FINDING KAZAKHSTAN’S LAWS ON THE INTERNET
By Judith Robinson
U.S. companies and law firms should be aware that it is possible to find information on Kazakhstan’s laws, and sometimes even the full text, on the Internet. However, they should keep in mind that documents come and go, depending on a specific website’s archive policy, and not everything on the Internet is free. That said, quite a number of websites contain English translations of Kazakhstani laws, often along with other materials. BISNIS Online has a few laws at www.bisnis.doc.gov/bisnis/isa/isa-legal.htm, but defers to privately maintained websites.
The most developed source of online Kazakhstani laws in English is the USAID-developed database of commercial laws at www.kazecon.kz. Included on this site are Kazakhstan’s Constitution, the Foreign Investment Law, corporate law, and all of the laws relevant to the creation of Kazakhstan’s securities market. The website is currently operated from Almaty by Golden Eagle Services. It also publishes excellent daily business and economics newsletters in English, called the Kazakhstan NewsWires (access available by paid subscription only). Kazecon contains a wealth of additional free commercial information and data, including a weekly news update, but appears to have fallen somewhat behind in publishing the laws themselves.
The U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library, a U.S. taxpayer-paid effort, resulted in a very well-developed database of laws that included laws of Kazakhstan. This database is no longer maintained on the Internet by the House of Representatives, but it has been distributed to various other law libraries, some of which carry it on their websites. For a list of these sites, visit http://law.house.gov/89.htm.
One excellent website incorporating the House of Representatives Internet Law Library is maintained by the University of New South Wales/University of Technology in Sydney, Australia (www.austlii.edu.au/links/hrill/). In addition, this site offers the prototype of the Asian Development Bank’s Project DIAL (Development of the Internet for Asian Law), which offers free access to an incredible number of legal sources and a powerful search capability in the area of Asian/Central Asian law at www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/dial/. Note: Read the search instructions carefully.
The Australian National University maintains the Kazakhstan mirror site ICARP (Interactive Central Asia Resource Project), which is a good search mechanism for Kazakhstan legal materials, among other information: http://personal.rockbridge.net/bichel/welcome.htp.
The Kazakhstan Legal Information Institute online (www.relcom.kz/kzcourt/), maintained by Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, contains a wealth of Kazakhstani laws and legal information for use by judges and lawyers in Kazakhstan and worldwide.
Good sources for economy-related laws include:
¨ The International Tax and Investment Center website (http://iticnet.org/contents) has Kazakhstan’s Tax Code.
¨ Eurasian patent information and decrees can be found at www.ipmenu.com/kazakhstan.htm (the website is owned by an Australian law firm).
¨ A website administered by the Law Faculty of Southampton University in the United Kingdom offers banking laws and financial papers (www.solent.ac.uk/law/netlawlib/).
For lists of laws just passed (but in Russian), the www.conlex.kz site of the Urios enterprise is free with a two-month archive, with links to other sites that contain Russian-language laws both free and for a fee.
Other sources:
¨ Kazakhstani newpapers occasionally publish information on laws: Panorama and the Almaty Herald in Almaty (search on their names) and The Times of Central Asia in Bishkek (www.times.elcat.kg). For Russian language readers, the newspaper Kazakhstanskaya Pravda usually publishes newly passed Kazakhstani laws (www.kazpravda.kz).
¨ U.S. and Western European law schools often maintain legal databases, including Kazakhstan laws, for example, Cornell or University of Chicago.
¨ American law firms with practices in Kazakhstan (some of which can be found by visiting BISNIS Online at www.bisnis.doc.gov/bisnis/country/9806uskz.htm) sometimes have copies of their excellent newsletters online, although they usually contain analyses rather than law texts.
U.S. treaties with other governments, including Kazakhstan, are in a Senate, House, and Treaty Documents database located at www.access.gpo.gov/congress/cong006.html. The Department of State’s legal publications can be obtained at www.state.gov/www/publications/dispatch/index.html. The Department of Commerce also maintains copies of various commercial treaties at www.mac.doc.gov/tcc. U.S. treaties are available free from Oceana Publications (www.oceanalaw.com), but you must register with them.
Bilateral and regional treaties between Kazakhstan and countries other than the United States can be found at www.austlii.edu.au/links/World/International/Treaties_and_International_Agreements/, or in the United Nations Treaty Collection at www.un.org/law/.
Judith Robinson covers law and Kazakhstan for BISNIS in Washington, DC.