Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova guided the first meeting in plenary of the 2022 autumn session on 30 September.

The leader of the Milli Majlis announced the autumn session open. The National Anthem was sounded. Madam Speaker congratulated the MPs on the session’s start and wished them fruitful work.

As everybody will know, the armed forces of Armenia committed a major border provocation aiming at Azerbaijan’s Lachin, Kalbajar, Dashkasan, Gadabey and Zanghilan, but that foul act was frustrated by the rigorous apprehension on the Azerbaijani Army’s part. The enemy fell back shedding personnel and equipment casualties; the foes’ military infrastructure in those areas was torn to shreds, according to Mrs Gafarova.

It is the military and political leadership of Armenia that bears the undivided responsibility and, indeed, liability for the provocations and the numerous casualties in which they had culminated. Such Armenian aggravations rather evidently pursue the goal of harming the peace process and putting up hurdles on the path to restoration of the provinces of Azerbaijan delivered from Armenian occupation.

Lamentably, the Azerbaijani Army had personnel casualties, too, as it was fending off an armed assault upon our country’s territorial wholeness and sovereignty, according to Sahiba Gafarova. Following her suggestion, the House had a minute of silence in memoriam the servicemen who had parted with their lives whilst discouraging the provocations of 13 September as well as in the battles of the Garabagh Wars I & II and in other combats for their Motherland and their people.

The Chair of the Milli Majlis proceeded to ask that the Lord would rest the souls of the fallen in peace, give the gazies firmness and grant the wounded servicemen speedy recovery.

It was said then that the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr Ilham Aliyev had signed a decree yesterday announcing 2023 The Heydar Aliyev Year – in dedication to one of the most prominent persons birthed by the Azerbaijani nation, the one to whose tireless work approximately the past 35 years of our newest history were connected. It was through the endeavours of our National Leader that the nation first laid a solid foundation for its state independence and then was able to preserve the state, which rested on such a strong platform, and set it firmly on a path of progress. The pursuit of the remarkable cause of the Great Leader is continued, creatively and in keeping with the calls of the fickle epoch, by his worthy successor – Mr Ilham Aliyev. And then, the liberation of Garabagh after thirty years of occupation in execution of Heydar Aliyev’s will came as a token of deepest veneration of the memory of this genius. Going further, Sahiba Gafarova emphasised that the declaration of next year the Heydar Aliyev Year should be taken as supreme appreciation of the unparalleled merits and exploits of the Great Leader.

Then, the Chair of the Milli Majlis announced that today’s agenda consisted of 30 items and that the plenum was going to pass a Milli Majlis statement on the occasion of the anniversary of the beginning of the Patriotic War. The agenda of the meeting was approved duly then.

Madam Speaker told the plenum participants before deliberations could begin that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces led by President, Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev had added glorious pages to our history of heroic deeds two years ago, namely, on 27 September 2020. The grand victory won in combat at the cost of the shahids’ lives and the gazies’ blood had ensured resolution of the matter that is fateful for the nation’s today and future alike.

The three decades’ occupation of the lands that are Azerbaijan’s historically as well as legally had been terminated. A crushing blow had been landed on the Armenian Fascism threatening world legal order and international principles – not to mention it having been a constant hazard to the regional security architecture.

The political and diplomatic affirmation of the Grand Victory with the Trilateral Declaration signed by Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia on 10 November 2020 changed the geopolitical situation in the South Caucasus forever. With the restoration of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan it became truly possible to strike up civil interstate relations in the region. That conflict is history; the time to speak of peace and not war has come to the Caucasus. Azerbaijan assessed the post-war time’s demands correctly when it – as will surely be remembered – offered Armenia the five not exactly unknown principles as those to underlie a peace treaty to be signed in the future.

Alas, the irrational conduct and acts of the Armenian side that rely on their patrons a bit too heavily for good measure are telling us that Armenia did not draw the right conclusions from the lesson it was taught at the Patriotic War and was not ready for a regional peace process. On the contrary, Armenia still harbours plans of revenge. But it should be clear to everyone that the subversive course of action and the tactic that boils down to playing for time will have grave consequences for Armenia itself eventually.

