First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis Ali Huseynli presided over the last plenary sitting of the extraordinary parliamentary session held on 9 July.

The MPs Nigyar Arpadarai, Rashad Mahmudov, Razi Nurullayev, Mahir Abbaszade, Gudrat Hasanguliyev, Sahib Aliyev, Ramil Hasan, Javid Osmanov, Mushfig Jafarov and Bahrouz Maharramov spoke of the anti-pandemic action, creating the Garabagh and Zangazur economic regions and the points of concern of electors as the current issues were discussed.

Ali Huseynli let it be known then that the first seven items on the agenda were about the Bills due to be tabled for the third reading.    

First, Chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Natural Resources, Energy and Ecology Sadig Gurbanov informed the House of the work done on the Bill ‘On the Rational Use of Energy Resources and Energy Efficiency’ (in the third reading) following its second reading. All the associated matters had been settled, Mr Gurbanov mentioned.

The agenda item was put on vote. The Bill ‘On the Rational Use of Energy Resources and Energy Efficiency’ consisting of 8 chapters and 23 articles was approved in the third reading.

First Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli then tabled the following items in the third reading: the set of draft amendments to the Labour, Civil Procedural, Family, Civil, Tax, Criminal Procedural and Administrative Procedural Codes of the Azerbaijan Republic, to the Code of Administrative Offences and to the Laws ‘On the Social Insurance’, ‘On the Medical Insurance’, ‘On the State Duty’, ‘On the Judicial and Law Council’ and ‘On the Administrative Proceedings’ and, separately, the draft amendments to the Mediation Law (all in the third reading).

The amendments to the codes and laws are being motioned with regard to the application of the Mediation Law, which is in effect already, and its ‘Compulsory Mediation’ Section that came into force on 1 July; the purpose here is to establish the processual basics for the subject-matter.

Both Bills were put on vote and approved in the third reading one by one.

Next up, the House looked at the draft amendments to the Laws ‘On the Civil Service’, ‘On Serving in the Prosecution Authorities’, ‘On the Diplomatic Service’, ‘On Serving in the Justice Authorities’ and ‘On Serving in the Emergency Situations Authorities’ as well as to the Customs Authorities Service Charter enacted by the Law of the Azerbaijan Republic No 768-IQ dated 7 December 1999, the State Tax Authorities Service Charter enacted by the Law of the Azerbaijan Republic No 141-IIQ dated 12 June 2001, the Azerbaijan Republic Internal Affairs Authorities Service Charter enacted by the Law of the Azerbaijan Republic No 168-IIQ dated 29 June 2001 and the Migration Authorities Service Charter enacted by the Law of the Azerbaijan Republic No 930-IIIQ dated 4 December 2009. The overview was given by the First Deputy Speaker Ali Huseynli who said that the amendments envisaged cancellation of repeated trial periods and of track record reaffirmation when a civil servant travelled from the special civil service to the civil service per se and back.

The Bill was passed in the third reading.

The First Deputy Speaker said then that the subsequent three agenda items were the draft amendments to the Civil Procedural Code, the State Duty Law and the Administrative Procedural Code. They all are related to the implementation of Mr President’s decree signed off in the context of the judicial and legal reforms. First, those amendments had been queued up as four agenda items; there had been two Bills containing amendments to the Administrative Procedural Code. Then, however, a decision had been made in favour of amalgamating the amendments into one draft and submit it for consideration of the Parliament as such.

The Bill had been subject to thorough discussion at the joint meeting of the parliamentary committees that had gone in the form of a public hearing. Certain issues that had concerned the legal community and, in particular, the solicitors had been clarified, Mr Huseynli said.

All the three Bills were voted through the third reading one after another eventually.

The First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis announced then an inter-state agreement – the Bill of Ratification regarding the Agreement between the Ministry of Defence of the Azerbaijan Republic and the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus on Exchange of Confidential Information in Bilateral Co-operation. The relevant brief was presented by Chairman of the parliamentary Defence, Security and Anti-Corruption Committee Ziyafet Asgarov. The draft consisting of 13 articles lays down the obligations assumed by the two sides in respect of confidential data, according to Mr Asgarov.

The committee chairmen Siyavush Novruzov and Zahid Oruj and the MPs Gudrat Hasanguliyev and Fazail Agamali had commented on the Bill before it was voted in.

Going further, Ali Huseynli announced that the next four agenda items were of the unifying and concretising nature and would be considered and adopted in only one reading. Mr Huseynli noted that the ninth agenda item was the Bill containing amendments to the Migration Code of the Azerbaijan Republic. The Milli Majlis had passed ‘The Seaman’s Identity Paper Provisions’; the new amendments are to harmonise the Code and the Provisions.

The Bill was put on vote and approved subsequently.

It was Deputy Chairman of the Milli Majlis Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Ali Masimli who presented the next three items on the agenda.

Mr Masimli said that the Bill containing amendments to the Merchant Shipping Statute of the Azerbaijan Republic and to the Law on Seaports had been drawn up pursuant to the presidential decree of 11 February 2021 modifying the previous decree of the President of the Azerbaijan Republic whereby Baku International Sea Port CJSC had been transferred to the management of the Azerbaijan Investment Holding and Baku International Merchant Sea Port CJSC had been established.

As regards the amendments to the State Duty Law, they are intended as adjustments.  

Continuing, Mr Masimli said that the Bill that contained amendments to the Laws ‘On the Land Market’, ‘On the International Private Law’, ‘On State Procurement’, ‘On the Special Economic Zones’, ‘On Maintaining the Uniformity of Measurements’ and ‘On the Accreditation in Compliance Assessment’ contemplated regulation of relations in the respective areas in keeping with the requirements of the Azerbaijan Republic Law ‘On the “Alat” Free Economic Zone’.

The MPs Rashad Mahmudov and Etibar Aliyev voiced their views relevant to the latest Bill; then, all the three Bills were voted in one by one.

First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis proceeded to the last agenda item, which was a draft resolution concerning the Regulations of the Disciplinary Commission of the Milli Majlis of the Azerbaijan Republic.

The Law Policy and State-Building Committee had taken time to work on the document together with the Disciplinary Commission itself; the draft resolution did not generate new legal norms of any nature with regards to disciplinary matters as they were stipulated in the currently effective legislation inasmuch as members of the Milli Majlis were concerned, Mr Huseynli specified. Consequently, the draft in question is concerned with the processual basics of the Disciplinary Commission established by the Milli Majlis

Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis Fazail Ibrahimli, a parliamentary committee chairman Siyavush Novruzov and the MPs Tahir Karimli, Fazail Agamali and Etibar Aliyev found it necessary to express their thoughts to that end. Chairman of the Disciplinary Commission Eldar Ibrahimov commented on the remarks by the MPs and thanked Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova for the support she had extended whilst the Regulations were in the making.

Then, the draft resolution was put on vote and approved.

First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis Ali Huseynli remarked as he was summing the plenary sitting up that the extraordinary session was ending today. During it, more than 30 laws and resolutions had been passed, Mr Huseynli recalled.

‘We trust that our political activities as well as the laws and resolutions we have passed will assist in achieving the goals set forth after the Victory gained under the leadership of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the country Mr Ilham Aliyev,’ Mr Huseynli added.

He went further to make a reference to the very fruitful international actions of the Parliament in the concerned period, thanked the MPs on behalf of the Milli majlis leadership and declared the extraordinary session closed. The State Anthem of the Azerbaijan Republic was sounded.

Thus ended the extraordinary session of the Milli Majlis.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis