The Minister said the draft has been forwarded to the Legal Draftsman’s Department and the Attorney General’s Department for legal review, after which it will be submitted to the Cabinet for approval.
According to Minister Herath, the SOPs were prepared by an inter-ministerial committee following nearly a year of deliberations. The committee comprised representatives from the Navy, Air Force, Airport and Aviation authorities, ports, the police, intelligence agencies, the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau, and several other institutions.
He noted that the committee also examined SOP frameworks used by other countries before finalising the draft. Soon after the current Government was formed, a new committee was appointed to revise an earlier version of the SOPs, resulting in a document that includes several new provisions and significant changes.