In conclusion, the Milli Majlis leader quoted the Head of State’s words said at the hoisting of the national flag in the town of Lachin on 21 September, ‘Armenia should think really hard today. Nobody can talk to us in ultimatums… I want to say once more that no-one and nothing is going to stop us. We are standing up for a just cause, for fairness and international law and we have been and are protecting our territorial integrity – well, we have restored it now. We were able to show the world what we’re capable of; we have freed our lands by force and we are proud of it.’

MP Soltan Mammadov read aloud the statement of the Milli Majlis on the occasion of the Patriotic War’s outbreak anniversary then (the text of the statement will be taken out in the mass media).

The statement was voted in.

Speaker Sahiba Gafarova said the Milli Majlis adopted a legislative work plan at the start of every parliamentary session: the assembly’s work unfolds following such plans. The plan for the current session is the next agenda item therefore; it consists of ten bullet-points, according to Mrs Gafarova.

The legislative work plan for the 2022 autumn session was put on vote and approved eventually.

First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis/head of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli raised the next item, it being a constitutional law (coming up for the second vote) containing unifying amendments to the equally constitutional law ‘On the Regulatory Legal Acts’, brought about by the enactment of the Media Law. It is proposed to replace the wording ‘the National Television and Radio’ with ‘the audio-visual… of the Republic of Azerbaijan’ in the law’s Articles 4.1.5 and 80.0.2.5.

The Bill was voted ‘pro’ in the second reading.

Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova let it be known that the next 6 items on the agenda were about approval of international documents; the Bills were going to be considered and passed in one reading according to the constitutional law ‘On the Regulatory Legal Acts’.

The first two of the six items that were tabled afterwards had been submitted to the Milli Majlis by the President of the Republic – in one parcel.

Nizami Safarov of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee informed the House of the draft law on approving the Convention of 15 November 1965 (signed in The Hague) on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters. The Convention envisages development of means of notifying addresses after a timely fashion of what judicial and extrajudicial documents must be served abroad. Besides, it intended optimisation of judicial mutual assistance arrangements through facilitation and acceleration of the pertaining procedure. That Convention applies to all civil or commercial litigations when either a judicial or an extrajudicial document must be issued for service abroad.

Now, the Republic of Azerbaijan is about to join the Convention with a reservation that she will not be applying its provisions to the Republic of Armenia until the complete elimination of the consequences of the conflict and normalisation of relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The chairman of the International and Inter-Parliamentary Relations Committee Samad Seyidov presented the committee’s relevant opinion statement, after which the Bill was voted in.

First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis, head of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli also tabled a Bill on ratifying the Convention of 23 November 2007 (signed in The Hague) on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance. The Convention, according to Mr Huseynli, is to be joined by Azerbaijan with certain declarations and provisos that taper to Azerbaijan not intending to use its provisions in regard to the Republic of Armenia pending the complete elimination of the conflict’s aftermath and normalisation of relations between the two states.

The relevant resumes of the Family, Women’s and Children’s Affairs Committee and of the International and Inter-Parliamentary Relations Committee were put forth by the corresponding heads Hijran Huseynova and Samad Seyidov.

Another parliamentary committee’s chairman Siyavush Novruzov and MP Aydin Huseynov found it necessary to let the assembly know what they think about this agenda item; First Vice Speaker Ali Huseynli replied to their commentaries.

The Bill was voted in.

Speaker Sahiba Gafarova said then that the following four items – the 6^th, the 7^th, the 8^th and the 9^th ones – were about ratifying inter-state agreements between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.

 The head of the Agrarian Policy Committee Tahir Rzayev came up with an overview of the Bill on ratification of the inter-governmental quarantine and plants protection co-operation agreement signed in Toshkent on 21 June 2022 to protect both states’ territories from the penetration of regulated harmful organisms as well as to bring about an increase in the two-way trade.

