Mental Health and Protection of Patients' Rights

Article (1) — Title

This Law shall be called the Mental Health and Protection of Patients' Rights Law.

Article (2) — Definitions

For this Law, the following expressions shall have the meanings assigned to them:

1. Mental health: A state of mental wellbeing enabling a person to cope with life's stresses, learn, work and participate in society; it is not limited to the absence of mental disorder.
2. Mental disorder: A clinically significant disturbance in cognition, emotional regulation or behaviour, determined by a qualified professional under recognised scientific classifications. Social, cultural, political, religious or behavioural differences not meeting clinical criteria are not in themselves included.
3. Service user: Anyone seeking or receiving mental health assessment, support, treatment, rehabilitation or follow-up, voluntarily or under a specific legal procedure.
4. Institution: Any public or private hospital, unit, centre, clinic or community service licensed to provide mental healthcare.
5. Professional: A psychiatrist, physician, clinical psychologist, counsellor, psychotherapist, nurse, social worker or other practitioner whose qualification requirements and scope of practice are prescribed by regulation.
6. Informed consent: Free, specific acceptance after information is provided in an understandable language and manner, explaining the intervention, benefits, risks, alternatives and right to refuse or withdraw consent.
7. Decision-making support: Assistance chosen by a person to understand information, express their will and preferences and make decisions without another's will replacing their own.
8. Advance directive: Written instructions made while capable of deciding, concerning treatment preferences or a chosen supporter during a future crisis.
9. Restrictive intervention: Any physical restraint, seclusion or measure temporarily limiting movement or communication for urgent safety reasons, subject to this Law's exceptional safeguards.
10. Serious and imminent risk: A high, specific and temporally immediate likelihood of death or severe physical harm to the person or others, based on recent objective facts rather than diagnosis alone.
11. Review committee: The independent committee established under this Law to review liberty restrictions, non-consensual treatment and complaints concerning service users' rights.

Article (3) — Objectives

1. Guarantee non-discriminatory access to safe, high-quality, affordable mental healthcare close to the community.
2. Protect service users' dignity, privacy, autonomy and civil and legal rights.
3. Make voluntary care, informed consent and decision support the basis of all interventions.
4. Shift the centre of care from long-term institutional residence to integrated community care, primary healthcare and general hospitals.
5. Establish strict judicial and professional safeguards for exceptional restrictions on liberty or treatment in serious, imminent danger.
6. Regulate mental health professions and services and prevent unlicensed practice, exploitation and misleading therapeutic claims.
7. Strengthen prevention, early detection, rehabilitation, recovery and social inclusion, with particular attention to children, adolescents, persons with disabilities and survivors of violence, displacement and crises.
8. Build a national system for data, quality, oversight and accountability while protecting confidentiality.

Article (4) — Governing principles

1. Equality, non-discrimination and full respect for human dignity.
2. Preference for voluntary, least restrictive care closest to the person's usual environment.
3. Informed consent, supported decisions and respect for will and preferences.
4. Distinguish mental disorder from legal capacity or civil entitlement: diagnosis alone shall not remove a right or capacity or deny services, employment, education or housing.
5. Proportionality, necessity and independent review of exceptional measures.
6. Integration with public health, primary care, social services, education, employment and justice.
7. Participation of persons with lived experience, their families and organisations in planning and evaluation, respecting individual choice about family involvement in care.
8. Scientific evidence and Iraq's applicable international obligations, without prejudice to the Constitution and its distribution of powers.

Article (5) — Scope and constitutional powers

1. This Law applies to mental health services provided by federal bodies and institutions within their competence, and to rights, safeguards and procedures falling within federal powers under the Constitution.
2. The Ministry of Health shall formulate general mental health policy with Kurdistan Region authorities and governorates not incorporated into a region, respecting Articles (114) and (115) of the Constitution.
3. The Ministry shall coordinate with Kurdistan Region's competent health authority on joint referral, treatment continuity, emergency, aggregate-data and, where needed, mutual professional recognition protocols.
4. This Law shall not diminish any higher protection under the Constitution, applicable law or an international convention in force in Iraq.

