On approval of the regulation on the procedure for gender-based legal review of normative-legal acts and their drafts (192-son)

30.03.2020

Resolution

of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan

In order to ensure gender equality in normative legal acts in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On guarantees of equal rights and opportunities for women and men", the Cabinet of Ministers has declared the following:

1. It is hereby noticed that in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On guarantees of equal rights and opportunities for women and men", it is planned to conduct gender-based legal review of normative legal acts and their drafts by state bodies and other organizations in the relevant areas of their activities.

2. To approve the Regulation on the procedure for gender-based legal review of normative legal acts and their drafts according to annex.

3. Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan:

together with National Center for Human Rights of the Republic of Uzbekistan shall organize regular practical seminars on gender-based legal review of normative legal acts and their drafts in state bodies and other organizations that carry out gender-based legal review of normative legal acts and their drafts;

together with interested ministries and agencies, within one month, shall bring the normative legal acts adopted by them in line with this resolution.

4. The Minister of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan R.Q. Davletov shall be responsible for oversight over implementation of this resolution.

Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan A. ARIPOV

Tashkent city,

March 30, 2020

No. 192

ANNEX to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of 30 March, 2020, No.192

Regulation

on the procedure for gender-based legal review of normative legal acts and their drafts

Chapter 1. General provisions

1. This Regulation establishes the procedure for gender-based legal review of normative legal acts and their drafts.

2. The following basic concepts are used in this Regulation:

gender review — analysis of normative legal acts and their drafts against the principles of guaranteeing equal rights and opportunities for women and men;

legal service — an independent structural unit or position, which is compulsorily established or introduced in accordance with the norms and criteria established by law for the purpose of legal support of the activities of a state body and organization;

direct gender based discrimination — any differentiation, exclusion or restriction aimed at non-recognition of the rights and freedoms of women and men in any sphere of life and activity, including discrimination on the basis of marital status, pregnancy, family responsibilities, as well as sexual harassment, payment of different wages for equal work and qualifications;

indirect gender based discrimination — creating situations, circumstances or premises that make individuals of one gender disadvantaged in comparison to those of the opposite gender, including promoting gender inequality through the media, education, culture, setting conditions or requirements that may have adverse consequences for individuals of a particular gender;

justice authorities — Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regional and Tashkent city departments of justice, district (city) justice departments.

3. In order to eliminate possible imbalances in the definition of the rights, duties, opportunities and responsibilities of individuals, regardless of their gender, normative legal acts and their drafts regulating all spheres of life and activity of society, including politics, economy, law, ideology and culture, education and science, shall be subject to gender-based legal review.

4. Gender-based legal review of normative legal acts and their drafts shall be aimed at:

determining whether a normative legal act or its draft, which provides for direct and indirect gender based discrimination, does not comply with the principles of ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men (hereinafter - the principles of gender equality);

providing general assessment of the consequences of adopting a draft normative legal act that allows for direct or indirect gender based discrimination;

identifying discriminations and potential discriminatory risks in the application of normative legal acts;

developing recommendations aimed at eliminating identified norms that allow direct or indirect gender-based discrimination.

5. Gender-based legal review of normative legal acts and their drafts shall have the following objectives:

identification of objective facts ensuring the validity and reliability of decisions related to the normative and legal regulation in the field of gender relations;

analysis and assessment of the possible consequences of adopting proposed draft regulations in terms of compliance with human rights and gender equality principles, as well as their guarantees and enforcement mechanisms;

prevention of negative impact of normative legal acts and provisions in their drafts on the principles of gender equality;

development of proposals to improve the legislation in the field of gender equality;

provision of explanations on the issues that require special knowledge in the field of gender-based legal review.

6. Gender-based legal review of normative legal acts and their drafts shall be carried out taking into account the following basic principles:

mandatory conduct of gender-based legal review — gender-based legal review of normative legal acts regulating all spheres of life and activity of the society and their drafts without exception;

legality — ensuring compliance of norms of normative legal acts and provisions of their drafts with normative legal acts having higher legal force;

independence — conduct of gender-based legal review by experts who are not subordinated to the structural unit of the developer of the relevant normative legal act and are not directly involved in its development;

impartiality — a comprehensive and complete conduct of gender-based legal review within the relevant specialization, on an impartial legislative, theoretical and practical basis;

integrated approach — conduct of gender-based legal review by an expert, taking into account all parts of the normative legal act and its draft.

