Azerbaijani parliament passes law on protection of businessmen
By Aynur Jafarova
The Milli Majlis (Azerbaijani parliament) adopted a new law "On protection of the interests of entrepreneurs and regulation of controls exercised in the entrepreneurship sector" at a special session on July 2. The law was passed in the second and third readings.
According to the chairman of the parliament's economic policy committee Ziyad Samadzade, this law will resolve many issues impeding the development of entrepreneurship in the country.
In February, President Ilham Aliyev introduced the draft law on the protection of the interests of entrepreneurs to the Azerbaijani parliament. The main goal of the bill is to form single principles of control over entrepreneurial activity as well as to stop illegal interference with the activity of entrepreneurs during the exercising of controls. According to the draft law, an audit which is irrelevant to the requirements of this law does not have legal force.
The draft law aims to improve the business environment and to create favorable conditions for the work of entrepreneurs in the country.
According to the bill, while implementing audits business entities will be divided into groups with high, middle and minor risk. The entrepreneurs who did not commit violations of law for a certain period of time will be moved to the group with small risk. The duration of planned audits over large entrepreneurs should not exceed 10 days and those over middle and small entrepreneurs will last five days, while unplanned check-ups of major entrepreneurs should not exceed five days and those over middle and small businessmen -- three days.
According to the law, unplanned check-ups will be conducted not at the request of the supervisory authority and only in specific cases when they are required by the law. For example, such audits may be necessary if the decision on eliminating the violations revealed as a result of the previous check-up is not executed.
Furthermore, it is planned to determine and approve the list of controlling bodies in order to stop independent assignment of control functions by executive power bodies. The number of controlling bodies will be significantly reduced in the future as well.
According to world practice, there are one or two such bodies in each country. A hotline will be created in each controlling body enabling entrepreneurs to get answers to their questions.