Article (6) — National Mental Health Council

1. A National Mental Health Council shall be formed within the Ministry of Health, chaired by the Minister or delegate, with representatives at least at director-general level from the ministries of Health, Justice, Interior, Defence, Labour and Social Affairs, Education and Higher Education, and bodies concerned with human rights and health insurance; an Iraqi Medical Association representative; two specialists; and two persons with lived experience or representatives of their organisations.
2. The Council shall have no separate legal personality or parallel administrative apparatus. The Ministry shall provide its technical secretariat from existing units.
3. Council consultation mechanisms shall provide for representation of women, children and persons with disabilities.

Article (7) — National Council functions

1. Propose and periodically review national mental health policy, a multi-year plan and implementation indicators.
2. Coordinate service distribution among primary care, general hospitals, community services and specialised institutions.
3. Approve quality, safety, referral and crisis-management guidelines and plans to reduce long-term institutional care.
4. Propose workforce, training and professional incentive needs and identify underserved areas.
5. Review national quality, complaint, violation, death, serious-incident and restrictive-intervention reports.
6. Coordinate suicide and stigma prevention and mental health support in schools, workplaces, emergencies and disasters.
7. Publish an annual report with non-identifying aggregate data and legislative and executive recommendations.

Article (8) — Local coordination committees

1. Each health directorate shall establish a mental health coordination committee, administratively attached to the directorate and technically to the relevant Ministry of Health body.
2. Committees shall monitor service distribution, referrals, training, medicine continuity, community care programmes and crisis response, and submit aggregate data.
3. They shall not replace medical, judicial or independent review committees under this Law.

Article (9) — Independent review committees

1. The Supreme Judicial Council shall establish one or more mental health review committees in each governorate, chaired by a judge, with a psychiatrist not directly involved in the case and a member experienced in human rights, social work or law.
2. Committees shall review liberty restrictions and non-consensual treatment, consider service users' or representatives' objections, and review continuing need for exceptional measures within prescribed periods.
3. Committees shall operate independently of treatment institutions. The Ministry of Health shall provide administrative and logistical support without interfering in decisions.
4. Instructions shall govern alternate-member selection, conflicts of interest, confidential deliberations and liaison with the competent court.

Article (10) — Equality and non-discrimination

1. Direct or indirect discrimination based on actual, past or perceived mental disorder or receipt of mental health services is prohibited in healthcare, education, employment, housing, public services and administrative transactions.
2. Providers shall offer reasonable accommodation and suitable communication where needed to understand care or participate in decisions.
3. Psychiatric diagnosis alone shall not justify refusing, delaying or lowering the quality of physical healthcare.

Article (11) — Care and equal access

1. Everyone has the right to geographically accessible, culturally acceptable mental health services appropriate to age, gender and social and linguistic circumstances, subject to available resources and approved expansion plans.
2. The State shall ensure parity between mental and physical health in healthcare and medicine coverage and prohibit discriminatory financial or administrative conditions based solely on the disorder's nature.
3. Mental health emergencies shall be covered within general emergency services. No person needing urgent assessment or intervention may be refused because of a mental disorder.

Article (12) — Dignity, privacy and communication

1. Service users shall be treated respectfully, without humiliation, stigma, threats, violence or exploitation.
2. Institutions shall ensure privacy during examination, treatment and admission, subject to safety and clinical need.
3. Patients may communicate with family, counsel and a chosen person. Restrictions require a reasoned, proportionate, time-limited decision addressing a concrete safety need, subject to review.
4. Photographing patients or publishing their images, stories or data for media or educational purposes requires explicit, revocable consent unless disclosure is legally or judicially required.

