Azerbaijan is establishing a Chamber of Private Forensic Experts, with its powers to be defined.
“Operative Information Center-OMM” reports that amendments are proposed to the Civil Procedure, Tax and Criminal Procedure Codes, as well as the laws on social insurance, medical insurance, forensic examination activities, administrative proceedings, licenses and permits, and employment.
The draft was discussed at a meeting of the Milli Majlis (National Assembly) Committee on Legal Policy and State Building today.
Under the document, the Chamber of Private Forensic Experts (hereinafter, the Chamber) is a non-profit legal entity established on the basis of compulsory membership of private forensic experts to protect its members’ rights and legitimate interests and coordinate their activities. It operates according to the principles of self-governance:
- The Chamber will have a seal, emblem, bank account, relevant stamps and letterhead.
- The Chamber will operate under this law and its charter, adopted by the Chamber’s General Assembly.
- The Chamber’s charter will govern its management.
- The Chamber will be headed by the chair of its Board or, in the chair’s absence, by the deputy chair.
Under the draft law, the Chamber’s sources of funding will include:
- membership fees paid by Chamber members;
- revenue from fines imposed on Chamber members as disciplinary measures;
- donations.
The Chamber’s charter will determine the amount of membership fees and the deadlines and procedures for their payment.
The document states that the Chamber will have the following powers:
- provide methodological assistance to people preparing for qualification examinations to work as private forensic experts;
- coordinate the activities of private forensic experts and organize their
training;
- monitor private forensic experts’ compliance with the requirements of the code of professional ethics;
- represent private forensic experts before state bodies and institutions and protect their rights and legitimate interests;
- refer a matter to the Disciplinary Commission to initiate disciplinary proceedings under this law when there is sufficient evidence indicating that a private forensic expert has violated the requirements of legal acts governing their work or breached executive discipline;
- submit proposals to the relevant executive authority to improve legal acts regulating forensic examination activities;
- cooperate with forensic experts in other countries, as well as with international organizations and legal entities.
A private forensic expert will become a member of the Chamber upon being entered in the Register of Forensic Experts, the document says.
If a private forensic expert’s activities are terminated, their membership in the Chamber will also end.
