This law determines the removal and sale of debris from damaged buildings in Syria, and governs the process for identifying, removing, and selling debris from zones identified by the Governor.

Law No. 3 of 2018
The removal of the rubble of buildings subject to laws requiring their demolition

The President of the Republic
In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution,
Promulgates the following:

Article 1
The following expressions and words, wherever they appear in this law, have the following meanings:

• Private Possessions: All moveable wealth that can be owned, used, utilized, exploited, or dealt with, like chattel, furniture, or other things.
• Rubble: The debris of demolished buildings, including materials internal or exterior to the building, and what cannot be properly regarded as Private Possessions or no longer has an owner.
• Damaged Buildings: Buildings demolished because of natural or unnatural factors, or because they are subject to laws in effect that require their demolition, whether this is an entire real estate area, a [single] property, or a division.
• Administrative Unit: The Administrative Unit is defined by the law of local administration issued in Administrative Decree No. 107 of 2011, and in the administrative boundaries in which the damaged building falls.
• Document of Ownership: The document on which the Description Committee relies, and which establishes ownership, as a valid reference to prove ownership of Private Possessions and Rubble.

Article 2

1. The governor, based on the recommendation of the Administrative Unit, is to issue a decision in which the area of real estate and Damaged Buildings that fall under the provisions of this law are defined. This decision includes the amount of time within which the Administrative Unit must prepare a detailed report on the state of this area, which shall be no longer than 120 days.
2. The decision is to be published in the official gazette, and it is to be announced in one of the newspapers of the capital and in the local press – if this exists – and it is to be announced on the bulletin board of the Administrative Unit and the courtyard of the province and the directorate of the area for 15 days. The announcement can also be circulated through visual and audio media, and through social media.
3. It is incumbent upon the owners of real estate in the real estate area, Private Possessions, and Rubble, and upon their legal representatives, their relatives up to the fourth degree, and everyone with an interest [in these], to present to the relevant administrative body – within thirty days of the date of the announcement – a request in which they describe their place of residence, with attached documents, evidence supporting their claims, or pictures of these in the case that they do not exist, and to note in their request the sites, boundaries, shares, and legal type of real estate and Private Possessions, or the rights that they claim.

Article 3

1. The Administrative Unit, within 120 days of the issuance of the decision of the governor described in paragraph 1 of Article 2 of this law, is to prepare, and bring to the executive office of the province, a detailed report containing:
2. The size and degree of damage, expected expenditures, and necessary preparations to remove the Rubble of Damaged Buildings – including public and private properties – that fall under the provisions of this law.
3. The value of the Rubble that is expected to be collected.
4. A plan that provides pictures of the Damaged Buildings, the names of the real estate areas that include them, and the names of the owners of the Damaged Buildings and Private Possessions.
5. It is incumbent upon the executive office in the Administrative Unit to come to a mutual agreement with one of the public or private bodies, per the system of lease of public bodies, to prepare the report indicated in Paragraph 1 above.

Article 4

1. The governor, within thirty days from the date of depositing the report of the Administrative Unit mentioned in Article 3, is to issue a decision forming a committee, the mission of which is to describe the Damaged Buildings, demonstrating their ownership, and the ownership of Private Possessions and Rubble, made up of:

• A real estate judge named by the Minister of Justice: President
• The President of the Department of Surveying in the relevant Directorate of Real Estate, who is to be notified: Member
• A representative of the Administrative Unit of the first branch, named by its president: Member
• An expert in real estate valuation named by the governor: Member
• A representative of the first branch of the Directorate of Real Estate, or the equivalent: Member
• Two representatives of the people, chosen according to the provisions of Paragraph 4 of this Article: Two members

2. This decision is to be published per the procedures indicated in Paragraph 2 of Article 2 of this law.
3. The meetings of the legal committee are to take place in the presence of the president and three members. Its decisions are to be taken by consensus or majority, and in the case of deadlock, it defers to the president of the committee.
4. With the publication of an announcement in one of the newspapers, and on the bulletin board of the administrative body, an invitation is to be sent to the owners of the Damaged Buildings and Private Possessions, and those with rights in the real estate area defined by the Administrative Unit, to elect their representatives. The election will be valid with a majority of votes of those who answered the invitation. In the invitation the place and time of the election is defined, and if the invitation is not answered, then the president of the civilian basic court will be responsible for appointing the two representatives of the owners mentioned above.
5. It is incumbent upon the president of the committee, and the appointed members with the exception of the representatives of the people, to not have any kinship or marriage relation to the fourth degree, or any connection or legal or financial interest, with those with rights.
6. The committee is to gather at the invitation of the president, who at the first meeting must determine the validity of its formation. The members are to swear before him the following oath:

“I swear to God that I will perform my duty with trust and fidelity, and will not disclose the secrets of its minutes.”

