Belarus.

Investment
Guidebook.

Investment opportunities,
legal and economic environment

P re p a re d b y : Q O
□ □ NATIONAL AGGNCY OF
INVeSTMGNTAND PRIVATIZATION
25 R E P U B L I C OF B E L A R U S
QO
 6

1 BELARUS IN WORLD RANKINGS .......................................7 3 ONE-STO p SHO p F o r INv ESTORS:

n a t io n a l AGENCy Of INVESTMENT
2 PROMISING SECTORS FOR FDI ............................................9
AND PRIVATIZATION.............................................................2 2
2.1 PhARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY........................................... 1 0
3 -1 SERVICES.......................................................................................2 3

2.2 TRANSpoRT And LoGISTIcS..............................................13 3 -2 PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP

(PPP) IN B E LA R U S .................................................................2 4
2.3 mechanical engineering...............................................1 7

2.4 FOOD INDuStRy ......................................................................1 8 3 3 INVESTOR'S GUIDE:

STEP-BY-STEP ALGORITHMS............................................2 6
2.5 IT INDUSTRY............................................................................... 2 0

^ B e l a r u s i a n E c o n o m y ......29
4 BELARUSIAN E c o n o m y 5 -1 FDI ON NET BASIS.....................................................................3 6

OVERVIEW ................................................................................ 30 5.2 EURASIAN INTEGRATION.............3 7

4.1 C °NSUMER PR|CE |N D E X ....................................................32 5.3 BELARUS AND CHINA:

4.2 INTERNATIONAL T R A D E ......................................................3 3 TOWARDS THE NEW LEVEL
5 INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION OF COOPERATION...................................................................4 0
AND FOREIGN CAPITAL
IN BELARUS................................................................................ 3 5
4

И п Legal Environment for

In vestm en t.................. 42
7 .1 CORPORATE T A X ....................................................................7 7
6 LEGAL REGULATION................................................................. 4 2

7 .2 FOREIGN COMPANIES'
6.1 INVESTMENT LAW ................................................................... 4 3
INCOME TAX (FCTI).................................................................7 8

6.2 CONCESSIONS.............................................................................4 5
7 3 INCOME TAX ............................................................................ 7 9
63 PUBLIC-PRIVATE
7 4 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
PARTNERSHIP............................................................................4 6
SOCIAL INSURANCE FUND.................................................. 8 0
6.4 PREFERENTIAL REGIMES.......................................................4 7
7 5 VALUE ADDED TAX (V A T )................................................. 8 0
6.5 INNOVATION ACTIVITIES........................................................5 3

6.6 CORPORATE LAW: ORGANISATIONAL 7.6 REAL ESTATE TAX ................................................................8 1

AND LEGAL FORMS OF BUSINESS

7 7 LAND T A X ....................................................................................8 2
IN B ELA R U S ................................................................................5 4
7.8 OFFSHORE D U TY.....................................................................8 2
6.7 PRIVATIZATION........................................................................... 5 8

7 9 ECOLOGICAL TAX AND TAX

6 о FINANCIAL REGULATION
FOR EXTRACTION (REMOVAL)
6 IN BELARUS...................................................................................6 0
OF NATURAL RESOURCES...................................................8 3
6 q REGULATION OF FOREIGN
ECONOMIC ACTIVITY............................................................. 6 3 7.10 TAX TR EATIES ..........................................................................8 3

610 LEGAL STATUS OF LAND AND

8 EURASIAN ECONOMIC UNION ........................................8 4
. OTHER IMMOVABLE PROPERTY ......................................... 66
8.1 CUSTOMS UNION ...................................................................8 5
6 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
1 PROTECTION.................................................................................. 7 1 8.2 TECHNICAL REGULATIONS ............................................ 8 5

6.12 LABOUR REGULATION...............................................................7 2 8.3 EAEU BODIES .......................................................................... 8 5

6 .1 3 DISPUTE R ESOLUTION............................................................ 7 5 8.4 EAEU COURTS............................................................................ 86

TAXES AND OTHER 8.5 TAX TREATM ENT.................................................................... 86

7 OBLIGATORY PAYM ENTS....................................................... 7 7
8.6 LABOUR SPECIFICS............................................................... 8 7
5