Chapter 2. Gender-based legal review of normative legal acts

7. Gender-based legal review of normative legal acts shall be carried out according to the plan of gender-based legal review of normative legal acts developed on the basis of proposals of state bodies and other organizations (hereinafter — state bodies) and approved by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the first quarter of every third year (hereinafter — plan), by the state bodies with respect to the corresponding areas of their activities and as specified in scheme provided in annex 1 to this Regulation.

In case of identification by state bodies of provisions non-complying with the principles of gender equality in normative legal acts that are not included in the plan under their relevant areas of activity, gender-based legal review shall be carried out in accordance with the established procedure to eliminate these non-compliances.

8. Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan shall send a request to state bodies to submit their proposals in order to formulate a draft of the plan.

State bodies shall, within the time limit specified in the request, submit to the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan a signed by their respective first heads (in exceptional cases — by first deputies) list of normative legal acts adopted in the relevant areas of their activities for gender-based legal review.

9. Along with the proposals of state bodies, the draft plan may also include proposals developed by the Ministry of Justice on the basis of analysis of the practice of application of normative legal acts.

Prior to the approval of the draft plan by the Ministry of Justice, it must be agreed with the Commission on Gender Equality of the Republic of Uzbekistan (hereinafter — Commission).

10. State bodies and the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan may use the following as a basis for the development of the plan:

appeals of individuals and legal entities;

suggestions and recommendations of non-governmental monitoring bodies;

results of review of publications and other materials from the media.

11. The plan shall indicate the following:

titles of the normative legal acts subject to gender-based legal review;

state body responsible for conducting gender-based legal review;

time frames for conducting gender-based legal review.

12. State bodies shall conduct gender-based legal review of normative legal acts in accordance with the time limits provided in the plan and requirements specified in Chapter 4 of this Regulation.

13. Conclusions containing analytical information and opinions on the compliance or non-compliance of the normative legal acts undergoing gender-based legal review with the principles of gender equality shall be submitted, within the established time limits, by the state bodies to the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

14. Conclusions of the state bodies on the results of gender-based legal review should indicate exactly with which legislation or principles of gender equality the provisions of normative legal acts do not comply and, if necessary, contain examples and analysis of regulatory enforcement practice in the relevant fields that illustrate what are the representations of these non-compliances.

15. Results of gender-based legal reviews conducted by state bodies shall be indicated in the conclusions of gender-based legal reviews drawn up in the form specified in annex 2 to this Regulation and signed by the respective first heads (in exceptional cases — first deputies).

The state body that prepares the conclusion adopted based on the results of the conducted gender-based legal review shall be responsible for the quality of this conclusion.

Suggestions and objections contained in the conclusions of the state bodies on the results of gender-based legal reviews shall be of a recommendatory nature.

16. The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan shall, within a month, review submitted state bodies' conclusions on compliance or non-compliance of the relevant normative legal acts with the principles of gender equality and reach a decision on whether the conclusions are appropriate or inappropriate.

17. The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan, within the time limits specified in the plan, shall submit consolidated conclusion on the provisions of the normative legal acts that are inconsistent with the principles of gender equality to the Commission for consideration and adoption of the relevant decision.

18. In case of identification of non-compliance with the principles of gender equality in the relevant normative legal acts based on the analysis of the submitted consolidated conclusion, in order to eliminate them, the Commission shall have the right to task the state bodies responsible for application and implementation of these normative legal acts to review the relevant normative legal acts and introduce changes and additions to them within the specified time limits.

Chapter 3. Gender-based legal review of draft normative legal acts

19. Gender-based legal examination of drafts of normative legal acts (hereinafter - draft) shall be carried out by the draft developer in accordance with the scheme provided in annex 3 and by justice authorities within the framework of legal examination.

20. The results of the gender-based legal review of a draft by its developer shall be reflected in the legal opinion of the justice authority on the respective relevant draft.

If the draft does not comply with the principles of gender equality, the justice authority shall return the draft together with appropriate objections to the unit of the developing body responsible for the development of the draft for the revision thereof.

21. After gender-based legal review by the justice authority, the draft shall be signed by the first head (in exceptional cases — first deputy) and sent in the prescribed manner to the relevant bodies and organizations for consultations.