Article 5

1. The Committee of Description and Demonstration of Ownership performs the following tasks:
2. Stripping, collecting, and describing the Damaged Buildings, and demonstrating preliminarily the ownership of the property through architectural plans and a list of owners organised by the relevant Directorate of Real Estate Interests, documents, official papers, notices of payment of electricity and water supply, statements of financial agencies, the testimony of neighbours, based on a first-hand examination conducted by the committee on the condition [of the property], and a list that includes the name of the real estate region, the number of the property, the name of the owner, the boundaries of the property and neighbouring properties, the condition of the building, the estimate of the damage and its percent, and whether or not the building is sound from a structural perspective, as well as the recommendations that extend from this having to do with complete, partial, non-demolition.
3. Attaching an up-to-date satellite image of the property before its demolition.
4. Preserving the plans and paper evidence, documents, and images on which the committee relied in completing its tasks in the paper and electronic archive, to be referred to whenever necessary, and entrusting it to the Administrative Unit as soon as the committee completes it work.
5. Filling out a list of the names of the owners within 120 days, and conveying it to the administrative side. This schedule must include the name of the real estate area, the numbers of the properties, the names of the owners of Private Possessions, Rubble, or a share of each, and other necessary information.
6. Within 15 days of the date of depositing the list in its archive, the administrative body is to announce it per the provisions of Paragraph 2 of Article 2 of this law.

Article 6

1. Those with the rights noted in Paragraph 3 of Article 2 of this law have the right to contest matters pertaining to the list within 30 days from the date following the publication of this list in the official gazette before the civilian appeals court in the province in which the headquarters of the real estate area falls.
2. The appeals court is to decide on the challenge in the conference room with a signed decision within thirty days of the recording of the challenge in its registry.
3. The list is considered, after the passage of the period defined for the challenge, with its contents, or deciding the challenges advanced, and taking them definitively, and there is no impact of what appeared in this list upon the individual real-state rights recorded in the real estate record and those records of real estate property which are equivalent to it.
4. Appeals relating to the ownership of the property do not halt the process of sale by auction conducted by the Administrative Unit per the provisions of the system of lease to public bodies in effect.

Article 7
The Administrative Unit, immediately upon the end of the period of announcement defined in Paragraph 2 of Article 5 of this law, is to decide the date of the auction of Rubble, and that which is under its authority per the provisions of Paragraph 3 of Article 11 of this law, per the books of technical conditions prepared to this end by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing in coordination with the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment.

Article 8
The Administrative Unit, within 30 days of the date of the end of the period of challenge stipulated in Paragraph 1 of Article 6 of this law, is to accept requests from those whose names appear in the final list of owners, or their legal representatives, to take Rubble and Private Possessions.

Article 9

1. The Administrative Unit is to organise the procedures for the entrance and departure of those with a relationship to the buildings included in the provisions of this law, and the Private Possessions that are being taken are to be documented in a record that notes the name of the individual, their chosen title, the number of the area of their property, his descriptors, and the type of possessions, verified by the president of its committee, and this is to be indicated in the field of notes in the final list of owners organised by the Committee of Description and Demonstration of Ownership.
2. The Administrative Unit is to preserve the papers and evidence in a paper and electronic archive.

Article 10

1. The procedures for taking Rubble and Private Possessions by their owners are to terminate within 30 days of the date on which the period for accepting requests ends, as defined in Article 8 of this law.
2. Pursuant to the provisions of Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 14 of the Property Law issued in Legislative Decree No. 20 of 1983, its amendments, and the provisions of Article 11 of this law, those with rights who are unable to take their possessions or Rubble, or who do not prove their ownership, have the right to financial compensation provided by auction per the provisions of Paragraph 3 of 11 of this law, in the case that they demonstrate ownership.

Article 11

1. The Administrative Unit can include disputed buildings with public property as defined in the provisions of this law, can demolish the buildings threatened with collapse after thirty days of the date of the publication of the list prepared by the Committee of Description and Determining Ownership, and can demolish and remove the Rubble present in private property at the end of the period defined in Paragraph 1 of Article 10 of this law.
2. The Administrative Unit is to preserve the Private Possessions that it regards as being of large material value in a private depository as consignment, and is to return these to their owners after they present requests to regain them and prove their ownership of them within one Christian calendar year from the period of 30 days defined in Paragraph 1 above, which applies to the matter of these properties per Paragraph 3 of this article.
3. The Rubble, that which falls under that designation, and those public and private properties that the Administrative Unit removes and disposes of, is to be sold in an auction per the procedures stipulated in the system of leasing of public bodies.
4. The value of the property transfer is entrusted in the name of the Administrative Unit to one of the public banks. As for those with merit whose ownership has been proven per the provisions of this law, each unit of the area that they own is to be frozen for their account, taking into consideration the neglect of the names of the owners who dealt with their Rubble per Article 9 of this law. All these rights are converted to financial compensation.
5. The costs of the expenditures of the work of removal and disposal of Rubble conducted by the Administrative Unit are withdrawn from the capital entrusted per the provisions of Paragraph 4 above.

Article 12
Pursuant to the provisions stipulated in the system of lease of public bodies in effect for the Administrative Unit, if the compensation of the auction does not reach the expected value per the provisions of Clause b of Paragraph 1 of Article 3 of this law, it is to dispose of Rubble according to what it deems appropriate. To that end, it is to remove the Rubble, displace it, and directly recycle it or contract with one of the public or private companies licensed by the provisions of the system for leasing of public bodies in effect, in accordance with the book of technical conditions prepared by the Minister of Public Works and Housing in coordination with the Minister of Local Administration and the Environment to this end, and in accordance with the provisions of this law.

Article 13
The Minister of Local Administration and the Environment is to publish the executive instructions of this law.

Article 14
This law is to be published in the official gazette.
Damascus, on 26/5/1439 Hijri, 25/1/2018 Gregorian

President of the Republic
Bashar Al-Assad