The Defence, Security and Counter-corruption Committee’s chairman Ziyafet Asgarov, in turn, tabled a Bill of ratification of the inter-governmental military technical co-operation, inked in the Uzbek capital city on 21 June 2022 primarily to intensify the co-operation that benefits both parties as well as to streamline weapon specimen and hardware equipment system, ensure mutual support in devising, manufacturing, repairing and upgrading defence products and, lastly, to increase the defence capacities of both countries.

Further, there was a Bill of ratification of the inter-governmental agreement on international motoring-transport communications, presented to the House by Mazahir Efendiyev of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee. It follows from the agreement’s provisions that the two parties will be regulating passenger and cargo haulage by roads open to international motor traffic as well as transit transportation and cargo carriage to third countries or from third countries. Such regulation is to be done at the designated checkpoints on their respective state borders. The Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Uzbekistan are the job-owners, so to speak.

Mazahir Efendiyev also brought before the House a Bill prepared to ratify the inter-governmental agreement of co-operation in protection of industrial property, mentioning the parties’ shared intention to co-operate in regulating all matters related to protection and employment of rights over industrial property as well as to exchange relevant information and experience. In addition, it is intended to begin interaction in several other areas as well.

Samad Seyidov let the House hear his considerations regarding the four documents; he also stated the corresponding opinion statements of his International and Inter-Parliamentary Relations Committee.

All the Bills were voted in one by one after that.

MP Fazail Agamali told the House then that President Ilham Aliyev had decorated him with the Service to the Motherland Order, the 2^nd class on 25 August on the occasion of Mr Agamali’s 75^th birthday. The parliamentarian thanked the Head of State for that elevated assessment of his merits.

Going further, the head of the Regional Affairs Committee Siyavush Novruzov tabled the draft amendments to ‘The List of the Municipalities of the Republic of Azerbaijan’ appended to the Law ‘On the Municipal Territories and Lands’. Mr Novruzov reminded the House that the former Kapaz and Nizami districts of Ganja City had been terminated and made part of the territory of the city itself pursuant to the law No 492-VIQ dated 4 March 2022. Hence the motion to update the municipalities’ list accordingly.

Razi Nurullayev, Hikmat Mammadov and Aydin Huseynov made comments about the municipalities’ work and Siyavush Novruzov shed light on some matters the MPs had raised.

The Bill was voted in.

Came the turn of the chairman of the Labour and Social Policy Committee Musa Guliyev who brought before the House the first-reading amendments to the Law ‘On Perpetuating the Shahid Title and on the Shahid Household Benefits’, saying that the draft had been put together in execution of the presidential decree No 1340 dated 18 May 2021 that concerns certain measures to be taken to optimise administration of the state compulsory personal insurance class. The amendment to the law’s Article 6 is going to introduce greater accuracy and precision as to what funding sources are used to cover the costs associated with the shahids and their families.

The parliamentary committee heads Ganira Pashayeva and Samad Seyidov and the MPs Razi Nurullayev, Etibar Aliyev, Sahib Aliyev, Musa Gasimli, Elshad Mirbashir oglu, Jeyhun Mammadov, Aghil Abbas, Sabir Rustamkhanli, Jala Aliyeva and Malahat Ibrahimghizi spoke of the gravity of this subject-matter and the importance of the pains the State was taking to perpetuate the shahids’ name and to take care of the families of the fallen warriors.

The House voted pro on the Bill in the first reading ultimately.

First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis/head of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli gave an overview of the first-reading amendments to the Law ‘On Combatting Human Trade’, the amendment to Article 7.2 of which will lead to activities of the National Action Plan participants being co-ordinated via a pro-bono working group functioning under the auspices of the National Co-ordinator. The make-up of the working group and the manner in which it is organised and will work will be decided by the appropriate executive authority.

The chairman of the Human Rights Committee Zahid Oruj let the House hear his relevant thoughts and the appropriate conclusion of his committee.

The other parliamentary committee’s chair Hijran Huseynova and MP Etibar Aliyev also commented on the agenda item.

And the House voted the Bill through the first reading.

The plenary sitting continued.