In the course of consultation process, the interested bodies and organizations may conduct a gender-based legal review of the draft and express their suggestions and objections to the draft developer.

22. After consultation with all interested bodies and organizations, the draft developer shall send the draft to the justice authorities for legal review that involves gender-based legal review.

Legal review of the draft shall be carried out within the time limits established by the Procedures of the Administration of the President and the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan and other relevant normative legal acts.

23. As part of the legal review of the draft and in accordance with the requirements specified in Chapter 4 of this Regulation, the justice authorities shall conduct a gender-based legal review of the draft to determine its compliance with the principles of gender equality and whether there are provisions and norms that create conditions for direct or indirect gender-based discrimination.

24. The results of the gender-based legal review of the draft by the justice authority shall be reflected in the relevant conclusion on the legal review providing substantiated information on the existence of norms non-compliant with the principles of gender equality and recommendation on their revision or on the absence of such norms.

25. Objections presented based on the results of gender-based legal review of the draft shall be binding and must be addressed.

26. Identification of provisions of departmental normative legal acts that do not comply with the principles of gender equality shall be the grounds for refusal of their state registration provided for by the legislation.

Chapter 4. Requirements to gender-based legal review of normative legal acts and their drafts

27. Normative legal acts and their drafts shall be subject to gender-based legal review according to the following requirements:

conducting gender analysis of provisions and norms of normative legal acts and their drafts in terms of their compliance with the norms of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On guarantees of equal rights and opportunities for women and men", international treaties entered into force in accordance with the law and other normative legal acts regulating the issues related to ensuring equal rights for women and men;

ensuring compliance of provisions and norms of normative legal acts and their drafts with each component of the principles of gender equality (equal rights, equal responsibility, equal opportunities, and equal obligations). It is necessary to take into account the norms and temporary special measures aimed at achieving practical equality in political, economic, labor and other social relations, but which are not considered to have direct or indirect gender-based discrimination;

checking the correctness of application of terms used in the reviewed normative legal acts and their drafts.

28. Gender analysis of normative legal acts and their drafts shall include the following:

advance analysis in order to identify norms of normative legal acts and their drafts that have or may have different consequences for individuals of different gender;

assessment of the long-term consequences that may occur as a result of the adoption of normative legal acts and their drafts;

development of appropriate recommendations.

29. In the course of the gender analysis, it is necessary to determine the possibility of introducing norms to the drafts, as well as changes and amendments to the existing normative legal acts, specifying temporary special measures to ensure the implementation of gender policy in support of one of the discriminated genders in the field of social relations regulated by the relevant norms and regulations.

30. When conducting gender-based legal review of normative legal acts and their drafts, the attention shall be paid to the following:

compliance of normative legal acts and their drafts with the state policy in the field of achieving gender equality;

the current gender situation in the country, the impact of norms of drafts on the varying socioeconomic status and roles of women and men.

31. In the course of conducting gender-based legal review, state bodies shall have the right to involve specialists from scientific and educational institutions, representatives of non-governmental non-profit organizations and other civil society institutions, as well as citizens on a contractual basis. These activities shall be financed from extra-budgetary funds approved in the manner prescribed by law.

Chapter 5. Data used in the conduct of gender-based legal review

32. Both official and unofficial data shall be used in conducting gender-based legal review.

33. Official data shall include:

normative legal acts;

international agreements;

official publications, including the official resources of the Internet;

statistics and reports;

judicial practice.

34. Unofficial data shall include:

media reports;

scholarly publications;

unofficial resources of the Internet.

Chapter 6. Rights and obligations of the expert conducting gender-based legal review

35. Expert conducting gender-based legal review is entitled to:

get acquainted, in the manner prescribed by law, with documents related to the subject matter of normative legal acts and their drafts subject to gender-based legal review;

request additional documents required for gender-based legal review;

request and obtain relevant clarifications and explanations on the norms of normative legal acts and their drafts subject to gender-based legal review.

The expert may have other rights in accordance with the legislation.

36. Expert conducting gender-based legal review is obliged to:

comply with the requirements of the legislation related to the organization and conduct of gender-based legal review;

notify his supervisor immediately if there are grounds for recusing himself;

not disclose information that has become known to him in connection with the conduct of gender-based legal review;

ensure safety of the documents provided to him.