Dear R eaders,

O u r Law firm, G R A T A International, is pleased to w elco m e you to the pages o f our business guide, dedicated
to the legal review o f investm ent o p po rtu n ities in Belarus.
T h is review aim s to help navigate potential investors, w ho are considering Belarus as a potential new market
entry for expansion and setting up in d ustries, to form a general understanding about the legislation o f our country.
D espite the am biguous forecasts o f the prospects for the developm ent o f the global econom y in today's difficult
enviro nm ent (inflatio n, tightening banking p o licie s, g e o p o litical fragm entation, C O V ID -1 9 ), w e em phasise,
that business finds growth o ppo rtun ities, finds new product's / service so lu tio n s and new markets.
T h e inform ation enclo sed contains a d escription o f the regulation surrounding investm ent a ctiv itie s, legal
fram ew orks o f p referen tial zones, different w ays o f incorporating and a com parison o f th eir organizational and legal
forms. S p ecial attention is paid to the nuances o f e le ctro n ic money circu la tio n , rules surrounding foreign exchange
tran sactions, real estate regulations, in te lle ctu al property rights and taxation.
W e hope th is business guide w ill answ er your q uestio ns and help you in your ventures.

Kind Regards
Team G R A T A International, Belarus

MAXIM lashkevich
DMITRY VILTOVSKY
Partner, head o f Real
M anaging Partner,
estate and C onstruction
head o f Corporate and M & A
M Lashkevich@ gratanet.com
D V iltovsky@ gratanet.com

NATALIA ZHUK
ALEXANDER KORSAK
C o un sel, head o f
Partner, head o f D ispute reso lution ,
International com m ercial, IP
Bank and Fin a n ce , Taxes
N Z huk@ gratanet.com
A Korsak@ gratanet.com

OKSANASHAKHLAI
A sso cia te , head o f Em ploym ent law
O Shakhlai@ gratanet.com
C O N T A C T IN F O :
m i n s k @ g r a t a n e t .c o m
+ 3 75 1 7 3 73 55 00
+ 3 75 29 3 73 55 00
1 7 S v o b o d y s q u a r e , o f f i c e 7 0 1 , M i n s k , B e la r u s
6 , 6

Investm ent
o p p o rtu n ities
1 BELARUS IN WORLD RANKINGS 7 ONE-STOP SHOP FOR INVESTORS:
NATIONAL AGENCY OF INVESTMENT
2 PROMISING SECTORS FOR FDI .......................................... 9
AND PRIVATIZATION..................................
2.1 PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY.......................................... 1 0
3 -1 SERV IC ES .....................................................................................2 3

2.2 TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS.............................................13 3-2 PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP

(PPP) IN B E LA R U S .................................................................2 4
2.3 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING..............................................1 7

2 -4 FOOD INDUSTRY .....................................................................1 8 3 -3 INVESTOR'S GUIDE:

STEP-BY-STEP ALGORITHMS.
2.5 IT INDUSTRY.............................................................................. 2 0
7

1. Belarus in world rankings

S in c e 1 9 9 5 , B e la r u s h a s b e e n c o n s t a n t l y im p r o v in g it s H u m a n D e v e l o p m e n t
In d e x ra n k . A c c o r d i n g to t h e 2021 H u m a n D e v e l o p m e n t R e p o r t , B e la r u s
is c a t e g o r iz e d a s t h e c o u n t r y w it h t h e v e r y h ig h h u m a n d e v e l o p m e n t le v e l.

In t h e D o i n g B u s i n e s s 2020 r a n k in g ,
B e l a r u s o c c u p i e s 4 9 th p la c e .

A cco rd in g to th e data o f th e W o rld Bank in B e la ru s ran ks 3 6 th am ong 113 co u n trie s in the

