The Milli Majlis Committee of Culture had its first meeting in the spring parliamentary session on 24 January. Committee Chair Ganira Pashayeva began it by wishing the MPs success during the session.

Ganira Pashayeva then turned to the first item on the agenda being a 2022 autumn-session performance report and reminded the participants of the six committee meetings held during that session to discuss six matters. She also mentioned the committee’s having processed 681 incoming messages and applications, adding that she had received 228 citizens during the expired session, too.

The second item on the agenda was the work scope charted for the current session: Mrs Pashayeva specified that the committee was going to consider legislative initiatives to arrive as well as peruse other documents, pass opinion statements and organise relevant hearings together with specialist departments and offices. It is planned to discuss the Intangible Heritage Protection Bill and draw up a new Cinematography Bill.

As for the next agenda item, it was about four sets of amendments to a pack of laws. There were, first, amendments to the laws ‘On the Legal Defence of Specimens of the Azerbaijani Folklore’, ‘On Protection and Rational Use of Cultivated Plants Genetic Stocks’, ‘On the Social Service’, ‘On Compulsory Child Health Examinations’, ‘On Regulating Business Checks and Protecting Enterprisers’ Interests’, ‘On the Protection of Green Spaces’, ‘On the Rules of Ethical Conduct for Municipal Employees’, ‘On the Securities Market’ and ‘On Shusha – the Culture Capital of Azerbaijan’. The other set of amendments concerned the laws ‘On Information, Informatisation and Protection of Information’, ‘On the Freedom of Reference’, ‘On the Publishing Business’, ‘On Obtaining Natural Environmental Information’, ‘On Telecommunication’, ‘On Obtaining Information’, ‘On Theatre and Theatrical Activities’ and ‘On Culture’. The third assembly of amendments were to be made to the laws ‘On Lotteries’, ‘On the Electronic Signature and the Electronic Document’, ‘On Hunting’, ‘On the State of Emergency’, ‘On Accountancy’, ‘On Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence’, ‘On the Legal Protection of Data Compendia’, ‘On Protecting and Promoting the Azerbaijani Carpetry Art’, ‘On the Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan’ and ‘On the Judicial and Legal Board’. And then there was the fourth round of amendments – to the laws ‘On Traffic’, ‘On the Committees of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan’, ‘On the Land Market’, ‘On Environmental Protection’, ‘On Anti-Terrorism’, ‘On the National Archive Fund’, ‘On the Status of the Municipalities’, ‘On Operational and Investigative Activities’, ‘On Water Supplies and Wastewater’ and ‘On Grain’.  All those laws are interrelated; they have been drawn up in connexion with the application of the Law ‘On Media’ No 471-VIQ dated 30 December 2021. Several harmonising changes are to be introduced; for example, the wording ‘mass media outlets’ and ‘teleradio’ are to be replaced with the word ‘media’ and the formulation ‘television and radio’, according to the committee head.

Comments followed as made by the MPs Nizami Jafarov, Novruzali Aslanov, Aziz Alakbarov, Ulviya Agayeva, Ulviya Hamzayeva, Mikhail Zabelin and Razi Nurullayev. Head of the Social Legislation Department of the Milli Majlis Staff Adil Valiyev made his remarks as well. The MPs spoke of the effective work the committee had done during the autumn session and commenting on both the projections for the new session already apace and the fact that 2023 had been declared the Heydar Aliyev Year.

The performance report was endorsed, the work programme for the spring session of 2023 was confirmed and the Bills discussed at the committee meeting were cleared for the tabling at a plenum of the Milli Majlis ultimately.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis