The Milli Majlis (National Assembly) has adopted a newly drafted Civil Service Code.
Operative Information Center-OMM reports that lawmakers considered the bill at its final reading during today’s plenary session of the parliament’s autumn session.
Relations in the civil service are currently governed by the Law on Civil Service and other regulations. The reforms are intended to improve civil service legislation, consolidate existing rules and introduce modern human resource management mechanisms by regulating civil service relations under a single code.
The action plan for the “Socio-Economic Development Strategy of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2022-2026,” approved by an order of the President of Azerbaijan dated July 22, 2022, envisaged drafting a Civil Service Code as part of efforts to improve public administration and the civil service.
The President submitted the draft law on approving and bringing the Civil Service Code into force, as well as related legal provisions, to the Milli Majlis under the legislative initiative process.
The bill provides for the legal, organizational and financial-economic foundations of the civil service to be set out in a single codified regulatory act.
The Code consists of General and Special Parts, comprising five sections, 15 chapters and 94 articles. It covers civil service administration and principles, the classification of government agencies and civil service positions, civil servants’ rights and duties, length of service and qualification grades. It also regulates admission to the civil service, competitions and interviews, appointments, internships and probation periods, rotation, performance and competency assessments, career advancement, further education and professional development, salaries and other benefits, leave, ethical conduct, disciplinary liability and termination of civil service.
The draft Code thus consolidates a number of existing provisions on the civil service into a single regulatory act.
Once the Code comes into force, several laws are to be repealed alongside the Law on Civil Service. These include laws on reduced working hours for certain categories of civil servants; the Civil Service Management Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan; local coefficients for civil servants’ salaries; additional salary coefficients for civil servants in agencies where working conditions are hazardous to life or health or particularly difficult; and civil servants’ ethical conduct rules.
A transition mechanism will be established to align other regulatory acts with the Code. Until they are brought into line with it, those acts will apply only insofar as they do not conflict with the Code.
This will ensure the Code’s legal precedence while existing regulations are gradually aligned with it.
The validity of civil service certificates issued under the current Law on Civil Service and not yet expired will also be preserved. Holders of such certificates will be eligible to take part in interviews held under the new Code for as long as their certificates remain valid.
This will protect rights acquired under the previous rules during the transition to the new system.
Appendices to the Code also set out model forms for documents used in the civil service. These include the form of a job description; model employment contracts for people appointed to the civil service on internship and probation terms and on a permanent basis; an application form for taking part in an interview; and the text of the civil servant’s oath.
After debate, the bill was put to a vote and adopted at its third reading.
