A meeting of the ASK Working Group on Reforms in the Judicial-Legal System was held

A meeting of the Working Group established under the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers) Organizations of Azerbaijan (ASK) was held in connection with the execution of the Presidential Decree “On Deepening Reforms in the Judicial-Legal System”.

Zakir Nuriyev, vice-president of the ASK, who chaired the meeting, said that one of the commissions and committees operating within the Confederation is the “Legal Commission”. Presently, the ASK’s legal commission has been set up to prepare substantiated proposals for the protection of entrepreneurs’ rights in the tax and customs legislation, as well as certain work to implement the recommendations made to the Confederation. According to Nuriyev, the consistent work of the ASK in the legal field has already resulted in the mandatory response to requests from state bodies and the obligation to justify the rejection of the complaints. Z. Nuriyev, who wished success to the work of the meeting and invited everyone to be active, requests the permanent discussions as long as possible for the working group to work effectively.

Chairman of the ABA Legal Expert Group, Gorkhmaz Agayev, underlined the importance of the decree in the legal system of our country. He noted that the legal reforms were important, and that this decree would give a strong impetus to the further development of the law-enforcement system in the country.

Other participants of the meeting noted the importance of studying the experience of foreign countries, the automation of the judicial system, and the establishment of a local arbitration body. While improving the 1999 Law, referring to the Jury in the Civil Procedure Code, there was no “local arbitration” for the settlement of disputes between local jurisdictions in reality. An explanation of Article 29 of the Civil Procedure Code, an appeal to arbitration, a local arbitration, and an explanation of the jury’s judgments were noted.

In recent days, the adoption of the AR Law “On Mediation” has been regarded as a crucial step towards the resolution of disputes through the courts. It was proposed that the number of cases falling to the judges be restricted to a specific figure. In economic cases, court fees are determined by a predetermined percentage of the claim amount, not a specific figure. For this purpose, the Administrative Procedural Code should be amended and adapted to new perspectives. In this case, the cases of abusive cases filed with the court in order to extend the process significantly diminish, which in turn reduces the burden on the courts. Moreover, the issue of execution of court decisions was one of the most important issues. Entrepreneurs emphasized the importance of taking concrete measures to build confidence in the arbitration body.

At the end of the meeting, the legislative proposals regarding the execution of the Decree were sent by the Working Group to ASK on April 24, 2019 and re-examined the proposals made and decided to submit the ASK’s final legislative proposals to the government.