Kamal Jafarov of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee covered the first-reading amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences. Prepared in connexion with the effect of the Law ‘On the Rational Use of Energy Efficiency and Energy Efficiency’ of 9 July 2021, the amendments introduce administrative penalties for breaking it. Actually, only the disposition of the Code’s Article 279 would be modified.

The chairman of the Natural Resources, Energy and Ecology Committee Sadig Gurbanov let the House hear the Committee’s favourable opinion of the Bill before the latter was voted through the first reading.

Nizami Safarov, a member of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee, informed the assembly of the first-reading amendments to the Code of Penal Enforcement. He said that the document submitted by the President by way of legislative initiative envisages granting the video calling right to convicts kept at penitentiary institutions, servicemen in disciplinary military units or those held in remand prisons providing an inmate has appealed for a video call and where physical visits are restricted owing to anti-epidemic, sanitary-hygienic and quarantine arrangements. It is in such cases that short-term visits to inmates are to be replaced with phone or video calls. It follows from the document also that video calls are to be held in special rooms and with the mandatory isolation of the calling convict, detainee or disciplined serviceman from his/her fellows.

This Bill, too, was passed in the first reading.

A break was announced then. After it was over, Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova announced the Items 15 and 16, akin to each other substantively, which, too, had been submitted by the Head of State and in one package.

Those agenda items were covered by the already-mentioned MP Kamal Jafarov who is a member of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee. The first-reading amendments to the Criminal Code are set to introduce prosecution for transfers of funds in excess of AZN 50,000, without the offence of smuggling being present, but by way of reimbursement and other means of settlement.

And Mr Jafarov said about the first-reading amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences that they envisaged administrative proceedings against persons who have made or are making illegal money transfers from Azerbaijan to abroad or from other countries to Azerbaijan in the sums of up to AZN 50,000.

The goal pursued here is to strengthen the countering of inbound or outbound illegal money transfers, Mr Jafarov explained.

Both Bills were voted through the first reading once after another.

Then followed an overview by Anar Mammadov of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee of the first-reading amendments to the laws the laws ‘On Affirmation of the Regulations of Conversion of State Enterprises to Joint-Stock Companies’, ‘On Financial and Administrative Groups’ and ‘On the Land Rent’.  The document has been drawn up in keeping with the requirements of the law ‘On the State Registration of Legal Entities and on the State Register’ and other regulatory acts. It is intended to replace the wording ‘where the state enterprises, departments and organisations are situated’ with a broader ‘being in the use of the legal entities owned by the State’ in part concerning the rented-out lands in state possession. Several terminological adjustments are proposed as well.

Tahir Rzayev presented the positive response to the Bill of his Agrarian Policy Committee, whereafter the document was passed in the first reading.

Mahir Abbaszade of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee told the colleagues about the first-reading amendments to the State Duty Law, whereby a new article is to be added to it. Tobacco goods producers and importers are to be exempted from the state duty for the obligatory (pursuant to Article 20-3.2.1) stamps supplied to them to put on their products within a month upon their receiving an appropriate executive authority’s notification that they have been connected to the data system of the organisation designated by the appropriate executive body. Such a designated entity may not extend the term provided for in the first sentence of the article in question on more than five occasions and that is on condition that each extended time will not be longer than a month.

MP Fazail Agamali found it necessary to let the House know what he thought about this and what he had to suggest before the Bill was approved in the first reading.

The head of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee Tahir Mirkishili then introduced to the House the amendments (in the first reading) to the Customs Duty Law, saying that the draft contained a list of equipment, devices, implements and other education aids cleared by the responsible office and imported by the state general education institutions on the force of the confirming documents issued by the appropriate state department. What is included in the list will be exempted from the customs duties for 2 years starting on 1 January 2023. The aim of the amendment is to stimulate education quality improvements at the state general education institutions.

That Bill, too, was approved in the first reading after the plenum had heard the considerations and the favourable responses of the committee chairman Bakhtiyar Aliyev and MP Etibar Aliyev.

Sahiba Gafarova said then that the next agenda items – the 20^th, the 21^st and the 22^nd ones, that is, were interrelated by their contents and that the Milli Majlis had received them from the Head of State in one submission.

The chairman of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee Tahir Mirkishili informed the House of those amendments.

It was said regarding the first-reading amendments to the Civil Code that the wording ‘…in order to conform to the Notaries Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan and to provide for information and document exchanges amongst notaries public and the State Registry, amongst others, it is necessary to ensure that notaries public an immediate digital access to the State Real Estate Register’ in Article 144.2-1 was to be replaced with ‘…shall be provided in the manner specified in Article 148.3 of the present Code.’

Furthermore, Article 144.3 of the Code is given in a new edition, to the effect that the relevant rights are subject to state registration with the State Real Estate Register on the force of e-copies of notarised real estate disposal agreements. Such copies would be submitted in the real-time mode via the governmental information system. A registration application filed with the State Real Estate Register concerning the ownership and other property rights shall be deemed such an agreement.

As regards the addendum to the Code, a pledge agreement shall be notarised if it relates to the conclusion of an agreement for the disposal of immovable property. When a pledge agreement is notarised in connexion with the conclusion of an agreement for the disposal of immovable property, the rules stipulated in Article 225.6 of the Code shall apply to the pledgee.

The first-reading Bill concerning the Law on the State Real Estate Register adds to it a new article concerned with the process of state registration of rights over real estate using the one-stop-shop principle. It follows from the addendum that notarised real estate disposal agreements and other documents executed and notarised as a result of a notarial act in relation to real estate (including an agreement, spouses' certificate of ownership of shares in common property, certificate of inheritance by law or will, property division plan, notification of the final payment under an agreement for the sale of property, etc) are subject to state registration on a ‘one-stop-shop’ basis.

It was said in regard to the first-reading amendments to the Notaries Law that the latter would contain an edited article concerning approval of contracts for the alienation of property and mortgages. According to the edits, property alienation or pledge agreements subject to state registration shall be approved on the basis of documents confirming ownership of the property alienated or pledged as a mortgage as well as documents on motor-vehicles. This also includes vehicle inspection documents issued by the institution designated by the relevant executive authority or real-time information about such documents received from the electronic information system.

There are several legislative adjustments as well.

Nurlan Hasanov of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee said that the committee had arrived at a favourable conclusion regarding the presented agenda items.

All the three Bills were voted through the first reading one by one.

Amina Agazade of the above-said committee proceeded to table the first-reading amendments to the Law ‘On the Institution of the Orders and Medals of the Azerbaijan Republic’ having to do with the institution of the ‘For Distinguished Service with the Prosecution Authorities’ and ‘For Fruitful Collaboration with the Prosecution Authorities’ medals.

The Distinguished Service Medal would be bestowed on prosecution officers with outstanding and productive service records, for exemplary service records, for achievements and for special merits. As regards the Fruitful Collaboration Medal, it goes to its bearers who will be officials of the state and other organisations of the Republic of Azerbaijan and of other countries as well as representatives of international organisations. They will be decorated for – as the name of the medal suggests – fruitful collaboration with the prosecution authorities and active involvement in preparing and carrying out important prosecution projects.

The Bill was approved in the first reading.

According to the Chair of the Milli Majlis, the Items 24 and 25, again, are close by substance and the Parliament received them from the President in one package.

Amina Agazade covered those items – the first-reading amendments to the Prosecutor’s Office Law and the equally first-reading amendments to the Law ‘On Serving in the Prosecution Authorities’. According to Mrs Agazade, the Bills deal with strengthening the social protection of the prosecution personnel, improvement of their material provisions and introducing a unified remuneration system. Also, it is proposed to bring this law in line with the Health Insurance Law in order to provide health care coverage of the prosecution personnel and members of their households.

The Bills were passed in the first reading one after another.

Next, the chairman of the Labour and Social Policy Committee Musa Guliyev tabled the first-reading amendments to the Labour Code that were about legal regulation of improving employees’ professional readiness, having them acquire new skills and upgrading their qualifications.

