Belarusian MPs adopted the bill on support for small and medium-sized businesses in the second reading

On May 26, Minsk / Ekaterina Nechaeva - BELTA /. Deputies of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus at the session of the fourth convocation today adopted in the second reading the draft law "On Support of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises", BELTA correspondent reports. Touching upon the key provisions of the bill, Viktor Tolkachev, Deputy Chairman of the Standing Commission on Industry, Fuel and Energy Complex, Transport, Communications and Entrepreneurship, first of all highlighted the division of economic entities into small and medium-sized ones. He emphasized that the sectoral principle of classification as small business entities will be excluded. Individual entrepreneurs, micro-organizations (with an average number of employees for a calendar year up to 15 people inclusive) and small organizations (from 16 to 100 employees) will be classified as such. Commercial organizations employing from 101 to 250 people will be classified as medium-sized enterprises. No special registration as such or other confirmation of their status by state bodies will be required. Moreover, a legislative ban on interference by state bodies and other state organizations in their activities is enshrined, along with the activities of infrastructure entities supporting small and medium-sized enterprises. The draft defines the main goals and principles of state policy in the sphere of supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, and regulates the types and general conditions of such support. Small business entities can count on receiving financial resources from the state (on a repayable or gratuitous basis) and property support. The allocation of various types of subsidies is also possible – to reimburse part of the interest on bank loans, expenses for paying lease payments under financial lease agreements, and expenses related to participation in exhibitions and fairs or their organization. Special tax regimes may be provided for small business entities, and requirements for accounting and statistical reporting may be simplified.

In general, for small and medium-sized enterprises, it is possible to introduce a simplified procedure for transferring state-owned buildings, structures, production facilities, equipment, which are not used or are used inefficiently, into their ownership, lease, or gratuitous use. They can be obtained, including free of charge. Moreover, entrepreneurs who have been leasing premises for at least 5 years and are engaged in the production of goods may acquire the right to purchase the leased premises.

An important and anticipated norm of the bill is the guarantee of participation of small and medium-sized businesses in the procedures for state procurement of goods, works, and services. In this case, they can act as suppliers, performers, and contractors. A reservation of at least 10% of the total volume of state procurement is possible for them, and a separate tender is held for this part.

For individual entrepreneurs and micro-organizations, the draft law provides for the possibility of acquiring state property with payment in installments for up to 3 years. When acquiring state property at auctions, two or more small business entities will be able to act as buyers.

It is important to define in the draft the legal status of the Council for the Development of Entrepreneurship in Belarus. The possibility of creating similar councils is provided for at the local executive and administrative bodies of power. A separate article in the chapter on state policy is devoted to associations of small and medium-sized enterprises (associations and unions), their goals, powers, and rights.

Deputies also ratified the intergovernmental Belarusian-Ukrainian agreement on outbound fair trade of domestically produced goods in the border regions of the two countries and adopted in the second reading the draft law "On the Committee of State Control of the Republic of Belarus and its territorial bodies".

BELTA