A regular sitting of the third session of the Council of the Republic took place On 17 December 2009 15 issues were considered at a regular sitting of the third session of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus. The members of the Council of the Republic  approved the draft Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Amending Certain Laws of the Republic of Belarus on the Issues of Holding Elections and Referendums and on Declaring Null and Void the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus for Elections and Nation-Wide Referendums” aimed at further improvement of electoral legislation adjusted for its practice. The draft Law simplifies the procedure of electoral commissions formation (with the exception of the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus for Elections and Nation-Wide Referendums) and a number of procedures of signatures collection, signature sheets registration and introduction of alterations in initiative groups registration documents. It also establishes the notification principle for conducting canvass public events. The candidates for the President of the Republic of Belarus and for deputies are given the right to create their own electoral funds. In addition to that it is proposed to exclude from the Electoral Code of the Republic of Belarus the norm on declaring the Councils of Deputies elections valid in case more than half of the voters from the district, who are included in the lists of the citizens having a right to participate in the elections, take part in the vote. The provisions of this draft Law will facilitate democratisation of the electoral commissions formation, ensuring the transparency of this process and creating additional conditions for a wider realization of the citizens’ right to vote. Ms Antonina Morova, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic for Education, Science, Culture and Social Development, Ms Liliya Moroz, Deputy Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus for Legislation and State Administration, and Mr Viktor Pranyuk, member of the Council of the Republic, took part in the discussion of this draft Law. They took an interest in the powers of the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus for Elections and Nation-Wide Referendums, registration of initiative groups, voter turnout at the elections to local Councils of Deputies in connection with the changes in the electoral legislation.
The draft Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Amending Certain Laws of the Republic of Belarus on the Issue of Strengthening Crime Combating” is aimed at improving the order of investigation activities,  conducting preliminary investigation, ensuring fuller, more comprehensive and objective criminal investigation. It contains the norms extending the powers of the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Chairperson of the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus and the Deputy Chairperson of the State Control Committee of the Republic of Belarus — the Director of the Financial Investigation Department or the persons performing their duties. In addition to that the provisions of the draft Law are aimed at the development of the criminal liability exemption mechanism in connection with voluntary recovery of damages, as well as at strengthening lawfulness during operational experiments. Mr Vadim Ipatov, Director of the National Center of Legislation and Legal Research of the Republic of Belarus, answered a question of Ms Margarita Zhorova, Deputy Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic for Legislation and State Administration, about foreign experience of legislative regulation of crime control issues.
The parliamentarians approved the draft Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Amending the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On the Status of a Deputy of the House of Representatives, Member of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus”. It specifies the conditions for exercising powers by a deputy of the House of Representatives and a member of the Council of the Republic as well as the grounds for early termination of these powers; sets the order of consideration of citizens’ proposals, requests and complaints (including those of sole proprietors and legal bodies) by parliamentarians. The draft Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Amending Certain Laws of the Republic of Belarus on Conducting Administrative Procedures” is aimed at simplifying the conduction of administrative procedures and their specification with account of law-enforcement practice.
The implementation of the draft Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Legal Status of Foreign Citizens and Persons without Citizenship in the Republic of Belarus” will provide an effective mechanism for migration processes regulation. The draft Law defines the legal status of foreigners in the Republic of Belarus, establishes entry and exit procedures as well as the order of sojourn in our country, and  regulates other relations in this sphere. Ms Margarita Zhorova, Deputy Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic for Legislation and State Administration, Mr Valery Rabets and Ms Alla Naumchik, members of the Council of the Republic, took part in the discussion of the draft Law and asked questions about the reasons for visa denial, deportation of foreigners from our country and others.
The draft Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Local Government and Self-Government” is aimed at comprehensive regulation of public relations in the sphere of local government and self-government. In particular it specifies and delimits the powers of local Councils of Deputies and executive and administrative bodies of various territorial levels, and defines the legal status and creation procedure of the territorial public self-government bodies.
The draft Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Amending the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Mortgage” allows the banks conforming to the norms defined by the President of the Republic of Belarus to be mortgage holders under land parcels mortgage agreements (previously only the banks included in the list defined by the President of the Republic of Belarus had such a right).
The amendments to the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On State Dactyloscopic Registration” extend the number of persons subject to compulsory dactyloscopic registration by including the people liable to military service. The amendments also alter the provisions of the current Law relating to the tangible media storage and the format of the data about the people, who have undergone state dactyloscopic registration. Mr Oleg Pekarsky, First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs — Head of the Criminal Militia, answered the questions of Mr Boris Batura, Chairman of the Council of the Republic.
The senators also approved the draft Laws of the Republic of Belarus “On the Status of Servicemen”, “On the Order of Sending Citizens to Medical-Labour Centers and the Conditions of Stay there”.
The members of the Council of the Republic considered the Ordinance of the President of the Republic of Belarus No 12 of 30 November 2009 “On Amending the Ordinance of the President of the Republic of Belarus No 3 of 29 February 2009”, which was prepared in order to improve the auction (tender) procedure on selecting legal bodies for performing the exclusive right of the state to import alcohol production. Other draft laws considered were: “On the Ratification of the Agreement on the Order of Introduction and Implementation of Measures Concerning External Goods Trade at the United Customs Territory in Respect to Third Countries”, “On the Ratification of the Agreement on Licensing Rules in the Sphere of External Goods Trade”, “On the Ratification of the Agreement on the Conditions of Stay of the Commonwealth of Independent States Executive Committee in the Territory of the Republic of Belarus”, “On the Ratification of the Agreement on Information Exchange in the Sphere of Combating Crime”.
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