The Milli Majlis has approved a series of amendments and additions to the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offenses in the first reading.
“Operative Information Center-OMM” reports that the bill was discussed at today’s plenary session of parliament.
The bill proposes expanding the grounds for criminal liability of legal entities to include the offense set out in Article 306 of the Criminal Code, titled “Failure to comply with a court judgment, decision or other act.” Since criminal-law measures against legal entities are a relatively new institution in the Criminal Code, the rules governing these relations need to be amended from time to time. The growing role of legal entities as participants in legal relations, the obligations imposed on them by numerous court acts and the importance of enforcing those acts have made the proposed changes necessary.
The bill also proposes amendments to Articles 189-1 and 314-4 of the Criminal Code to improve their provisions, particularly by clarifying who may be held liable for the relevant offenses.
Other proposed changes concern the Code of Administrative Offenses. Some would update provisions in chapters covering offenses against environmental protection, nature use and environmental safety; rules for the use of industrial, electrical and thermal energy; communications rules; economic activity; and public administration. Others would align the code with provisions in separate draft laws, including those on free legal aid, expert activities, and items or activities requiring permits.
Some administrative offenses can be identified using special technical devices with photo or video recording capabilities. In such cases, proceedings follow a different process from conventional administrative proceedings.
The bill proposes adding offenses under Articles 342.6 (a driver using a phone while holding it during a vehicle’s movement) and 428.5 (distributing advertisements on vehicles without approval from the relevant executive authority or in violation of vehicle advertising rules) to the cases covered by this procedure.
Taking into account the importance of combating corruption, a new bill titled “On the encouragement and protection of persons reporting corruption-related offenses” has been drafted. Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses are also needed to strengthen the legal protection of people who report such offenses, in line with the new bill.
The bill also provides for new administrative offense provisions concerning failure to submit an environmental impact assessment document for publication on an official internet information resource; violations of legislation on public services; violations of legislation on forensic examination activities; and breaches of the rules for providing free legal aid. It also sets out which authorities have jurisdiction over these offenses and provides for prosecutorial oversight.
Following debate, the bill was put to a vote and passed in the first reading.
