On the Civil Service of the Republic of Kazakhstan
On the Civil Service of the Republic of Kazakhstan Unofficial translation Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan № 290-VIII ZRK of 19 May 2026 Chapter 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS Article 1. Basic terms used throughout this Law The following basic terms are used herein: 1) “A” corps administrative civil service positions are administrative civil service positions at management level, as specified herein and in the register of political, elected and administrative civil servants, that have a specific procedure for entry into, progression through and termination of civil service in the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as specific qualification requirements; 2) an administrative civil servant is a civil servant who performs his or her duties on a permanent professional basis in administrative civil service positions of categories “A” and “B”, exercising official powers within public authorities, unless otherwise prescribed by the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan and acts of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan; 3) the category of administrative civil service positions is a group of administrative civil service positions as set out in the register of positions for political, elected and administrative civil servants; 4) a senior civil service position (hereinafter referred to as a senior position) is a civil service position that has civil servants reporting to it and is vested with the authority to organise their work; 5) “B” corps administrative civil service positions are administrative civil service positions specified in the register of political, elected and administrative civil servants, which ensure organisational, legal, informational, analytical, financial and economic, and other functional support for the activities of public authorities, the fulfilment of the State’s functions and tasks within the remit of the relevant public authority, and which do not fall within the category of “A” administrative civil service positions; 6) bonus is a cash payment awarded to a civil servant following an appraisal of their performance, as established by the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan; 7) qualification requirements are the requirements regarding education, work experience and competencies applicable to citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan who are applying for a public office; 8) workplace means a structurally designated and organised place where a civil servant is stationed on a permanent or temporary basis, intended for the performance of their official duties, including a place that is equipped and organised to take account of the individual capabilities of a person with a disability; 9) a veteran of the civil service of the Republic of Kazakhstan is a person who has at least twenty-five years’ service in the civil service, has an impeccable reputation, has reached retirement age pursuant to the Social Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, or whose service in the civil service has been extended beyond retirement age consistent with this Law; 10) the civil service of the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter referred to as the civil service) means the professional activities of citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan who hold paid public office in public authorities and exercise official powers aimed at fulfilling the functions and tasks of the state and/or the powers of public authorities consistent with the purpose and specific features of the civil service, stipulated by this Law and other regulatory legal acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan; 11) operational necessity means circumstances or conditions requiring a temporary change to the nature or scope of a civil servant’s work or working conditions, to ensure the smooth and efficient performance of a public body’s duties; 12) an official is a person who, on a permanent, temporary or special mandate basis, exercises the functions of a representative of the authorities or performs organisational, managerial, administrative or economic functions within public authorities; 13) official powers are rights and duties associated with a specific public office, which are consistent with the aims and objectives of the public authorities where civil servants are employed; 14) the civil service talent reserve is a list, drawn up as required by law, of citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan who possess the required professional and personal qualities, intended for their subsequent appointment to vacant civil service positions, as well as for ensuring that public authorities are staffed with the appropriate number of qualified experts; 15) a civil servant is a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan who, as established by the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, holds a post remunerated from the republican or local budgets or from the funds of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan and (or) the Special State Fund established by the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the return to the state of unlawfully acquired assets, a public office as specified in the register of political, elected and administrative civil servants, as well as in other regulatory legal acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and who exercises official powers to implement the functions and objectives of the state; 16) professional ethics for civil servants (hereinafter referred to as professional ethics) means the rules of conduct for civil servants laid down by this Law and the Code of Ethics for Civil Servants of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which establish ethical principles and standards of professional ethics; 17) the competence of a civil servant is the combination of knowledge, abilities and skills required to perform professional duties efficiently in a specific civil service position; 18) an immediate superior of a civil servant is the person of higher rank to whom the civil servant is directly subordinate as per their job description; 19) competent authority for civil service matters (hereinafter referred to as the competent authority) refers to the central government body charged with implementing a unified state policy in the field of the civil service; 20) a public office is a structural position within a public authority, to which a scope of official powers has been assigned as established by the regulatory legal acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the direct performance of the functions and objectives of the state and/or the powers of public authorities, and which is included in the register of political, elected and administrative civil servants; 21) the head of a public authority means the head of a central public authority, its department or their territorial subdivisions; the head of an executive body funded from the local budget; the chairman of an audit commission; or the head of an administrative office which is a public authority, in the cases prescribed by the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan; 22) a contract employee of a public authority (hereinafter referred to as a contract employee) is a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan recruited by a public authority under a contract, subject to the specific provisions laid down herein, for the implementation of national and other projects, the types whereof are established by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan; 23) a contract for a contract-based employee of a public authority is an employment contract between a public authority and a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan, establishing their rights and obligations, working conditions, and terms of remuneration linked to performance (quantitative and/or qualitative indicators), liability for failure to achieve performance targets (quantitative and/or qualitative indicators) and other individual terms and conditions; 24) a State Digital Personnel System is a state digital system designed to collect, store, process, use, transmit and analyse information on civil servants and employees of organisations under the jurisdiction of public authorities, to exercise personnel management functions, and to monitor compliance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan; 25) an elected public position is a position of akim to which a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan is elected based on universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot, as per the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan”; 26) an elected public official is a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan who holds an elected public office; 27) a political civil servant is a person appointed to and removed from office by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan or the Kurultai of the Republic of Kazakhstan, or by other persons (bodies) consistent with the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who participates in the formulation and/or implementation of state policy and bears political responsibility for the achievement of its aims and objectives; 28) entry-level position refers to an administrative civil service position in Category “B” which, pursuant to the staffing table of the public authority, is a lower-ranking civil service position; 29) a temporarily vacant civil service position is a civil service position that is vacant for the duration of the absence of the civil servant holding that position, due to secondment, social leave or training, temporary suspension from official duties, or the imposition of a preventive measure in the form of house arrest or detention against him or her pursuant to the criminal procedure legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, absence from work for more than two consecutive months due to illness, where the illness is included in the list of conditions for which a longer period of incapacity for work has been established, as approved by the competent health authority; 30) allowance is a monetary supplement to the basic salary, granted to a civil servant pursuant to the procedure laid down by the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan; 31) staffing table is a document establishing the organisational structure, composition and number of civil service positions within a public authority; 32) secondment refers to a civil servant holding a public office in another public body, a diplomatic mission of the Republic of Kazakhstan, or a position in another organisation, as established by the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
