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On 17 December 2025, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed amendments aimed at expanding the scope of administrative justice, which will enter into force on 29 December 2025.
The amendments provide for the transfer of certain categories of disputes from the Civil Procedure Code to the Administrative Procedure and Process Code of Kazakhstan (APPC). In particular, the review of cases challenging the legality of regulatory legal acts, previously governed by Chapter 30 of the Civil Procedure Code, has been moved to the field of administrative justice.
Thus, any citizen is entitled to apply to an administrative court by filing:
- a claim challenging a subordinate regulatory legal act, or;
- its individual provisions, issued by state bodies and officials at both the central and local levels.
In such cases, the claimant may seek recognition of a subordinate regulatory legal act as contradicting the law, with the exception of the Constitution of Kazakhstan, the review of which is carried out by the Constitutional Court, either in full or in part. A claim must be filed within three months from the date when the claimant became aware of the violation or possible violation of their rights and lawful interests.
If there are grounds, the court issues a decision to satisfy the claim. The court decision specifies which laws and in what part the contested regulatory legal act does not comply with and recognises it as invalid in full or in part from the date of its adoption.
A court decision declaring a subordinate regulatory legal act unlawful, or information about such a decision, is subject to publication in the mass media at the expense of the body that adopted the act. Publication must be carried out no later than ten calendar days from the date the court decision enters into legal force.
In practice, the adopted changes expand the possibilities for judicial review of acts issued by state bodies.
Individuals and organisations are now entitled to apply to an administrative court not only to challenge specific decisions of state bodies, but also to contest subordinate regulatory legal acts or their individual provisions on the basis of which such decisions are made. If a claim is upheld, the court may declare such an act invalid in full or in part from the date of its adoption, with the court decision or information about it subject to mandatory publication.
At the same time, a number of changes have been introduced to administrative procedures:
- the procedure for hearing participants in administrative proceedings during the consideration of an administrative case has been amended;
- requirements for the mandatory indication in an administrative act of the procedure and time limits for its appeal in court or through pre-trial procedures have been established;
- the possibility for state bodies and state legal entities to appeal administrative acts has been provided;
- the time limit for appealing an administrative act has been extended in cases where the method of appeal is not specified therein.
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