Article (13) — Information and informed consent

1. Before intervention, where possible, professionals shall clearly explain diagnosis or diagnostic possibilities, treatment objectives, alternatives, benefits, material risks, expected duration and the right to refuse or seek a second opinion.
2. Consent obtained through coercion, deception, unlawful threats or insufficient information is invalid.
3. Consent may be withdrawn at any time. Withdrawal does not prevent immediate lifesaving assistance during temporary inability to communicate where wishes cannot be ascertained, under Article (38).
4. Consent to major or specially hazardous procedures shall be documented in writing or electronically.

Article (14) — Decision-making support

1. Before assuming inability to make a specific decision, reasonable steps shall help the person understand, communicate and choose, including simplified language, interpreters, supporters and sufficient time.
2. An unconventional decision or treatment refusal does not itself establish incapacity.
3. Capacity assessment shall be functional, decision-specific and time-specific, not a permanent general judgement about the person.
4. The person's past and present will and preferences shall always be considered.

Article (15) — Advance directives and supporters

1. Any adult capable of deciding may write an advance directive specifying treatment preferences in mental health crises and name a trusted supporter.
2. Directives shall be recorded in health records when provided and may be amended or withdrawn at any time.
3. Providers shall respect advance directives unless contrary to a specific urgent medical necessity or the law. Reasons for departure shall be recorded and reviewed.

Article (16) — Legal capacity and civil rights

1. Psychiatric diagnosis alone shall not remove legal capacity or rights to property, marriage, family formation, voting, litigation, contracting or management of personal affairs.
2. General legal capacity and interdiction rules shall be applied individually and proportionately, after less restrictive support is exhausted, by reviewable judicial decision.
3. Treatment institutions shall not request or require judicial interdiction merely for service admission or treatment.

Article (17) — Records and access to information

1. Every service user may inspect and obtain a copy of their record within a reasonable time at no more than actual reproduction cost.
2. A specific part may be withheld by reasoned decision if immediate disclosure would cause demonstrable serious, imminent danger, with prompt reassessment and a right to challenge before the review committee or judiciary.
3. Persons may request correction of objectively inaccurate data and append their views where a professional disagreement cannot be resolved through correction.

Article (18) — Confidentiality

1. All mental health, medical and social information is confidential and may be disclosed only with consent or as expressly authorised by law.
2. Non-consensual disclosure shall be limited to what is necessary to comply with a judicial order, protect an identified person from serious and imminent danger, fulfil mandatory reporting, or ensure treatment continuity unattainable by less privacy-intrusive means.
3. Reasons, scope and recipients shall be documented. The person shall be informed unless notification poses a clear legal or security risk.
4. Research and planning shall use anonymised data or comply with consent and approved research ethics.

Article (19) — Complaints, second opinions and representation

1. Service users may complain to institutions, health directorates, review committees or judicial and oversight bodies without diminution of their care.
2. They may seek a second medical or psychological opinion, mandatory before high-risk interventions specified by instructions or extension of non-consensual treatment.
3. They may engage chosen counsel or representatives in judicial review proceedings. Legal aid shall be provided where statutory conditions are met.

Article (20) — Children and adolescents

1. Children's and adolescents' services shall be provided in separate, age-appropriate environments preventing unnecessary mixing with adults in inpatient wards.
2. Children's best interests and views according to age and maturity shall be respected, with understandable explanations and their consent or meaningful participation alongside guardian or representative consent as required by law.
3. Psychiatric admission shall not substitute for social protection, family care, disability services or management of school behaviour.
4. Solitary seclusion of children for treatment is prohibited. Mechanical restraint is prohibited except in extreme situations to save life or prevent imminent bodily harm, for the shortest possible time under continuous observation.
5. The ministries of Health and Education shall develop early referral, school psychological support and anti-bullying pathways and prevent treatment-related educational discontinuity.

Article (21) — Older persons and persons with disabilities

1. Services shall ensure reasonable accommodation and physical and communication accessibility for persons with disabilities.
2. Older persons and those with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities shall not be admitted to psychiatric institutions merely for lack of housing, a carer or suitable social services.
3. The Ministry of Health shall coordinate with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and disability care authority to develop community alternatives, family support, housing, day services and rehabilitation.

