President of Belarus considers draft decree "On the Development of Entrepreneurship"

26 сентября 2017

By Andrei Laptionok: The draft decree "On the development of entrepreneurship" was submitted to the President for consideration. First Deputy Prime Minister Vasily Matyushevsky presented the key document on liberalization in the economy in order to develop an entrepreneurial initiative, stimulate business activity and eliminate unnecessary requirements for businesses.

According to the Decree, state intervention in the work of business entities will be minimized, the mechanism of business self-regulation will be strengthened, and a large-scale simplification of technical requirements is coming.

For example, as little as 10% of the current fire safety rules, sanitary and veterinary requirements will remain in force. A notification procedure for starting activities for certain types of business will be introduced. The list of activities covers 95% of small enterprises. A ban on the introduction of new taxes and higher tax rates will be in force until 2020. A number of administrative procedures for starting a business will be canceled or simplified.

The President and the First Deputy Prime Minister also discussed another joint initiative of the business community and government – types of business requiring special permits. Since 2010, the country has systematically reduced the number of licensed activities. Licensing of 19 types of business and more than 60 subtypes of business was canceled. At present, 36 types of business activity are licensed in Belarus.

The main principles now will be that licensing will only be required when it comes to public or national security, as well as the life and health of citizens. The draft decree provides for the cancellation of 3 more activities and 20 subtypes of economic activity, which constitute 46% of the total number of all issued licenses.

As a result of the working meeting, Alexander Lukashenko supported all the proposals, and the documents will soon be signed.