Promotion and protection of women’s rights (repeal of obsolete or unequal provisions) : Law No.1.523 of 16 May 2022

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.

Purpose of Law No. 1.523

The purpose of Law No. 1.523 is to "purge the legal landscape of unequal (androcentric) and obsolete provisions" from the perspective of women's rights. (Explanatory Memorandum to Bill 1029).

The Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review - Monaco of the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/40/13, 26 December 2018) states in its Recommendation 76.49 "Continue to implement policies aimed at the achievement of full and effective gender equality, including by amending or repealing obsolete provisions in laws that discriminate against women".

This Recommendation was 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" (Explanatory Memorandum to Bill No. 1029, p. 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.

* In particular: UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Order No. 96 of 16 June 2005); Council of Europe Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Sovereign Order No. 5.208 of 20 February 2015), the implementation of which is monitored by the Group of Experts on Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO)

In total, 19 legal texts have been amended.

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SUMMARY

— Updating normative references: deleting references or cross-references to provisions that have already been repealed or substantially amended.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”).