Article (22) — Emergencies, displacement and disasters

1. Mental health and psychosocial support shall be integrated into emergency, disaster, displacement and temporary shelter plans.
2. Continuity of essential medicines, treatment records and referrals, and protection of children, violence survivors and persons with disabilities shall be ensured.
3. Emergency plans shall allocate explicit human and financial resources to mental health and psychosocial support and periodically assess readiness.

Article (23) — Primary-care integration

1. Primary healthcare shall be the normal entry point for common mental disorders and continuing follow-up, with clear specialist referral pathways.
2. The Ministry of Health shall adopt national guidance for diagnosis, psychosocial interventions and essential medicines and provide continuous primary-care training and supervision.
3. Primary-care centres shall protect confidentiality and avoid segregated pathways that stigmatise users.

Article (24) — Community services

1. The Ministry shall progressively expand multidisciplinary community mental health services, including outpatient clinics, home visits, crisis services, psychosocial rehabilitation, family support and post-discharge follow-up.
2. Underserved areas and governorates affected by displacement, violence and poverty shall take priority.
3. Qualified non-governmental organisations may contract to provide specified services subject to standards, licensing and oversight, with the State retaining regulatory responsibility.

Article (25) — General hospital psychiatric units

1. Mental health units shall be established or developed in general hospitals to promote integration and reduce reliance on separate psychiatric hospitals.
2. Units shall meet safety, privacy, emergency, concurrent physical-care, discharge planning and follow-up standards.
3. A patient whose primary need is physical shall not be denied general medical admission because of a psychiatric diagnosis.

Article (26) — Specialised institutions and community transition

1. Specialised psychiatric institutions shall gradually shift from long-term residence towards treatment of complex and acute cases, rehabilitation, research and training, reducing unnecessary stays.
2. Within one year of commencement, the Ministry shall prepare a timetable to reassess long-stay residents and establish community, housing and social alternatives with competent bodies.
3. No person shall be discharged into homelessness or an unsafe environment merely to achieve numerical bed-reduction targets.

Article (27) — Rehabilitation, recovery and inclusion

1. Where needed, treatment plans shall include recovery, functioning, education, employment, housing and social-relationship goals alongside symptom treatment.
2. Health and social bodies shall coordinate vocational rehabilitation, family support, supported housing and return-to-education and employment programmes.
3. Trained and accredited peers with lived experience may join community support teams.

Article (28) — Remote consultations and digital services

1. Remote mental health consultations may be provided under professional licensing and identity verification, privacy, data security and emergency location standards.
2. Instructions shall specify suitable cases and requirements for prescribing, follow-up and referral.
3. Digital systems claiming automated diagnosis or psychological treatment shall not replace licensed professionals in high-risk cases without human supervision and approved safety standards.

Article (29) — Suicide and self-harm prevention

1. The Ministry of Health and competent bodies shall establish a national suicide and self-harm prevention strategy including surveillance, early intervention, support lines, emergency protocols, post-attempt follow-up and responsible media guidance.
2. Suicide attempts shall be treated as health and social situations requiring care and protection. Persons shall not be denied treatment or stigmatised because of them.
3. Published suicide data shall protect identities and minimise imitation risks.

Article (30) — Psychiatric medicines

1. The Ministry shall ensure an essential list of safe, effective psychiatric medicines at appropriate care levels, with monitoring and pharmacovigilance.
2. Medicines shall not be used for punishment, administrative control or facilitating detention.
3. Medication shall be reviewed periodically, discussing side effects, alternatives and plans for continuation, reduction or safe discontinuation with the person.
4. Narcotic and psychotropic medicines remain subject to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law and related regulations.

Article (31) — Quality, safety and accreditation

1. The Ministry shall establish binding national quality and safety standards covering therapeutic environments, staffing ratios, medicine management, violence prevention, restrictive interventions, deaths, referrals and discharge plans.
2. Public and private institutions shall undergo risk-based periodic and unannounced inspections, with publication of aggregate findings and corrective plans.
3. Institutions shall report unexpected deaths, suicide within institutions or within a post-discharge period specified by instructions, serious injuries, serious assaults and prolonged restraint under a national learning and accountability system.

