President: We must reduce red tape in all systems in the country

11 июня 2021

Today, the issues of legal regulation were discussed at the Palace of Independence. These are topics that, one way or another, concern all of us. The Civil Code needs to be updated. It is assumed that innovations will affect many areas including labor and banking. It is also time to review the institution of administrative procedures. Their list will be significantly reduced and transferred to a single electronic platform. It will be possible to get all the details of a particular procedure online and immediately submit an application using the principle of "one window". Many people will like this innovation also because it will eliminate contact between entrepreneurs and officials and the corruption risks will be significantly reduced. There are a few more fundamental points, which the head of the state demands from the authors of all these innovations.

In recent years, Belarus has been consistently improving its legislation. In March, amendments to the Administrative Code came into force. Then the Labor Code was updated. Changes were made to the Criminal Code. This is a legal response to destabilization attempts in our country and a purposeful work on suppression of illegal activity. Until recently, experts evaluated our laws as too soft as compared to the European countries and the United States. The next step is to change the Civil Code.

Belarus plans to change the Civil Code

Possible innovations were discussed today at a meeting with the President. The President warned at once: legal adjustments must not create unnecessary problems and threats. Many innovations that we only plan to introduce in our country are already working in other states, in particular in the EAEU. Given that we are building a common economic space, it is logical to harmonize the civil legislation.

Belarus plans to introduce a multilevel system for regulating administrative procedures

Another issue is the improvement of administrative procedures. Much depends on how they are regulated. The excessive red tape always takes people's time and nerves. The country's investment attractiveness, budget filling and economic development in general are also interlinked. A new draft decree, which implies a multilevel regulatory system, has been prepared.

The current list of administrative procedures will be significantly reduced and transferred to an electronic platform. Digitalization, of course, simplifies many things, but there are still cases where the system can fail.

Recently, a lot has been done in terms of simplifying legislation. Decree No. 8 for HTPs, preferences for business. But not everyone has remained grateful for these "bonuses".

Adjustments to the Civil Code: what will change for businesses and citizens?

What do they propose to change in the Civil Code? Some legal entities will be able to work on the basis of a standard Articles of Association, approved by the government. The changes will affect the affairs with minors. In this case one legal representative will be enough. But commercial activity of foreign organizations will only be possible with the establishment of a branch. The entrepreneurial activity of the representative offices can be forgotten. And one more innovation will be especially appreciated by those who do not like to advertise personal data in the network.

Oleg Slizhevsky, Minister of Justice of Belarus: "An interesting novelty is the article on additional protection of citizen's image. That is, photographs of citizens cannot be distributed without their consent, except in certain cases, for example, if the photo was taken in a public place. The general spirit of innovations is to adjust the existing legislation to those economic, social relations that have developed in society. Many changes are aimed at simplifying the order of organizing and conducting business, at better understanding and unambiguous perception of the norms of the Civil Code, excluding double interpretation".

The head of state today approved the proposed adjustments to the Civil Code and the new draft decree on improving the administrative procedures.

Alexander Chervyakov, Minister of Economy of Belarus: "The President has instructed to radically revise the list of administrative procedures and reduce them. We will be working on this task as soon as possible. The President pointed out that this work should involve not only officials but also business community and MPs. We will do this perform this work jointly with entrepreneurs, business associations, in order to reduce the administrative pressure on businesses as much as possible, not only in the private sector, but for all businesses, including state-owned ones."

The President also gave instructions to the Council of the Republic to organize the final expert evaluation of legislative acts before they are submitted to the head of state.