The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan signed the Law “On amendments and additions to some legislative acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan”. This law was adopted by the Legislative chamber on 27 November and approved by the Senate on 4 December 2015.
The law provides a number of rules aimed at further improving the efficiency of the legislative process. In particular, in order to organize a comprehensive study of legislation, consideration of other issues relating to the competence of the Oliy Majlis, the document defines a clear procedure for parliamentary committees of expert groups comprised of specialists of state bodies, scientific and educational institutions, representatives of non-governmental organizations, who have experience in the relevant areas. The participation of representatives of civil society institutions in the discussion of bills affecting social and socially relevant issues is mandatory.
In order to implement constitutional norms aimed at strengthening parliamentary control over the activities of executive bodies, the laws on regulations of the chambers of the Oliy Majlis clearly define the procedure for the hearing of annual government reports, reports of officials of bodies of state administration on the implementation of the requirements of the legislation, government programmes in their respective sectors for socio-economic development, the adoption of secondary legislation related to enforcement of laws, and others.
A number of amendments have been introduced in the electoral legislation, in particular, in laws “On elections to the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan”, “On the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan” and other legislative acts. The powers of the Central Election Commission have been expanded. The Commission is now also entrusted with the functions of methodological support of activity of electoral commissions on elections to regional, district and city Kengashes of people’s deputies.
In addition, the amendments and additions have been made to the legislation regulating relations in the sphere of corporate governance. In connection with the adoption of the decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On measures on introduction of modern methods of corporate management in joint stock companies” dated 24 April 2015, amendments have been made in laws “On joint-stock companies and protection of shareholders ‘rights”, “On guarantees of freedom of entrepreneurship”, “On insurance activity” and other legislative acts. The amendments are aimed at further improvement of organizational and legal bases of activity of joint-stock companies, ensuring their transparency and attractiveness to potential investors, the introduction of modern methods of corporate governance, creating favorable conditions for a wide attraction of direct foreign investments in country’s economy.
The law has introduced a number of amendments and additions to the procedural legislation. In particular, in accordance with the amendments to the Economic procedural code, the Budget code and the Law “On execution of judicial acts and acts of other bodies”, to ensure efficiency, improve quality, transparency of proceedings, availability for citizens, the use of information and communication technologies in the conduct of the respective judicial procedures has been considerably simplified.