Article (32) — Professional regulation and scopes of practice

1. No person shall practise psychiatry, psychotherapy, clinical psychological assessment or professional therapeutic counselling without qualifications and licensing or registration prescribed by law and instructions.
2. The Ministry, with Higher Education, professional associations and bodies, shall establish national mental health professional classifications, scopes of practice and minimum training, supervision and continuing professional development requirements.
3. Health employment shall be open, according to needs and approved classifications, to psychology, counselling, social work and other graduates meeting qualification and licensing requirements, without powers beyond their scientific competence.

Article (33) — Workforce and incentives

1. Every three years, the Ministry shall map national workforce needs by governorate, specialism and service level.
2. On the Health and Finance ministers' proposal, the Council of Ministers may approve professional, geographical or risk allowances or service incentives for staff actually working in mental health specialisms, under a clear scale linked to scarcity, workload and location, consistent with salary and budget laws.
3. Incentives shall prioritise underserved areas and scarce specialisms and be reviewed periodically for retention and distribution effects.
4. Specialist training places, fellowships and nursing, psychology and social work training shall expand according to workforce plans.

Article (34) — Unlicensed practice and therapeutic claims

1. Providing or advertising professional mental health services to the public as medical or therapeutic without the required licence is prohibited.
2. Exploiting a mental health condition to impose rituals or practices involving beating, restraint, starvation, confinement, unknown substances or withholding necessary medical care is prohibited.
3. This Article does not prohibit voluntary religious or spiritual practices that do not claim to replace medical care and involve no harm, detention, exploitation or obstruction of necessary treatment.
4. Platforms and media shall remove unlawful therapeutic advertisements following official notice from the competent body under the law.

Article (35) — Research and education

1. Research involving mental health service users requires recognised ethics committee approval and informed consent independent of treatment decisions.
2. Continued treatment or essential benefits shall not be conditional on research participation.
3. Vulnerable groups and sensitive data shall be protected. Anonymised data may be used for planning and epidemiological research under the law.

Article (36) — Voluntary care as the default

1. All mental health services shall ordinarily be voluntary. No person may be admitted, retained or treated without consent solely because of psychiatric diagnosis, psychosocial disability or behavioural nonconformity.
2. Before exceptional measures, reasonable efforts shall offer voluntary alternatives, a safety plan, chosen family or social support and community crisis services where available.
3. Poverty, homelessness, family rejection or inadequate social services shall not independently justify restricting liberty.

Article (37) — Emergency assessment

1. A person may be transported to a health institution for emergency assessment where objective facts show serious, imminent danger to their life or others' safety and assessment cannot safely occur through less restrictive means.
2. A physician or qualified team shall assess immediately upon arrival. Initial assessment shall not exceed six hours except for documented clinical necessity, and never twenty-four hours after arrival without applying Article (39).
3. The person shall be told the reasons and rights to contact counsel or a chosen person and object, and shall be treated throughout as a patient, not a criminal detainee.
4. The measure shall end immediately if danger ceases or can be managed voluntarily.

Article (38) — Lifesaving assistance where wishes cannot be expressed

1. Necessary emergency medical or mental health intervention may prevent death or severe bodily harm where a person is temporarily unable to communicate a decision and an advance directive or supporter cannot be reached in time.
2. Intervention shall be confined to what cannot be delayed and achieves the purpose with minimal intrusion, ending once decision-making capacity returns or necessity ceases.
3. This Article shall not justify long-term mental health treatment or extended admission without the Law's other safeguards.

