29.03.2024, Friday

The legal basis for the regulation of relations in the sphere of the state civil service is being improved

The legal basis for the regulation of relations in the sphere of the state civil service is being improved

 

As it is known, on August 8, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed A Law “On State Civil Service” (hereinafter referred to as the Law). The Law was adopted after a recent meeting hold by President, at which he emphasized that the solution of problems in the field of civil service has been postponed for 30 years. “The state civil service has not yet become a system that really satisfies the people,” he said. At the same time, the President stated that new Law had been improved for two years on the basis of deep discussions with the involvement of local and foreign specialists. The Law consists of 10 chapters and 64 articles.

Under the Law, state civil service means that a type of civil service, which is a professional paid activity of citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan to ensure the exercise of the powers of state bodies in the positions of the state civil service.

The Law applies to state civil servants in positions entered in the State Register of Civil Service Positions. The Law does not apply to activities of President, deputies of the Legislative Chamber and senators, deputies of the Jokargy Kenes of Karakalpakstan and other local representative bodies of state power, employees of the apparatus of the Legislative Chamber and the Senate, members of the Central Election Commission, judges and employees of the judiciary, members of the Board of the Central Bank, civil servants serving in the bodies prosecutor's office, internal affairs, defense, emergency situations, the National Guard, the State Customs Service, the State Security Service and the State Security Service of the President, including military personnel, as well as employees of technical, production and maintenance personnel of state bodies.

Generally, basic new norms of abovementioned Law are:

firstly, the same rights, duties and restrictions are introduced for state civil servants of all levels. Restrictions are established on serving in one state body together with persons who are closely or kindred, on engaging in entrepreneurial activities, on opening and maintaining accounts outside the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan;

secondly, the legal framework for the implementation of measures to prevent corruption in this area is being improved. In particular, persons found guilty by the court of committing crimes related to corruption cannot be accepted into the state civil service. Also, a system of declaring income and property of a public civil servant will be introduced;

thirdly, the grounds for entering and passing the state civil service are determined. For instance, vacancy of the state civil service is carried out on the basis of internal and external competitions. A system of measurable indicators for evaluating the performance of public civil servants will be introduced. A national personnel reserve will be formed. State civil servants are given the qualification degrees of state civil service positions based on the groups and categories of state civil service positions;

fourthly, the circumstances in which recruitment to the state civil service is not possible are clearly defined by law. Including, persons found guilty by the court of committing corruption offences; persons who have not been convicted of grave and especially grave crimes or whose conviction has not been canceled or withdrawn cannot be accepted into the state civil service.

Fifthly, the procedure for bringing employees to disciplinary responsibility is also changing by law. In particular, in accordance with Article 181 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, a fine in the amount of not more than 50% of the average monthly salary may be imposed. However, according to Article 46 of the Law, the amount of the fine should not exceed 30 % of the average monthly wage.

Sixthly, with the Law, the duration of the vacation of employees is also changing. Under the Article 54 of the Law, a state civil servant is now granted annual basic leave of at least twenty-seven calendar days. Moreover, the state civil servant is given annual additional work holidays for many years of service and special working conditions.

In conclusion, it can be said that the Law is of great importance in creating a completely new, efficient and high-quality functioning system of public administration. At the same time, in our opinion, the implementation of the Law serves not only to form an effective system of professional public service, but also to introduce more effective mechanisms to fight corruption in the system of state bodies. It is worth noting that the Law is planned to enter into force on November 10, 2022.

 

Chief legal adviser of the Legal service of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Karakalpakstan A. Imatov