The expert may have other obligations in accordance with the legislation.

Chapter 7. Final provisions

37. Persons guilty of violating the requirements of this Regulation shall be liable in the prescribed manner.

ANNEX 1 to the Regulation on gender-based legal review of normative legal acts and their drafts

Scheme

of the Procedure for gender-based legal review of normative legal acts

Stages Implementers Activities Deadlines Stage 1 Ministry of Justice Sends a request to government bodies to submit their proposals for the formation of a draft plan of gender-based legal review of normative legal acts (hereinafter — the plan). Before formulating draft plan Stage 2 State bodies and other organizations State bodies submit to the Ministry of Justice a list, signed by the respective first heads (in exceptional cases — first deputies), of normative legal acts adopted in the relevant areas of their activities subject to gender-based legal review. At the request of the Ministry of Justice within the time limits specified in the request Stage 3 Ministry of Justice 1. Summarizes the proposals made by state bodies. 2. May introduce to the plan draft the proposals developed on the basis of the analysis of the practice of application of normative legal acts. 3. Before the approval of the draft plan submits it to the Commission on Gender Equality of the Republic of Uzbekistan (hereinafter — the Commission) for consultation. 4. Approves the plan. Once every three years In the I quarter of the year Stage 4 State bodies and other organizations 1. Conducts gender-based legal review of normative legal acts specified in the plan. 2. Submits to the Ministry of Justice a conclusion containing analytical information and recommendations on the compliance or non-compliance of normative legal acts subject to gender-based legal review with the principles of gender equality. Within the deadlines set in the plan Stage 5 Ministry of Justice 1. Reviews conclusions submitted by state bodies in order to identify non-compliance of the normative legal acts with the principles of gender equality. 2. Based on the results of the review makes decision on appropriateness or inappropriateness of the conclusions. Within a month Stage 6 Ministry of Justice Submits consolidated conclusions on the norms of the normative legal acts that are not in compliance with the principles of gender equality to the Commission for consideration and decision-making. Within the deadlines set in the plan Stage 7 Commission In case of establishing, on the basis of the analysis of the consolidated conclusions, the non-compliance of norms of relevant normative legal acts with the principles of gender equality, is entitled, in order to eliminate the non-compliances, to instruct the state bodies responsible for the implementation and application of this normative legal acts to revise the relevant normative legal acts and introduce appropriate changes and additions to them within the specified time limits. As needed

ANNEX 2 to the Regulation on gender-based legal review of normative legal acts and their drafts

* Conclusion shall specify with which laws or principles of gender equality the norms of the normative legal act do not comply. Where appropriate, examples and results of analysis of regulatory enforcement practice in the relevant field should be provided.

ANNEX 3 to the Regulation on gender-based legal review of normative legal acts and their drafts

Stages Implementers Activities Deadlines Stage 1 State bodies and other organizations (developer) 1. The results of gender-based legal review of the draft normative legal acts (hereinafter — draft) are reflected in the legal opinion of the justice authority on the relevant draft. 2. If the draft does not comply with the principles of gender equality, the justice authority returns the draft together with the relevant objections to the respective structural unit for revision. As needed Stage 2 Developer The draft, after completion of its gender-based legal review by the justice authority, is signed by the first head (in exceptional cases — first deputy) and sent in the prescribed manner to the relevant bodies and organizations for consultation. After obtaining the legal opinion of the justice authority on the draft Stage 3 Interested bodies and organizations During the consultation process, they can conduct a gender-based legal review of the draft and submit their suggestions and objections to the draft developer. As needed Stage 4 Developer Sends the draft to the justice authorities for legal review, which includes gender-based legal review. After consultation with interested bodies and organizations Stage 5 Justice authorities 1. Within the framework of legal review of the draft, conduct its gender-based legal review to determine its compliance with the principles of gender equality and identify the presence of provisions and norms that create conditions for direct or indirect gender-based discrimination. 2. The results of the gender-based legal review of the draft are reflected in the relevant conclusion on the legal review, which provides substantiated information on the presence of norms that do not comply with the principles of gender equality and contains proposals on the revision of the draft or indicates the absence of non-complying norms therein. Within the time limits established by the Procedures of the Presidential Administration and the Cabinet of Ministers, as well as in other relevant regulations