Regulatory updates affecting business for October – December 2019

13.01.2020

We are pleased to present a brief overview of the main regulatory changes affecting the business environment in Belarus for October – December 2019.

Order of stay and registration of foreign citizens in the Republic of Belarus

  • The period during which foreign citizens arriving in Belarus are required to register with the Department for Citizenship and Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the place of their actual temporary stay has been extended from 5 to 10 days.
  • The grounds for refusal to grant a visa to a foreigner to enter Belarus have been amended. A visa may be refused on the following grounds:
    • a foreigner at the State border crossing point violated the rules of crossing the State border or customs rules. Refusal lasts until the violation is eliminated:
    • the validity term of the document for departure abroad does not exceed 90 days before the day of the intended departure of the foreigner from the Republic of Belarus;
    • a foreigner has been convicted in the Republic of Belarus or another state for committing an intentional crime recognized as such in accordance with the Criminal code of the Republic of Belarus, and the criminal record has not been removed or expunged;
    • repeatedly (five or more times) administrative penalties have been imposed on a foreigner during his stay in the Republic of Belarus within one calendar year and the period at the end of which he is considered not to have been subjected to administrative penalties has not expired;
    • the foreigner was subjected during his stay in the Republic of Belarus to an administrative penalty of a fine and has not paid it within the period prescribed by legislative acts of the Republic of Belarus for implementation of resolution on imposition of administrative penalties in the form of a fine:
    • a foreigner cannot confirm the availability of funds necessary to cover the expenses of his stay in, and departure from, the Republic of Belarus, or cannot present guarantees for the provision of such funds in the manner and amount established by the Council of Ministers;
    • the period of temporary stay of a foreigner in the Republic of Belarus has expired;
    • there are sufficient grounds to believe that a foreigner can avoid leaving the Republic of Belarus at the end of the period of temporary stay or temporary residence, or use the territory of the Republic of Belarus for illegal migration to a third state;
    • the stay of a foreigner in the Republic of Belarus is contrary to the interests of national security, public order, protection of morality, public health, rights and freedoms of citizens of the Republic of Belarus and other persons;
    • the entry of a foreigner into the Republic of Belarus must be restricted in order to implement international agreements of the Republic of Belarus;
    • there is no place in the document of the foreigner for departure abroad for putting down a mark on the entry of the foreigner to the Republic of Belarus and (or) a mark on his departure from the Republic of Belarus.

The corresponding changes to the Law “On the legal status of foreign citizens and stateless persons” on January 4, 2010, No. 105-Z will come into force from 01.07.2020.

The competence of MART in the international trade

  • The Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade (MART) carry out the following:
  • Issuance of licenses for export/import of goods, termination, suspension, or renewal of licenses for export/import of goods, and their duplicates;
  • Issuance of licenses for export/import of goods with the introduction of automatic licensing (supervision), and their duplicates;
  • Issuance of licenses for re-export of certain types of goods originating from the territory of the Republic of Belarus by other States party to the Agreement on re-export of goods and the procedure for issuing a re-export license dated April 15, 1994.
  • For issuing licenses for export/import of goods, a state fee is charged in the amount of: 5 basic units (approximately 55 euros) – for a single license, 10 basic units (approximately 110 euros) – for General and exclusive licenses. When automatic licensing (supervision) and re-export permits for certain types of goods are introduced, no fee is charged for issuing licenses for export/import of goods.

Waste treatment

  • From December 9, 2019 a new edition of the Law “On waste treatment” was enacted. New waste classification came into force (hereinafter – classifier, GKW of Belarus).
  • On December 15, 2019, a new joint resolution of the Ministry of Nature, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Belarus dd. 29.11.2019 No. 41/108/65 came into force. The Resolution set forth that the establishment of degree of danger of production wastes and hazard class of hazardous industrial waste is based on the identification of hazardous properties of waste specified in the list of hazardous substances to the environment, health of citizens, property, and properties of the waste necessary to establish the degree of danger of production wastes and hazard class of hazardous waste.

Information protection

  • On December 9, 2019 the President of the Republic of Belarus signed Decree № 449 “On improvement of state regulation in information protection”. Decree No. 449 approved the Regulations on technical and cryptographic protection of information and the procedure for assigning information objects to critical information objects.
  • According to Decree No. 449, the following subjects should comply with the established requirements on technical and cryptographic protection of information:
    • owners of critical information objects that meet the criteria of social, economic, environmental, or informational significance, approved by the Regulations on the procedure for assigning information objects to critical information objects;
    • owners of information systems that process service information of limited distribution, information about the private life of an individual, and personal data, except for the activities of HTP residents using the technology of the register of transaction blocks (blockchain); electronic documents;
    • owners of information systems intended for processing information, the distribution and/or provision of which is limited by state bodies, state organizations, or legal entities with a share of ownership (participation) of the state;
    • organizations that provide services for the distribution of EDS verification public keys, accredited in the State system of management of EDS verification public keys.

The provisions of Decree No. 449 will come into force on March 14, 2020.

Military registration

On November 8, 2019, a new version of the Regulation on Military Registration, approved by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus from 04.11.2019 No. 742, came into effect.

  • As before, the head of the Company has the right to appoint the person responsible for maintaining military records by issuing an order, and the number of employees standing on military records determines the number of employees personally responsible for organizing military records.
  • Rules about coordination of appointment, movement, and dismissal of employees on military accounting with the military Commissar of the area are excluded. Employees responsible for maintaining military records must, among other things:
    • notify employees of the call to the military enlistment office, the Committee of State Security at their request;
    • notify the military enlistment offices (Committee of State Security offices in the regions) about the employment (dismissal from it) of conscripts;
    • to send the specified bodies the data which is necessary for documents of the military account;
  • Set a one-month deadline for written notification of military offices and offices of the Committee of State Security of in areas with changes in marital status, family composition, primary education, position (profession), and place of residence of the citizens, to change name, health, etc.;
  • Check the authenticity of certificates of recruits (military tickets) at the reception where military registration is established;
  • Issue a receipt when receiving from a citizen the identity of the conscript and/or a military ticket is established. As before, organizations carry out personal primary military registration by personal cards.