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On approval of Regulations on issuance of special permits (licenses) for accomplishment of activity on communication services (installation and use of international, inter-town, city, village, cellular, paging, radio-trunk communication facilities, cable television, express mail services) in the Azerbaijan RepublicCabinet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan Republic

Decree ¹ 22

Baku 5 February, 1998

With the purpose of implementation of Decree of President of the Azerbaijan Republic "On approval of list of activities requiring special permit (license)" dated 4 October, 1997 ¹ 637, Cabinet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan Republic takes decision:

1. To approve "Regulations on issuance of special permits (licenses) for accomplishment of activity on communication services (installation and use of international, inter-town, city, village, cellular, paging, radio-trunk communication facilities, cable television, express mail services) in the Azerbaijan Republic" (enclosed).

2. This Decree comes into force from the date of its signing.

Prime-minister of the Azerbaijan Republic

A. Rasi-zade.

Approved

by Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan Republic

¹ 22 dated 5 February, 1998

Regulations

on issuance of special permits (licenses) for accomplishment of activity on communication services (installation and use of international, inter-town, city, village, cellular, paging, radio-trunk communication facilities, cable television, express mail services) in the Azerbaijan Republic

I. General

1.1 These Regulations have been prepared based on the Law of the Azerbaijan Republic "On business activity", "On communication", "Regulations on issuance of special permits (licenses) for some kinds of business activity" approved by Decree of President of the Azerbaijan Republic ¹ 543, dated 27 January 1997, and Decree of President of the Azerbaijan Republic "On approval of list of activities requiring special permit (license)" ¹ 637, dated 4 October, 1997 and specify procedure of issuing of special permits (licenses) for accomplishment of activity on communication services (installation and use of international, inter-town, city, village, cellular, paging, radio-trunk communication facilities, cable television, express mail services) in the Azerbaijan Republic (hereinafter "license").

1.2 License issued by the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic based on this Regulations is official document permitting legal entities, irrespective of form of property and organization-legal form, and also physical persons involved in business activity without formation of legal entity (hereinafter - "applicants"), to carry out the following kinds of activity:

1.2.1 installation and use of international, inter-town, city, village, cellular, paging, radio-trunk communication facilities, cable television, express mail services.

An applicant involved in several kinds of activity may have several licenses.

1.3 Applicants might carry out activity specified in the license in an established order and in specified term only after they have been given license based on these Regulations.

1.4 Foreign legal entities and physical persons, subsidiaries and representations of foreign legal entities must obtain license for certain kinds of activities in compliance with these Regulations if there is no inter-state agreement about recognition in the Azerbaijan Republic of licenses on said kinds of activities obtained by them in their countries.

1.5 Issued license (copy of license) may be used only by the license owner, it may not be transferred to other persons, and will not apply to legal entities whose constitutor is the owner of the license, to other persons carrying out joint activity with the owner of the license, including activity based on agreement about cooperation.

Provisional issuance of license to a person acting on behalf of the owner of license based on individual agreement (contract), or contract of agency, is not recognized transfer of a license to another person.

II. Procedure of issuance of license

2.1 To obtain license, an applicant should submit to the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic the following documents:

2.1.1 application for obtaining license.

Application shall specify:

for legal entities - name of legal entity, its organization-legal form, legal address, account number, name of bank, kind of activity*;

for physical persons - name, middle name, surname, data of identity certificate (series, number, date of issuance and issuing body, address), kind of activity*;

2.1.2 copies of constituent documents of the enterprise;

2.1.3 copy of certificate on state registration of the enterprise;

2.1.4 copy of certificate about registration of physical person carrying out business activity, in tax inspection;

2.1.5 document confirming payment of state duty for obtaining the license;

2.1.6 copy of document confirming right of an applicant for use of each of objects indicated in application (right for property, leasing, use, etc.);

2.1.7 the following condition is obligatory for issuance of a license:

copy of the document (certificate), confirming the correspondence of the equipment, which will be used according to the object of license, to international requirements and normative documents**.

2.2 It is forbidden to demand from the applicant to submit documents other than those specified in these Regulations.

2.3 The Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic accepts application for a license and documents envisaged in these Regulations, registers them in special book, studies them and if there are no faults or grounds for refusal - takes decision about issuance of license within 15 days from the date of registration.