Article (39) — Temporary protective admission

1. Following direct assessment, a psychiatrist may order temporary protective admission where serious, imminent risk is established, no reasonable less restrictive voluntary alternative can reduce it, and a temporary safe therapeutic environment is necessary.
2. The initial decision shall not exceed twenty-four hours. Within that period, a second psychiatrist independent of the initial decision shall examine the person where available.
3. If need continues beyond twenty-four hours, the case shall immediately be referred to the judge designated by the Supreme Judicial Council. Admission shall not exceed seventy-two hours from commencement without an explicit judicial order.
4. The Public Prosecution and review committee shall be informed of the judicial decision and admission start date.

Article (40) — Judicial extension and periodic review

1. After hearing the person or representative and considering an independent medical opinion, the court may extend exceptional admission for up to seven days if serious, imminent risk persists and no less restrictive alternative exists.
2. Further extensions require a new judicial decision, each no longer than thirty days, following review of an independent report and documented discharge plan.
3. The person, counsel, Public Prosecution or review committee may seek termination at any time as circumstances change. The court shall decide urgently.
4. Admission shall end as soon as its conditions cease, even before the judicial period expires.

Article (41) — Separating admission from treatment

1. Consent or a judicial order for admission does not automatically constitute consent to medicines or therapeutic procedures.
2. Informed consent and supported decision-making continue to apply during exceptional admission.
3. Where a person refuses a material intervention and clear evidence shows non-intervention would cause serious, imminent danger not preventable by a less restrictive alternative, specific judicial authorisation for the intervention and duration may be sought after an independent opinion and hearing the person, except lifesaving assistance under Article (38).
4. General or indefinite treatment authorisations are prohibited.

Article (42) — Seclusion and restraint

1. Seclusion or restraint for punishment, administrative convenience, understaffing or refusal to follow instructions is prohibited.
2. Restrictive interventions may be used only to prevent serious, imminent bodily harm after de-escalation and less restrictive alternatives fail, under a documented professional order and for the shortest possible time.
3. Restraint impairing breathing, deliberately causing pain or involving prolonged prone positioning is prohibited. Restrained persons shall not be left without continuous clinical observation appropriate to risk.
4. Every use shall be recorded in a dedicated register, including reason, duration, alternatives attempted, injuries and subsequent review. Aggregate reports shall be sent periodically to the oversight body.
5. The Ministry shall establish a timed programme to reduce and measure seclusion and restraint use in each institution.

Article (43) — Electroconvulsive therapy and high-risk interventions

1. Electroconvulsive therapy shall occur only in licensed facilities, with anaesthesia and muscle relaxation under medical standards, written informed consent and an independent second specialist opinion in cases prescribed by instructions.
2. It shall not be performed without the person's consent. For those under eighteen, it is permitted only in severe exceptional cases defined by medical guidelines, with a specialist committee decision, guardian consent and the adolescent's consent where capable of expression, and judicial review where contested.
3. Irreversible invasive psychosurgery or experimental procedures with permanent effects are prohibited except within authorised research with independent explicit consent and special ethical and legal review.
4. Sterilisation or non-therapeutic reproductive procedures because of mental disorder or disability are prohibited.

Article (44) — Transport by police or ambulance

1. Persons in mental health crisis shall be transported by ambulance or trained crisis teams wherever possible. Police assistance is limited to actual security risks exceeding health-team capacity.
2. Handcuffs or restraints during transport require exceptional, specific necessity to prevent imminent harm, using the minimum extent and shortest duration.
3. Security and ambulance personnel shall receive training in de-escalation and communication during mental health crises.

Article (45) — Therapeutic leave, discharge and follow-up

1. Treating physicians may grant short therapeutic leave or phased discharge as part of a consensual treatment plan, specifying follow-up arrangements.
2. Every inpatient stay shall have a discharge plan covering medicines, appointments, relapse signs, contact numbers and required social services.
3. Follow-up after acute crises or self-harm attempts shall be prioritised within a short period specified by national guidance. Patients shall not be left without a clear contact point.

Article (46) — Forensic psychiatric assessment

1. Where investigators or courts consider assessment necessary for an accused or convicted person, referral shall be made to a forensic psychiatric committee under a purpose-specific judicial order.
2. Assessment shall address only the requested judicial questions, ensuring the person's rights to know its purpose, engage counsel and obtain the report subject to the court's decision.
3. Criminal responsibility or its absence shall not be presumed from diagnosis. Cognition, volition and fitness to stand trial at the relevant time shall be assessed under the law.

