under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, has a board of directors and a general manager, with its headquarters in Damascus and branches in the governorates. The GOSI requires mandatory insurance for workers and employees in both the public and private sectors to protect their rights in cases of disability, old age, and risks. By the end of 2020, the number of workers registered with GOSI reached 1.03 million in the public sector and 850,000 in the private sector.

Since 2021, the general administration of the GOSI has demanded all its branches take immediate and urgent measures to collect its debts. Between 2021 and June 2024, 15,138 administrative seizure decisions were reached in favour of GOSI, and 7,160 warnings were issued, according to an article published by Qasioun newspaper (mouthpiece of the People’s Will Party) on June 6. The newspaper also reported that GOSI’s debts amounted to SYP 216.7 billion from public entities and SYP 26 billion from the private sector by the end of 2020.

The Director General of GOSI, Jaafar Al-Skaf, told the official Tishreen newspaper on July 2, that the measures taken against those who fail to pay their debts to GOSI begin with travel bans and the imposition of administrative seizures on their properties. These administrative seizure decisions are then disseminated through the national system for provisional seizure orders. To lift the administrative seizure, the debts, along with fines amounting to 6 percent and interest on delayed payments, must be paid. In a departure from all institutional and legal norms, Mr Al-Skaf said: “We will seize everything to recover our debts.” He threatened that if these debts were not paid, the provisional seizure would be turned into an executive seizure, and the properties would be sold at public auctions.

The grace period, warnings, and subsequent administrative seizure and travel ban procedures directed at those who fail to pay their instalments and fines are entirely at odds with Law No. 13 of 2024. This law, issued by the President in April, grants applicants to GOSI an exemption from interest, fines, and additional amounts if they pay their dues by the end of this year. The grace period provided by Law No. 13 of 2024 for late payers to settle their dues without penalties does not end until December 31, 2024.

Social Insurance Law No. 92 of 1959 and its amendments, which govern the operation of GOSI, grants GOSI the right to exercise the powers conferred on the competent financial authorities under the Public Funds Collection Law against delinquent applicants.

According to Law No. 92 of 1959, insurance is mandatory for both the employer and the worker, and any agreement to the contrary is not permitted. The main resources of social insurance funds come from contributions paid jointly by the employer and the worker, or solely by the employer. The contributions owed to GOSI by the employer and the worker are distributed as follows: the worker pays 7 percent of their monthly wage, while the employer pays 14 percent of the wages of their workers for old age, disability, and death insurance, and 3 percent of the wages of their workers for work injury insurance.