If any faults have been found in submitted documents, applicant should be notified in writing as such, and within 5 days after elimination of faults and re-submittance of documents, these documents are studied and relevant decision is taken.

If decision about refusal in license is taken in accordance with terms of these Regulations, an applicant shall be informed as such, in writing with indication of reasons.

Should the last day of the term specified in this clause fall on holiday, the next working day will be regarded the last day of the term.

2.4 Refusal in issuance of the license takes place in the following cases:

2.4.1 failure to submit documents envisaged in these Regulations;

2.4.2 when data contained in the documents submitted by the applicant are inaccurate or false;

2.4.3 if two years have not yet passed after the license obtained by the applicant for said kind of activity was annulled on the initiative of body, having issued the license;

2.4.4 if the applicant applied during the period of suspension of the license for certain kind of activity on the initiative of the body, having issued the license;

2.4.5 in other cases envisaged by legislation.

2.5 After elimination of circumstances which became the reason for refusal, the applicant will have the right to apply to the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic for a license in accordance with these Regulations, and if the applicant disagrees with refusal he will have the right to apply to law court.

2.6 On liquidation of the enterprise, organization, company or termination of validity of certificate on implementation of business activity granted to physical person, license granted to legal entities and physical persons also becomes null and void.

In case of re-organization of legal entity, change of its name, data in identity certificate of physical person, loss of license, the applicant should apply for re-issuance of the license within 15 days.

Procedure of re-issuance of the license is same as for its issuance.

During the term of re-registration of the license, its owner acts based on the former license (copies of license issued for separate objects), and should the license be lost - based on provisional permit of the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic (copies of license issued for separate objects). Provisional permit signed by Head of the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic and certified by seal is issued after all documents for re-registration of the license have been submitted.

III. License

3.1 The following is indicated in the license:

3.1.1 stamp of the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic;

3.1.2 for legal entities - name and legal address of the enterprise, organization and company which have been given the license;

3.1.3 for physical persons - name, middle name, surname, data of identity certificate (series, number, date of issuance and issuing body, address);

3.1.4 kind of activity for which license has been issued;

3.1.5 term of validity of the license;

3.1.6 procedure of implementation of respective kind of activity;

3.1.7 registration number of the license and date of issuance.

3.2 License is signed by Head of the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic (deputy Head during his absence) and notified by the seal of the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic.

IV. Term of validity of the license

4.1 License is issued for types of services, specified in sub-clause 1.2.1 for a period of 3 years.

4.2 Extension of the term of license validity is done in same order as its issuance.

4.3 Out of date license and its copies are considered invalid.

V. Copy of license

5.1 If licensed kind of activity is to be carried out at separate (in terms of territory) objects, an applicant shall be given copy of license for each separate object specified in application, with indication of its address.

5.2 If an applicant, after obtaining the license, desires to carry out activity at separate (in terms of territory) objects, or to increase a number of such objects he must submit the following documents to the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic to obtain copies of licenses for new objects:

5.2.1 application with indication of registration number of the license, date, kind of activity, number and addresses of new objects;

5.2.2 documents for the objects as envisaged by sub-clauses 2.1.6 and 2.1.7 of these Regulations.

5.3 The Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic investigates application concerning issuance of copies of the license based on clauses 2.3 and 2.4 of these Regulations and takes relevant decision.

5.4 Copy of license is official document given to the license owner for each separate object, which is issued on the license form, with indication of requisites of the license itself, where word "copy" is added in the upper right corner, and address of the object is indicated in the box "Address". Said document will be signed by Head of the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic or, during his absence, by his deputy, notified by the seal of the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic and will authorise to carry out activity specified in this copy.

5.5 Issued copies of licenses are registered at the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic.

5.6 If copy of a license gets lost, license owner should apply to the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic to get new copy.