2 0 2 0 , B e la ru s has m ain tain e d its le ad in g p o sitio n Food S e c u rity In d e x 2021 co m p ile d by the
in th e to ta l n u m b e r o f reform s aim ed at E co n o m ist In te llig e n c e U n it, takin g its p lace
im p ro vin g b u sin e ss clim a te . In th e D oing b etw een th e U A E and Bulgaria.
B u s in e s s 2 0 2 0 ranking, th e R e p u b lic is on the
4 9 th p lace am ong 190 c o u n trie s. In th e S ta rtin g a B e la ru s ran ks 5 0 th am ong 189 co u n trie s in the
B u s in e s s ranking B e la ru s o ccu p ie s th e 30th H um an D e ve lo p m e n t In d e x 2021, c lim b in g 3
p lace. T h e c o u n try m ade sta rtin g a b u sin ess p o sitio n s up co m p ared to 2 0 2 0 (53rd place).
e a sie r by ab o lish in g th e re q u ire m e n t to reg ister M o st d e velo p e d co u n trie s have an H D I s co re o f
th e book o f R e g istry o f In sp e c tio n s , and a llo w in g 0 .8 o r above (at th e v e ry high human
its p u rch a se w ith in s ix m o n th s o f in co rp o ratio n . d e v e lo p m e n t le v e l). T h e s e co u n trie s have stab le
B y th e D e a lin g w ith C o n stru c tio n Perm its g o ve rn m e n ts, w id e sp re ad affo rd ab le ed u catio n
ranking, B e la ru s is on th e 4 8 th p o sitio n . B elaru s and h e a lth ca re , high life e x p e c ta n c ie s , and
m ade d e alin g w ith co n s tru c tio n p e rm its e a sie r by g ro w ing , p o w e rfu l e c o n o m ie s. In B e la ru s, the
stre a m lin in g th e p ro ce ss at th e o n e -sto p shop. H D I in 2021 w as 0.817. In co m p ariso n , T u rk e y 's
H D I is 0 .8 2 4 in 2021 and U k ra in e 's is 0.75.
In 2021, th e co u n try ranked 8 2n d am ong 180
co u n trie s in th e T ra n sp a re n cy In te rn a tio n a l A cco rd in g to th e H um an D e ve lo p m e n t R epo rt
C o rru p tio n P e rce p tio n s In d ex. 2 0 2 0 , B e la ru s ranks 53rd out o f 189 co u n trie s in
th e H um an D e ve lo p m e n t In d e x. B e la ru s is
C o rn e ll U n iv e rsity , IN S E A D B u s in e s s S c h o o l in c lu d e d to th e v e ry high hum an d e velo p m en t
and th e W o rld In te lle c tu a l P ro p e rty catego ry. B e la ru s ranks 5 4 th out o f 163 co u n trie s
O rg a n iz a tio n (W IP O ) p u b lish e d th e G lo b a l in th e S o c ia l Pro g ress In d e x 2021. B e la ru s has the
In n o va tio n In d e x 2021. C o m p ared to 2 0 2 0 , h ig hest sco re s in th e fo llo w in g co m p o n e n ts o f
B e la ru s has clim b e d in th e ranking 2 p o sitio n s up s o c ia l pro g ress: w a te r and sa n ita tio n , n u tritio n
and to o k 62n d p lace in th e w o rld . O n e o f the and b a sic m e d ic a l ca re, a c ce ss to basic
m ain d rive rs that im proved B e la ru s's rankin g is k no w le d g e , s h e lte r, p e rso n a l freed o m and
m o b ile app d e v e lo p m e n t. B e la ru s ranked first in ch o ic e .
th e w o rld in term s o f th is in d ica to r (th e p o sitio n
re m ain s unchanged co m p ared to 2 0 2 0 ). O u r
co u n try is also N o . 1 in th e w o rld in the
p ro p o rtio n o f fem ale s w ith an advanced
ac a d e m ic d egree to th e to ta l n u m b e r o f
e m p lo y e e s (+ 1 p o sitio n com p ared to 2 0 2 0 ).
8

A cco rd in g to th e U N E -G o v e rn m e n t S u rve y T h e ranking is based on co m p re h e n siv e data