Article (47) — Forensic psychiatric committee

1. The committee shall comprise three psychiatrists or forensic psychiatrists without direct interests in the case, with psychological or social work assistance as needed.
2. It shall assess the person's condition, ability to understand trial proceedings and participate in defence, the disorder's relationship to cognition or volition at the time of the incident under applicable law, and treatment and safety needs.
3. Reports shall be reasoned, identifying methodology, information and limitations of conclusions. Legal responsibility remains for the court to determine.

Article (48) — Mental healthcare in detention and prisons

1. Detainees and prisoners shall receive mental healthcare equivalent in quality to community services. Treatment decisions shall follow the same principles and safeguards insofar as lawful detention permits.
2. Psychiatric institutions shall not extend criminal detention after its legal basis expires, nor shall prisons substitute for hospitals where specialised healthcare is required.
3. The ministries of Health, Justice and Interior shall establish safe referral, suicide prevention, medicine continuity and post-release care protocols.

Article (49) — Court-ordered treatment measures

1. Where a court orders treatment for a person whose condition is legally established as relevant to criminal responsibility or fitness to stand trial, it shall specify purpose, initial duration and treatment location based on independent medical opinion.
2. Continued measures shall undergo judicial review at intervals not exceeding thirty days during the acute phase, followed by the shortest periods prescribed by law or court according to the case, with defence and challenge rights.
3. Care shall shift to less restrictive or community services once risks can be managed safely. No person shall remain in a closed institution merely because social arrangements that competent bodies must provide are absent.

Article (50) — Termination and reintegration

1. Once the medical and legal grounds for restriction cease, the competent committee shall promptly recommend termination or community follow-up to the court.
2. Before discharge, a follow-up plan shall coordinate family or housing, social services, employment or education according to need and consent.
3. Families shall not bear sole follow-up responsibility where continuing public or professional services are needed.

Article (51) — Inspection and oversight visits

1. Mental health institutions shall receive periodic and unannounced visits from the Ministry and competent oversight bodies. Public Prosecution and human rights bodies may enter within their legal powers.
2. Inspections shall cover living conditions, privacy, food, medicines, violence, restrictive interventions, complaints, deaths, discharge plans and licensing compliance.
3. Confidential interviews with patients and staff and necessary record access are permitted, protecting personal data.

Article (52) — Restrictive intervention and serious-incident register

1. Each institution shall maintain a secure electronic register of seclusion, restraint, involuntary admission, non-consensual treatment and serious incidents.
2. Aggregate data shall be sent periodically to the Ministry and competent review committee, with immediate notification of deaths, severe injuries or suspected ill-treatment.
3. The Ministry shall publish annual non-identifying national aggregate indicators for comparison and improvement.

Article (53) — Whistleblower protection and non-retaliation

1. Punitive, employment or treatment-related action against patients, relatives or employees for good-faith complaints or reports of violations or safety risks is prohibited.
2. Whistleblower identities shall be protected as far as investigation and defence rights permit, applying relevant protection and integrity laws.
3. Malicious false reporting intended to harm shall be punished under applicable laws without discouraging good-faith reports.

Article (54) — Professional and institutional liability

1. Provider and institutional errors are subject to applicable medical, civil, criminal and disciplinary liability according to the act.
2. Relapse, self-harm or lack of treatment response alone does not prove professional fault where reasonable measures consistent with the standard of care were taken.
3. Institutions bear organisational responsibility for understaffing, unsafe environments or absent follow-up systems where causally linked to harm.

Article (55) — Unlawful detention or treatment offence

1. Without prejudice to heavier penalties, anyone intentionally detaining a person in a psychiatric institution or extending detention without this Law's legal basis and procedures shall face imprisonment, a Penal Code fine or both.
2. Abuse of official position, falsification of medical reports or concealment intended to cause or continue detention are aggravating circumstances.
3. Good-faith temporary emergency action within Article (38), based on reasonable facts and proportionate, shall not incur professional or criminal liability.

