AEQUITAS partners and associates are being engaged, on a regular basis, to participate in the law-making activities to develop new acts and improve the current legislation.

Yuri G. Bassin was one of the authors of the current Kazakhstan Constitution adopted in 1995. He was on the working groups that drafted the framework legislative acts governing market relations (1992–1998), many of which were adopted as laws or Presidential edicts having the force of law.

In the 90’s, Yuri G. Bassin and Olga Chentsova, AEQUITAS Managing Partner, worked on such fundamental acts of the civil and commercial legislation of the new Kazakhstan as the Civil Code (General and Special Parts), Foreign Investment Law, Privatization Law and Petroleum Law.

Olga Chentsova, as one of the leading lawyers in subsoil use, was also a member of the working groups to elaborate the Law on Production Sharing Agreements in Offshore Petroleum Operations (2005) and took part in the preparation of amendments to the Subsoil Law (2006).

Over the past several years, Olga Chentsova has been partaking in the discussion and preparation of proposals for the improvement of the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (General and Special Parts).

In 2000–2001, the firm’s lawyers were engaged to work on the Republic of Kazakhstan’s Law on Railway Transport. AEQUITAS lawyers also partook in the EBRD project for the development of the Merchant Shipping Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

AEQUITAS senior advisor, Violetta Kim, was a member of the working group that drafted Kazakhstan’s Law on Arbitration Tribunals and Law on International Commercial Arbitration.

In 2012, in the framework of the firm’s new area of practice – Public-Private Partnership – AEQUITAS partner, Nurlan Sholanov, prepared for Kazakhstan Public-Private Partnership Center JSC proposals and comments on the Draft Law on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan Concerning Introduction of the New Forms of Public-Private Partnership and Expansion of Their Application Scope.

AEQUITAS and Kazakhstan Public and Private Partnership Center JSC, the main coordinator of PPP projects in Kazakhstan, have entered into a Partnership Agreement. The Partnership Agreement-based cooperation implies realization of joint research projects in the PPP field, work to improve the legislative framework and possibility to represent the firm’s clients and account for their interests in the course of regulatory acts development.

In 2011–2012, AEQUITAS prepared and presented to the Kazakhstan Investors Council as a legislative initiative the comments and proposals to improve the work permit and migration relevant legislation.

Starting 2012, AEQUITAS partners, Olga Chentsova and Nurlan Sholanov, and senior associate, Larissa Yemelyanova, were engaged to work on the Kazakhstan’s environmental legislation improvement project. In the framework of this project, the firm’s lawyers have developed the environmental legislation improvement concept and prepared draft amendments to a number of Kazakhstan’s legislative and subordinate acts: Environmental Code, Administrative Code, Tax Code, Subsoil Law, and other acts.

In 2012–2013, AEQUITAS Partner Nurlan Sholanov was engaged to improve some legislative acts regulating the tariff policy in Kazakhstan. He reviewed the current tariff regulation in such natural monopoly areas as railway, energy, post and gas supply and prepared, jointly with Ernst & Young, amendments to the following legislative acts: 1) Rules for Approval of the Maximum Level of Tariffs (Prices, Charge Rates) and Tariff Estimates for Natural Monopoly Entities’ Regulated Services (Goods, Work); 2) Rules for Approval of Tariffs (Prices, Charge Rates) and Tariff Estimates for Natural Monopoly Entities’ Regulated Services (Goods, Work); and 3) List of Regulated Services (Goods, Work) of Natural Monopoly Entities of 2006.

During the year 2015, AEQUITAS labor practice team headed by Yulia Chumachenko participated in the EUROBAK organized discussion of the draft new Labor Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. More than 60 well-substantiated proposals to change the labor relations regulation prepared by AEQUITAS lawyers have been submitted to the Governmental Working Group. The most important ones suggested streamlining of the procedure for employment agreement termination on employer’s initiative, detailed regulation of the institute of employee representatives, touched upon certain labor remuneration issues, etc.

AEQUITAS lawyers also used to be engaged to draft regulatory acts of different levels (Governmental Decrees, acts of other governmental agencies, etc.) in the framework of client projects, some of these acts being subsequently adopted as official documents.