Belarus: Alert On Main Changes And Amendments To The Legislation Of The Republic Of Belarus

Alert on main changes and amendments to the legislation of the Republic of Belarus

1. On the reimbursement of customs duties and taxes. Edict of the President of the Republic of Belarus. April 10, 2019 No. 140.

A new measure of support for large families and people with disabilities has been adopted by the Head of the State. This measure is decreasing the payments to the budget when importing passenger vehicles. It is expected that many citizens will use this opportunity and it will revive the car market.

Edict provides the reimbursement to persons with disabilities (I and II groups), parents (adoptive parents) in large families amounting to 50 percent of customs duties and taxes payable when importing vehicles for personal use into the territory of the Republic of Belarus.

One can use the reimbursement from the Republican budget once per year. Individuals shall permanently reside in the territory of the Republic of Belarus.

The condition for reimbursement is submission to the customs authority the documents confirming on the day of release of the vehicle for free circulation in Belarus:

• disability of I or II group, - certificates of the disabled person;
• the status of a parent (adoptive parent) in a large family, - the certificate of a large family.

These documents shall be submitted while declaring the vehicle at the customs or within one year from the date of its release for free circulation to the customs authority that carried out such a release.

The Edict came into force on April 13, 2019.

2. On the measures of the development of international road transport of goods. Edict of the President of the Republic of Belarus. April 10, 2019 No. 141.

Provision is made for exemption from payment of the utilization fee for certain categories of vehicles belonging to environmental class 6 when imported into the territory of the Republic of Belarus and placed under the customs procedure of release for domestic consumption by legal entities and individual entrepreneurs of the Republic of Belarus. These categories include:

• truck saddles, from the moment of production no more than one year has passed, with a gross vehicle weight of over 12 tons, but not more than 20 tons;
• motor vehicles, from the moment production no more than one year has passed, for the carriage of goods with a gross vehicle mass of more than 20 tons, but not more than 50 tons.

The environmental class of imported vehicles is confirmed by the corresponding entry in the certificate of conformity of the National Conformity Assessment System of the Republic of Belarus, issued by an accredited certification body.

We shall remind that the utilization fee depends on the weight of the vehicle and the year of manufacture and, as a rule, is a very significant amount.

The Edict came into force on April 13, 2019 and extended its effect on relations arising from January 1, 2019.

3. On the accession of the Republic of Belarus to the international agreement. Edict of the President of the Republic of Belarus, January 14, 2019, No. 14.

The Republic of Belarus has joined the Additional Protocol to the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR Convention) concerning the electronic consignment note adopted in Geneva on February 20, 2008.

After coming the Edict into force, Belarusian participants in international road haulage can issue consignment note using electronic data interchange. In the electronic consignment note, you should specify all the data as in the consignment note on paper, that is, these documents must be identical.

Electronic consignment notes will be considered as equivalent to paper and have the same evidential weight. At the same time, carriers are entitled as before to use paper consignment notes.

The additional protocol establishes that, since the entry into force, Belarusian participants in international road haulage can issue not only consignment notes, but also any other requests, declarations, instructions, other documents using electronic means of communication - all those messages related to the implementation of the international road haulage contract under the Convention.

The Additional Protocol entered into force for the Republic of Belarus on May 8, 2019.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.