Senior Legal Advisor – International At Government of Timor-Leste

República Democrática de Timor-Leste

Ministério das Finanças

Direcção Geral dos Serviços Corporativos

“Seja um bom cidadão, seja um novo herói para a nossa Nação”**

Oficio No.: 496 /Gab. DGSC/MoF/VIII/2021

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Job Title:

Senior Legal Adviser (International)

Purpose:

To provide legal and policy advice to the DG of Custom and Tax Authority of the Ministry of Finance (MF), including drafting and reviewing legislation and other legal instruments and providing legal opinions on all relevant matters**

Reporting to:

DG of Custom Authority & DG of Tax Authority of the Ministry of Finance. **

Counterpart(s):

Minister and Vice Minister of Finance, Chief of Staff, Head of Legal Office, Fiscal Reform Commission, DG Customs Authority and DG Tax Authority, DNs and other managerial staff of the Ministry

Classification:

C3 Specialized Professional

Work Location: **

Ministry of Finance, Díli, Timor-Leste

Work Unit:

Legal Office

Duration:

One year with possibility of extension based on funding availability and performance

I. Selection Criteria

Essential

• Master’s Degree in Law, preferably from a Portuguese-speaking country.
• At least ten (10) years post qualifying experience in Public and/or Private Financial Law, Tax Law, Customs Law, Administrative Law or Legislative Process.
• Experience drafting and reviewing legislation and providing legal advice on legislation.
• Experience providing legal advice and dispute resolution in public finance, custom and tax matters.
• Experience with reform processes in public finances, custom and tax law.
• Knowledge of civil law and common law and how to translate policy into legal text in both systems.
• Ability to translate technical legal terms into easily understood terminology.
• Understanding of approaches to capacity development in a developing country context.
• Ability to model the attitudes and behaviours required, including cultural awareness, openness, cooperation, and teamwork, transparency, accountability and customer service attitude.
• Strong communication, writing and facilitation skills.
• Fluent in Portuguese and English, written and spoken, and willingness to learn Tetum.
• Proficiency in the Microsoft’s Office package – Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Access.

Desirable

• Post-graduate related courses in Public and/or Private Financial Law, Custom and Tax Law.
• Knowledge of public financial management, custom and tax legislation and legislative processes in Timor-Leste.
• Experience in providing legal advice to legislative bodies in developing countries.
• Previous capacity development or teaching experience in legal environment.
• Knowledge of Tetum, written and spoken.

II. Background

The Ministry of Finance of Timor-Leste (MF TL) is the central body of the Government responsible for drafting, executing, coordinating and assessing the policies defined and approved by the Council of Ministers, for the areas of annual planning and monitoring, budget and finance. It is mandated to undertake functions related to macroeconomic policy (in collaboration with the Central Bank) and to propose policies and draft laws and regulations on public finances, tax and customs matters, financial regulation and state assets.

The Ministry of Finance requires the assistance of a Senior Legal Adviser to support the MF to achieve its 5 year plan and the Key Performance Indicator within the MoF. The MoF’s Strategic Plan and the KPIs will be the basis for the Legal Adviser’s Work Plan.

The primary role of the Legal Adviser will be to support the Custom Authority and Tax Authority in the provision of professional and technical legal advice and opinions and pertaining to public financial management, custom and tax matters and legal drafting, and review of the existing arrangements and responsibilities for legal services in liaison with Legal Office.

III. Scope of Work

The Legal Adviser will report to the DG of Custom and Tax Authority and the Head of the Legal Office. Working closely with the other Legal Advisers and relevant national staff and advisers in the MF, the Legal Adviser shall provide legal services including:

Duties,Responsibilities and Performance Indicator

1.Provide legal and policy advice to DG Custom and Tax Authority in regard to all referred legal and legislative matters.

· Advice provided is specific, relevant, accurate and timely.

· DG’s satisfaction with legal quality and timeliness of advice.

2.Support MoF to draft and review draft legislation and other legal instrument in advance of their submission to the Council of Ministers.

· Number of laws and legal instruments reviewed.

· Number of matters referred for further attention.

3.Coordinate and participate in all administrative procedures, projects and other activities of the Custom and Tax Office with the Legal Office of the MoF.

· Assistance is pro-active, accurate, and relevant to the context, within time standards.

4.In coordination with the Custom and Tax Authority support the provision of legal policy advice, preparation of legal and normative documents as well as other acts related to Custom and Tax Authority.

· Support and advice provided is specific, relevant, accurate and timely.

5.In conjunction with the Legal Office participate in all procurement and contracting procedures, as well as, on behalf of the Minister, assess their execution, evaluation and renewal, involved in the actions of the MoF.

· Assistance is pro-active, accurate, and relevant to the context, within time standards.

· Complied with relevant procurement and contracting procedures and legislations.

6.In coordination with the competent services, ensure representation of the State in all processes that are the responsibilities of the MoF

· Reliable and dependable whenever required to ensure representation of the State in any legal proceedings.

7.Support the Fiscal Reform Commission in the implementation of the Fiscal Reform program including: drafting and revising legislative proposals such as Tax Law, VAT Law, Code of Tax Procedure, Law on Fees and Charges, Public Companies Law, Law on the Customs Tariffs and others

· Reliable and dependable whenever required to ensure the laws and procedures comply with the legal requirements for submission to the Council of Ministers and National Parliament

8.Perform other miscellaneous duties assigned by the Minister and Vice Minister.

· Reliable and dependable whenever asked to perform any job-related tasks.

Iii. Key Deliverables

· In accordance with the performance indicators listed above.

· Within four weeks of commencement, develop an Activity Work Plan that is consistent with the relevant activities and key performance indicators of the Ministry’s 5 Year Plan and submitted to Minister of Finance through the Chief of Staff.

· Quarterly Progress Reports to the Minister of Finance.

· End of Assignment report to the Minister of Finance no later than 10 working days prior to the end of contract.

IV. Performance Evaluation

The performance of the incumbent will be appraised and evaluated by the Minister of Finance through the Head of the Legal Office using the Performance Appraisal System put in place and monitored by the Human Resource Unit, Ministry of Finance. This process will include a probation review within two (2) months of the commencement of the contract, regular reporting, ongoing workplace communications and annual performance appraisal.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are in place for all areas within the Ministry, and the incumbent’s work will be contributing to the achievement of the priorities as set out in their TOR and in the Ministry’s Five Year Plan.