On June 2, 2021, a meeting of the Constitutional Council was held in the videoconference mode on the appeal of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on consideration for compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On amendments and additions to certain legislative acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the issues of advocacy and legal assistance”, adopted by the Parliament on April 8, 2021 and submitted for signature to the Head of State on April 13, 2021.

Opening the meeting, the Chairman of the Constitutional Council Kairat Mami noted that the appeal of the President of the Republic raises important issues and concerns the right of citizens to receive qualified legal assistance.

A member of the Constitutional Council - rapporteur Johann Merkel reported on the preparation of materials for consideration. According to him, at all stages of the initiation and passage of the bill in Parliament, it was accompanied by broad discussions, within which there were opinions both for and against. They relate to such issues as: the establishment by law of the minimum limit for contributions of the advocates’ collegiums and Chambers of Legal Consultants to their republican structures in the amount of 1 MNU (monthly notional units); an increase in the minimum number of members for the establishment of the Chamber of Legal Consultants from 50 to 200; creation of a new structure - the Republican Collegium of Legal Consultants; transfer of certain powers from the competence of the Republican conference of advocates to the Presidium of the Republican advocates’ collegium; transfer to the trust management to the Republican advocates’ collegium and the Republican collegium of Legal Consultants of the objects of the information system for the provision of legal assistance, and others.

At the meeting, the Constitutional Council heard the views of interested State bodies and organizations, the legal and scientific community. It was attended by representatives of the Senate and Mazhilis of the Parliament, the Government, the Supreme Court, the General Prosecutor's Office, the National Security Committee, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Financial Monitoring Agency.

Representatives of the Republican collegium of advocates - lawyers D. Kanafin and S. Musin; Chairman of the Republican Chamber of Notaries A. Zhanabilova; lawyer, member of the National Council of Public Trust under the President of the Republic A. Umarova; experts - Doctor of Law, Professor S. Tynybekov and legal consultant of the Chamber of Legal Consultants Kazakhstan Bar Association (KazBar) B. Raisova presented their positions.

 Prticipants included lawyers and Heads of Chambers of Legal Consultants from several regions.

The Constitutional Council studied the conclusions of the Republican Chamber of Private Bailiffs, the Institute of Legislation and Legal Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan, E.A. Buketov Karaganda University, Caspian University, The Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation, as well as experts - Candidate of Legal Sciences R. Zhamieva and Doctor PhD A. Kogamov.

The Council drew attention to the activity of the country's legal community. In accordance with clause 5.2 of the Regulation of the Constitutional Council, on the mentioned appeal to the Constitutional Council, more than 75 initiative opinions and responses were received from individual lawyers and legal consultants, their collegiums and chambers from different regions of the Republic. All of them were included in the materials of the constitutional proceedings.

Having listened to the participants in the meeting, the composition of the Constitutional Council retired to the deliberation room to render a decision. The decision will be announced later.

Postfactum.kz