5.7 Payment for issuance and re-registration of a copy of license is not taken.

VI. Procedure of use of license and control

6.1 When carrying out certain kind of activity based on these Regulations owners of the license must observe the following requirements:

installation of required equipment should be planned, regulated and putted into operation on the basis of international standards;

equipment and constructions should correspond to requirements, specified in the license, and also the conditions of its exploitation, safety measures, ecological requirements and etc. should be observed;

it is necessary to obtain the consent of SCRF of the Azerbaijan Republic in due order for frequencies and frequency ranges used in accordance with "Provision about allotment of radio frequency ranges for planning (modernization), production and purchase of radio-electronic facilities from abroad", approved by the decree of State Commission of the Azerbaijan Republic on radio-frequencies (SCRF), number 1, dated 20 November 1996. The channel of international communication may be used only for kinds of activity, specified in the license;

to serve the users on the basis of quality standards, technical norms, certificates and terms of agreements;

not to trace and not to spread (disclose) the information, transmitted via network and to ensure the secrecy of communication;

to provide the information about the messages, transmitted via communication network and to transmit the messages only to senders or addressees or their legal representatives;

to provide the periodical and annual reports on communication on the basis of rules, approved by the State Committee on statistics of the Azerbaijan Republic to the local statistical bodies and to the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic;

to cooperate with the bodies, carrying out operative-investigation and other measures when developing, establishing and exploiting the communication network, not to allow the disclose of organizational and tactical methods of accomplishment of such measures;

to observe the regulations of certification of communication facilities.

6.2 The Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic carries out control over observance of regulations regarding the license.

6.3 Authority of the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic includes the following:

6.3.1 control over observance of normative-legal acts and license regulations concerning implementation of kind of activity specified in the license;

6.3.2 requests and obtaining data and references on issues which could arise in the course of inspection from the license owner;

6.3.3 writing act on results of inspection with indication of faults and term for their elimination;

6.3.4 warning the owner of the license about necessity to liquidate found faults;

6.3.5 investigation of the case on suspension or annulment of the license.

6.4 During inspection the owner of the license must provide access of representatives of the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic to the objects under inspection, to create normal conditions for inspection and supply all relevant documents.

6.5 Act in two copies is issued based on results of inspection. Act is signed by representatives of the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic and license owner (head of the enterprise). In case of refusal to sign the act, it is noted in the act. Explanation of the license owner (head of the enterprise) is enclosed with the act. One copy of act remains with the license owner.

6.6 Whenever necessary, the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic may enlist to inspections carried out under these Regulations, representatives of relevant organisations.

VIII. Suspension or annulment of the license

7.1 The license is suspended by the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic in the following cases:

7.1.1 when the owner of the license submits such application;

7.1.2 if the owner of the license fails to observe normative acts, or activity of the applicant is stopped by relevant state bodies based on legislation of the Azerbaijan Republic;

7.1.3 insolvency of the owner of license has been confirmed by legislation of the Azerbaijan Republic;

7.1.4 revealing of violation of terms, established clause 2.1.7;

7.1.5 in other cases envisaged by legislation of the Azerbaijan Republic.

7.2 Within 5 days from the date when decision about suspension of the license has been taken, the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic notifies in writing the owner of the license and state tax inspection bodies about this decision.

Should circumstances which resulted in suspension of the license change, the license might again become valid after application of the owner. License shall be regarded restored after relevant decision of the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic; the owner of the license and state tax inspection bodies are notified about such decision in writing, within 5-day term.

7.3 The license is annulled by the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic in the following cases:

7.3.1 when the owner of the license submits such application;

7.3.2 unreliable data are found in documents submitted for obtaining the license;

7.3.3 owner of the license has violated procedures of use of the license;

7.3.4 there is such decision of the law court;

7.3.5 on liquidation of legal entity and termination of validity of certificate which has been issued to physical person involved in business activity;

7.3.6 in other cases envisaged by legislation of the Azerbaijan Republic.

7.4 Within 5 days from the date when decision about annulment of the license has been taken, the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic notifies in writing the owner of the license and state tax inspection bodies.

7.5 Decision taken about suspension, annulment or restoration of the license validity will apply also to copies of licenses issued based on these Regulations for individual objects.

7.6 The Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic keeps register of issued, registered, suspended, restored and annulled licenses.

VIII. Responsibility

8.1 Directors and officials of the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic are responsible in accordance with current legislation for violation or improper observance of legislation of the Azerbaijan Republic concerning licensing.

8.2 Decisions and actions of directors and officials of the Ministry of Communication of the Azerbaijan Republic may be appealed against in the law court in accordance with established order.

8.3 Persons (entities) carrying out kinds of activity specified in these Regulations without license are responsible in line with existing legislation.