Article (56) — Unlicensed practice

1. Intentional practice of psychiatry, professional psychotherapy or clinical psychological assessment without required licensing shall attract penalties for unlicensed health practice. Premises may be closed and offending equipment confiscated by judicial order.
2. Where accompanied by bodily harm, detention, financial exploitation, sexual assault or administration of harmful substances, the heavier applicable statutory penalty shall apply.
3. Instructions shall clearly distinguish educational and non-therapeutic support activities not requiring health licensing, preventing expansive criminalisation.

Article (57) — Confidentiality breaches and exploitation

1. Without prejudice to heavier penalties, intentional unlawful disclosure of confidential patient information or financial, sexual, promotional or political exploitation of therapeutic relationships shall incur applicable disciplinary and criminal penalties.
2. Institutions shall notify competent professional and judicial bodies upon serious suspicion of crime or exploitation.

Article (58) — Institutional administrative sanctions

1. After investigation and hearing the institution's defence, the Ministry may warn, impose corrective plans, suspend services or new admissions, or suspend or revoke licences according to severity and recurrence.
2. Where immediate closure threatens patients, the Ministry shall arrange safe transfers and continuity before implementation unless urgent danger requires otherwise.
3. Decisions are subject to grievance and appeal under administrative procedure law and applicable legislation.

Article (59) — Financing and health coverage

1. The Ministry's budget shall contain an explicit mental health programme detailing primary and community care, hospital, training, medicine and emergency spending, consistent with general budget preparation rules.
2. The Health Insurance Authority and insurers shall include essential mental health services in benefit packages without unjustified discrimination against physical healthcare.
3. Funding shall prioritise community and primary care expansion, underserved areas and plans to reduce long-term institutional stays.
4. This Law creates no unfunded individual financial entitlement without express provision in the budget or relevant financial legislation.

Article (60) — Regulations and instructions

1. Within one hundred and eighty days of publication, the Council of Ministers shall issue regulations for provisions requiring interministerial arrangements.
2. Within one hundred and eighty days, the Minister of Health shall issue instructions, clinical and organisational standards, registers, forms, licensing and inspection mechanisms.
3. Regulations, instructions and general standards shall be published on the Ministry's website, excluding details justifiably withheld for information security or patient privacy.

Article (61) — Alignment of existing institutions and cases

1. Institutions licensed at commencement shall have no more than twelve months to comply, extendable once by reasoned decision for up to six months for construction or technical projects that cannot be completed sooner.
2. All existing involuntary admissions shall be reviewed within thirty days of commencement under the new safeguards. No measure shall continue merely because it was ordered under the previous system.
3. Admissions exceeding one year shall be reviewed by an independent team with a community transition plan, notifying the review committee and judiciary where a judicial basis exists.

Article (62) — Relationship with other legislation

1. This Law shall be read with Public Health Law No. (89) of 1981, as amended; Health Insurance Law No. (22) of 2020; Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Special Needs Law No. (38) of 2013, as amended; and relevant health professions, forensic medicine, penal, criminal procedure and correctional laws.
2. Where service-user safeguards conflict, the higher protection applies unless a specific constitutional or criminal provision governs.
3. Within one year, competent bodies shall review provisions using psychiatric diagnosis alone as a general basis for civil, employment or electoral deprivation and submit necessary amendments to the Council of Ministers or Council of Representatives according to competence.

Article (63) — Repeal

Mental Health Law No. (1) of 2005 is repealed upon this Law's commencement. Existing regulations, instructions and decisions remain effective insofar as compatible until replaced.

Article (64) — Entry into force

This Law takes effect one hundred and eighty days after Official Gazette publication, except provisions prohibiting torture, exploitation and unlawful disclosure and guaranteeing complaints and judicial oversight, which apply upon publication insofar as no new implementing arrangements are required.