Promotion and protection of women’s rights (repeal of obsolete or unequal provisions) : Law No.1.523 published
Monaco • UN ǀ Council of Europe ǀ Women’s Rights ǀ Gender Equality ǀ Legislation
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Law No. 1.523 of 16 May 2022 on the promotion and protection of women’s rights by amending and repealing obsolete and unequal provisions (published in JDM No. 8592 of 27 May 2022) is the result of bill No. 1029, received by the National Council on 23 February 2021 and passed on 5 May 2022.
Law n° 1.523 aims to “improve the implementation of public policies relating to the protection of women’s rights”[1] as recommended by the United Nations Human Rights Council, followed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights[2].
It is in line with Monaco’s international commitments and the creation of the Committee for the Promotion and Protection of Women’s Rights whose second annual activity report was published on 19 February 2021.
The purpose of Law No. 1.523 is to “purge the legal landscape of obsolete provisions”:
— Updating normative references: deleting references or cross-references to provisions that have already been repealed or substantially amended
— Lexical updating to avoid gender stereotyping: modify statements referring to androcentrism in the professional field, or to a patriarchal conception of the family. For example: reference to “child” instead of “son”, “parent” instead of “father”, etc.).
— Technical update through a women’s rights lens. For example:
- Waiting period before entering into marriage;
- Deletion of the unequal exception to the duty of maintenance of sons-in-law and daughters-in-law towards their father-in-law and mother-in-law “where the mother-in-law has married for a second time;
- Abolition of the presumption of survival determined by sex (applicable to determine the order of death of persons who died in the same event and who may inherit from each other);
- With regard to the calculation of degrees in direct line, no longer referring only to the male names “son”, “father”, “grandson”, and “brothers”, etc.
— Other updates:
- Deletion of references to the offence of adultery from the Code of Criminal Procedure (repealed by Act No. 1.478 of 12 November 2019 amending certain provisions relating to penalties);
- The time limit for the rescission action for lesion that can be brought by the seller if he has felt prejudiced by the sale price of his home, which is too low compared to its real value according to local real estate market prices (in accordance with case law, a prefixed time limit of 2 years from the date of the sale, which cannot be suspended or interrupted);
- Provisions on legal mortgages (“adults under guardianship” are included instead of “prohibited persons”).
In total, 19 legal texts have been amended.
[1] Explanatory Memorandum to Bill 1029, p. 1.
[2] HRC, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review – Monaco, A/HRC/40/13, 26/12/2018. Recommendation 76.49 “Continue to implement policies aimed at achieving full and effective gender equality, including by amending or repealing obsolete provisions in laws that discriminate against women”. Then recalled in a letter of 29 April 2019 addressed to the Government of Monaco by Ms. Michelle BACHELET-JERIA, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.