News

Legal Act: Order No.1265 “On Raising the minimum monthly wage ” (“The Order”)

Authority: President

Enactment Date: July, 18 2019

Effective Date: June, 19 2019

 According to the Order, the minimum monthly wage will be increased from 180 manat to 250 manat from September 1, 2019.

Legal Act: Order No.1209 “On Acceleration of reforms in the energy sector of the Republic of Azerbaijan”

(“The Order”)

Authority: President

Enactment Date: May, 29 2019

Effective Date:  May, 30 2019

According to the Order, the following shall be entrusted to the Ministry of Energy of the republic of Azerbaijan:

• Preparation of a long-term strategy for the development of the energy sector of the Republic of Azerbaijan;
• Preparation of proposals for a step-by-step transition to a competitive model of a liberal market in the power industry;
• Improvment the efficiency of the country's electric power system, as well as making proposals to attract private investments in these areas for stimulation of the use of renewable energy sources.

Furthermore, The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan was entrusted with preparing draft laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On renewable energy sources in electricity production”, “Regulators in the field of energy and utilities”, as well as developing new laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On energy” and “Gas supply”.

Legal Act: Decree No.724 On Amendments to the Decree No. 1505 “On approval of the list of countries and territories of preferential taxation” dated Jule 11, 2017 (“The Decree”)

Authority: President

Enactment Date: June, 11 2019

Effective Date: June, 12 2019

In accordance with the Decree , “List of Privileged taxpayers and territories” has been approved as follows:

The list of these countries and territories is as follows:  Andorra , Anguilla, Antiqua and Barbuda, Aruba, Antilles (the Netherlands), Bahamas, Bahrain, Bermuda islands, British Virgin Islands, Belize, Barbados, Gibraltar, Jersey, Dominica, Hong Kong (China), Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Guernsey, Grenada, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Maldives, Isle of Man, Marshall Islands, Montserrat, Monaco, Macao (China), Niue, Panama, Palau, Seychelles, St. Kitts and Nevis, Samoa, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Turks and Caicos Islands, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands (USA)

Legal Act: Decree No. 759 “On the establishment of a new mechanism in the agricultural sector” (“The Decree”)

Authority: President

Enactment Date: June, 27 2019

Effective Date: June, 28 2019

According to the Decree:

• “The Rules for Agricultural Subsidies” has been aproved (Enters into force on January 1, 2020.)
• The base used in the calculation of subsidies in crop production is estimated at 200 (two hundred) manat (Enters into the force on January 1, 2020);
• The Ministry of Agriculture has been instructed to create “Subsidies” information system and to provide subsidies from January 1, 2020.

Legal Act: Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan No. 1603-VQD “On Amendments to the Law On termination inspections in the field of entrepreneurship” (“The Law”)

Authority: Milli Mejlis 

Enactment Date: May, 30 2019

Effective Date: June, 20 2019

According to the amendments, The list of inspections carried out before January 1, 2021 also includes fire safety control, state control over construction, control over the safe operation of hazardous facilities and mining areas, as well as the radiation safety control, despite the termination of inspections in the field of entrepreneurship in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Legal Act: Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan No. 1588-VQD “On Amendments to the Civil Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan” (“The Law”)

Authority: Milli Mejlis

Enactment Date: May, 17 2019

Effective Date: June, 05 2019

In accordance with amendments ,

In the Freight Contract, in the section “carriage of goods” of the Civil Code, the concept of “supplier” was clarified, and concepts such as “receiver” and “expeditor” were added.

Thus, the receiver is a competent individual or legal entity who is responsible for receiving the goods on the basis of the transaction . An expeditor is an individual or legal entity that transports cargo for a fee from its location to its destination on the basis of an agreement and has vehicles under the right of ownership, lease or use. Furthermore, The claim period against the expeditor was set as follows: 1 year from the date the claim was filed. Before filing a claim against the expeditor, a written claim is required. A claim may be filed within the claim period. If the expeditor rejects or partially accepts the claim or does not respond to the claim within 30 days, a lawsuit may be filed.

Legal Act: “Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan No. 1583-VQD “On Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences of the Republic of Azerbaijan” (“The Law”)

Authoity: Milli Mejlis

Enactment Date: May, 03 2019

Effective Date: June, 20 2019

According to the above mentioned Law, amendments have been made to administrative sanctions established by the Code of Administrative Offenses for violation of legislation concerning accounting. Thus, according to the amendments, officials will be fined in the amount of 300 to 400 manat in the following cases:

• “According to the requirements of the Law “On Accounting”, for not creating the appropriate structural unit for the purpose of accounting in the accounting subjects by the head of the accounting entity or not attracting business entities on the basis of an agreement, for not organizing accounting services.
• • Appointment of persons who are not professional accountants to the position of chief accountant of relevant accounting organizations (Article 3.4 of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On Accounting”), as well as granting authority for carrying out the resposibilities of their chief accountant.

Legal Act: Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan No. 1578-VQD “On Amendments to the Water Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Forest Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Land Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Town-Planning and Construction Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan (“The Law”)

Authority: Milli Mejlis

Enactment Date: May, 30 2019

Effective Date: June, 20 2019

According to the amendments, In accordance with the Law “On Environmental Impact Assessment” a document on strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is prepared for projects of state programs on the use of water objects, forest fund, as well as their protection, which is conducted by the state environmental review group. In addition, “Strategic Environmental Assessment” (SEA) for the drafts of stratetegic documents on land use shall be undertaken as well.

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) document on construction projects affecting the condition of water as well as forests is prepared in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On Assessment of Environmental Impact” and also is carried out through the state ecological examination.

In accordance with the amendment to the Town-planning and Construction Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, depending on the drafting the strategic or precise territorial planning documents, the “Strategic Environmental Assessment” (SEA) of documents is carried out in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on environmental impact assessment. Additionally, the document on “Environmental Impact Assessment” (EIA) is drafted and a state environmental review of this document is being conducted..