The plenum voted that Bill through the first reading as well.

Sahiba Gafarova said at this point that Deputy Minister for Labour and Social Protection of the Population Anar Karimov and Head of the Ministry’s Social Insurance and Pension Policy Department Elnur Abbasov were present at today’s plenary siting.

This announcement was followed by Musa Guliyev giving an overview of the first-reading amendments to the Retirement Pensions Law. According to his statement, the amendments were intended to address the matters issuing from the presidential decree on the additional moves in the social protection of retired employees, dated 8 February 2022. It follows from the proposed 42 changes to Article 7 that it is intended to introduce a unified method of indexing pension supplements and create a legal basis for pension supplements provided to occupational pensioners by the relevant executive authority. It is proposed to modify the law’s Articles в 1, 6, 20, 26, 29 and 45 to avoid certain discrepancies and shortfalls in the annual pension rises and to ensure proper operation of the unified indexing mechanism applied to those rises. The amendments concerning the transition to a unified indexing method suggest that the sums of retirement pensions of all types will be indexed and raised in after a concerted fashion each year. At the same time, there will be greater-sum indexation and rises in pensions for those entitled to long-service bonuses. The pensions’ indexation and increases will be made wholly electronic, and the pensioners and their former corporate employers will be released from the obligation to submit any kind of information.  

First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis/the head of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli remarked as he was talking about the amendments (in the first reading) to the Civil Service Law that they had been prepared in continuation of the social reforms current in the country and with the purpose of a profounder fixation of the social insurance principles within the pensions system. The other goal is to strengthen the social protection of civil servants and improve their living standards. The amendments will provide for more flexible reforms in the course of pay-rises; besides, they will lead to the implementation of a unified pensions indexing method and, consequently, to annual pension increases irrespective of salary or wage increases.

Both Bills were voted through the first reading after the Milli Majlis had listened to what the committee chairman Siyavush Novruzov and MP Fazil Mustafa had to say about them.

Item 29 of the agenda consisted in the first-reading amendments to the Labour Code and was presented by the head of the Labour and Social Policy Committee Musa Guliyev. Mr Guliyev brought up the gender equality policy of Azerbaijan and said that the Bill was going to broaden the employment opportunities for women and reduce the number of obstacles for them to hold jobs in higher-paid industries and sectors. The proposed changes in the Labour Code’s Articles 211, 240, 241 and 243 are going to reduce the number of occupations and positions blocked for women. The same amendments are giving rise to a legal basis upon which what restraints will remain in place will only hold for pregnant women and mothers with children aged under 1 year – and not for women as such. Thus, the number of occupations and jobs that women are not allowed to muster and hold will be reduced from the current 674 to 204 whereas those restraints that will still apply to the remaining 204 will solely apply to, again, pregnant women and women who have children younger than one year, according to Mr Guliyev.

A corresponding favourable opinion statement of the Labour and Social Policy Committee was communicated to the assembly by the committee head Hijran Huseynova.

The deputy chair of the Labour and Social Policy Committee Malahat Ibrahimghizi and the MPs Fazil Mustafa and Vugar Bayramov asked their questions and put across their relevant considerations as deliberations began. Musa Guliyev clarified the matters brought up by the commenters. Then, the Bill was put on vote and adopted in the first reading.

The last item on the agenda that came up at the plenum duly was an amendment, again, in the 1^st reading, to Article 39 of the Retirement Pensions Law. That item was outlined by Musa Guliyev who said that the draft would limit the cases in which overpaid pensions and supplements paid to the OAP in excess of their entitlements could be withheld. The current rules provide for the withholding of an overpayment on an occupational pension from an occupational pensioner whereas the proposed amendment would have such withholdings determined in a differentiated manner.

The House voted the Bill through the first reading following a commentary by MP Bahrouz Maharramov.

To cap it, First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis Ali Huseynli and the MPs Elshan Musayev and Hikmat Mammadov shared their views upon the current developments and matters and on the issues du jour.

The first meeting in plenary of the 2022 session of the Milli Majlis was over.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis