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Development of Transport
Legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Òàsmaganbetova S.Zh.
PhD student,
Baltic International Academy
Riga, Latvia
The efficiency of transport regulation policy depends on many factors, namely,
the degree of legal efficacy of laws and regulations, the number and content of
the provisions of law, legislation growth direction, etc.
Formation of Kazakhstan transport legislation has passed four stages:
- the period of transport legislation formation (1917-1960);
- the development of transport legislation during planned and contract period
(1961-1990);
- the period of formation of transport legislation of an independent
Republic of Kazakhstan (1991-2000);
- the period of the development of transport legislation of the Republic
of Kazakhstan (from 2001 till today).
The first stage covers the period of formation of administrative and
command system which is characterized by strict centralism of economic life
based on state-owned property and by the lack of real economic freedom. During
that period regulatory regime of transport relations was mainly carried out by
the Government regulations and administrative and party bodies.
The second stage includes the period of formation and development of
national economy. The general regulations governing transport relations on
transportation were Bases of the Civil Legislation of the USSR and constituent
republics. The Supreme Council of the USSR adopted «Bases of the Civil Legislation
of the USSR and Federal Republics» on December 8, 1961. The civil legislation was codified in the form
of Civil Codes within constituent republics. The Civil Code of Kazakh SSR was
adopted by the Supreme Council of KazSSR on December
28, 1963 and was brought into force on June 1, 1964. With the adoption of the
Principles of Civil Law in 1961 the transportation agreement and agreement of
expedition were declared as independent civil and legal agreements and institutions
with the same name were established in the Federal legislation and issued in
accordance with their Republic Civil Code of 1963-1964. During this period, the role of
public transportation planning was of great importance. Separate sections on
transportation planning were included to Transport Regulations and Codes. The Civil
Code of the Kazakh SSR of 1963 regulated planned and contractual legal
relationship on freight transportation.
Since Kazakhstan gained independence the former imperative transport
legislation stopped playing a major role as a contractual law became a priority
at the third stage of the development of transport legislation. The legislation
of the USSR was widely used in Kazakhstan in the first years of independence
and was gradually replaced by intensively adopted legislative acts.
National transport legislation intensively developed during the
development of market economy in Kazakhstan. Special transport laws were
adopted for each mode of transport.
Within the years of independence the institutional and legal framework
of the state transport policy has been supplemented by a variety of sources,
which can be divided into two groups.
The first group of source is legislative acts and regulations adopted by
the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, aimed at institutionalizing the
transport policy of the state, as well as regulations, in accordance with
legislation adopted by the competent state authority that regulates and carries
out control and supervisory functions in the transport system.
The second group is the concept and the basic directions of development
of the state transport policy strategy for the mid-term and long-term prospects.
This programmatic document can be classified as a shared vision and a guideline
to follow at the national level by taking into account the trade-economic,
foreign policy, geopolitical and military-political interests of the state.
The following laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan can be found among the
institutional and legal basis of the first source group: «On transport of the
Republic of Kazakhstan» dated from September 21, 1994, «On the use of airspace
and aviation activity of Kazakhstan» dated from December 20, 1995, «The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan
on Automobile Roads» dated
from July 20, 2001, «On railway transport» dated from December 8, 2001, Law of the
Republic of Kazakhstan «On state regulation of civil aviation» dated from
December 15, 2001, «On merchant shipping» dated from January 17, 2002, «On
Automobile Transport» dated from July 4, 2003 , «On inland waterway transport»
dated from July 6, 2004.
Among the second group of sources governing the institutional and legal
basis of the state transport policy activities we can enlist: Transportation Strategy of the Republic of
Kazakhstan until 2015, Industrial and Innovative development strategy of the Republic
of Kazakhstan for 2003–2015, the Concept of the Republic of Kazakhstan state
transport policy until 2008, the message of the President of the Republic of
Kazakhstan "Prosperity, security and improvement of welfare of all Kazakh
people" that defined a long-term strategy for development of the country
until 2030, the Concept of Legal Policy, Government Resolution of the Republic
of Kazakhstan of 2005 that approved the plan to create a cluster
"Transport logistics", the plan
of lawmaking activities of the Kazakhstan Government for 2006-2007.
These policy documents, in general, can be described as conceptional and
regulatory legal acts and provisions aimed at identifying and detailing the
strategic vision for the development of public transport policy. A more
detailed study of issues related to the transport sector and the development of
the state policy in the field of transport has been carried out in the concept
of the Transport Strategy of the Republic of Kazakhstan till 2015. The document
stated above defines a wide range of tasks on a conceptual level, which determine
the development of public transport policy in the med- term perspective, from
2006 till 2015.
The Customs Union of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan has started
regulating on 1 July 2010. The Customs Code is based on the existing customs
legislation within those countries and introduces several novel procedures, for
example, in the area of customs facilitation and intellectual property
protection. Regulations concerning crossing of the customs border of the
Customs Union by vehicles in order to carry out international goods
transportation set in the Customs Code of the Customs Union to ensure
their compatibility with the Customs Union rules.
In general, the legislative foundation that defines the legal and
organizational basis of transport activities is formed in the Republic of
Kazakhstan now. The traditional approach
to the development of laws of specific industry sector is formed in domestic
legal practice. However, legislation on
multimodal transport as well as shipping and forwarding activities has not been
adopted yet.
Therefore, the institutional juristic bases ensuring the state transport
policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan have gained a leading role and they
should contain the conditions for direct actions, as the current transport
legislation has allowed to determine some problems, in particular,
contradiction of laws and regulations, its insufficiency, gaps in the law
enshrined in the legislation and regulating certain types of transport
activity..
The lack of a comprehensive approach, the ambiguity of the
mechanisms and terms of implementation can
be observed in the above-mentioned strategic and program documents.
All this can be explained by the close
relationship between the state transport policy and other government agencies. The
other major problem may be in the fact that the transport system of Kazakhstan
regions develops unevenly and irregularly, and the
weak interactions of central and local executive bodies in matters of state
regulation of transport activity leads to additional complications.
References:
1. Bekmaganbetov M. Òransport
system of the Republic of Kazakhstan: current state and problems of
development. - Almaty, 2005. - 446 pg
2. Ilyasova
G.A. Transport law of the Republic of Kazakhstan. - Karaganda,
2006. - 494 pg.
3. Mozharova V.V. Òransport in
Kazakhstan: current situation, problems and
prospects of development. - Almaty,
2011. - 216 pg