2 0 2 0 "E -G o v e rn m e n t in S u p p o rt o f S u sta in a b le o b tain e d by IA O P e x p e rts from co m p an ie s and
D e ve lo p m e n t", th e R e p u b lic o f B e la ru s ranked in d e p e n d e n t so u rce s. T h e in fo rm a tio n allo w s
4 0 th in th e E -G o v e rn m e n t R e ad in e ss In d e x, a sse ssin g th e su cce ss o f ranking p a rticip a n t's
h aving m oved 9 p o sitio n s up as co m p ared w ith d e v e lo p m e n t in th e m arket, as w e ll as th e q u a lity
th e 2016. R etain in g its p o sitio n in th e top 4 0 o f its s o lu tio n s and c u sto m e r s a tisfa ctio n .
co u n trie s by th e le v e l o f e -g o vernm ent
te c h n o lo g y d e v e lo p m e n t becam e p o ssib le due A cco rd in g to th e R an kin g o f Eu ro p ean C itie s
to th e g o ve rn m en t d ig ita liz a tio n program s. and R egio ns 2 0 2 0 -2 0 2 1 , co m p ile d by fD i
B e la ru s is ahead o f su ch co u n trie s as Belg iu m , In te llig e n c e (d iv is io n o f T h e F in a n c ia l T im e s ),
G re e c e , L a tv ia , C h in a , K u w a it, M ala ysia , Saudi M in sk en te red th e top-10 B e st C itie s fo r C o st
A ra b ia , S e rb ia , and S lo v a k ia in term s o f E ffe c tiv e n e s s in E u ro p e , taking th e seco n d p lace
e-g o ve rn m e n t d e v e lo p m e n t. a fte r T b ilis i. T h e R an kin g o f Eu ro p ea n C itie s and
R egions 2 020-2021 is an a n a lysis o f Eu ro pean
B e la ru sia n co m p a n ie s: A 1 Q A (Q u a lity c itie s in term s o f b u sin e ss and in ve stm e n t
T e ch n o lo g ie s L L C ), In n o w ise G ro u p (F a c to ry o f d e v e lo p m e n t. T h e re se arch w as ca rrie d out by
In n o va tio n s and S o lu tio n s L L C ), Q u lix S yste m s th e le ad in g e x p e rts o f th e Fo reign D ire ct
(Q u lix S yste m s C JS C ), S c ie n c e S o ft In v e stm e n t d iv isio n and w as based on the
( S C IE N C E S O F T C JS C ) w e re in c lu d e d in "T h e a n a lysis o f th e e c o n o m ic p o te n tia l, hum an
2 0 2 2 G lo b a l O u tso u rc in g 100" rating. T h is is a re so u rce s, le v e l o f c o sts o f d o ing b u sin e ss, livin g
ran king o f th e 100 best o u tso u rce s in th e w o rld sta n d ard s, q u a lity o f in fra stru c tu re , ease o f doing
acco rd in g to th e In te rn a tio n a l A s s o c ia tio n of b u sin e ss, strateg y to a ttract fo reign d ire ct
O u tso u rc in g P ro fe s s io n a ls (IA O P ). in v e stm e n t.

A m o n g th e b est o u tso u rce rs are also foreign

co m p an ie s w ith B e la ru sia n d e v e lo p m e n t ce n te rs
re g istere d in H i-Te ch Park: A rte z io , C ik lu m , IB A
G ro u p , In te tic s , iT e c h A rt G ro u p.

DOING B U S IN E SS 2020 G LO B A L IN N O VA TIO N IN D EX HUM AN D EV ELO PM EN T REPORT TH E SO C IA L P R O G R ES S IN DEX

2021 2021 2021
Country Ranking Country Ranking Country Ranking Country Ranking
New Zealand 1 Switzerland 1 Norway 1 Norway 1
Lithuania 11 FtoLand 40 Poland 35 Lithuan ia 27
Kazakhstan 25 Russia 45 Russia 52 Poland 35
Russia 28 Ukraine 49 Belarus 53 Ukraine 48
Belarus 49 Belarus 62 Turkey 54 Belarus 54
Ukraine 64 Kazakhstan 79 Ukraine 74 Russia 62
Uzbekistan 69 Azerbaijan 80 Armenia 81 Kazakhstan 64
Kyrgyzstan 8о Kyrgyzstan 98 Azerbaij an 88 Kyrgyzstan 82
 9

2. Promising sectors
for investment
R e s o lu tio n o f th e C o u n c il o f M in is te r s N o . 3 7 2 as o f M a y 1 2 , 2 0 1 6
d e t e r m in e s a lis t o f p r i o r i t y s e c t o r s o f e c o n o m y f o r i n v e s t m e n t :

4
[&
INFORMATION CREATIONAND DEVELOPMENT RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION, RECONSTRUCTION
ANDCOMMUNICATION OF THE LOGISTICS SYSTEM ANDAIR TRANSPORT AND EQUIPPINGOF CHECKPOINTS
TECHNOLOGIES ACROSS THE STATE BORDER OFTHE
REPUBLIC OF BELARUS ANDOTHER FACILITIES OF BORDER
SERVICE AGENCIES OFTHE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

PRODUCTIONOF ELECTRICAL LEATHER AND METALLURGY GRAIN PROCESSING INDUSTRY

ENGINEERING, OPTICAL-MECHANICAL, FOOTWEAR INDUSTRY
INSTRUMENT-MAKINGCOMMODITIES,
HOUSEHOLDAPPLIANCES AND ELECTRONICS

«► >

RECYCLING OF SECONDARY CONSTRUCTION, RECONSTRUCTIONAND TEXTILE INDUSTRY CANNING INDUSTRY

MATERIAL RESOURCES EQUIPPINGOF FACILITIES
OFBORDER SERVICE AGENCIES
OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

9
$Гб
CULTURE
&
PUBLIC SERVICE ACTIVITIES OIL AND FAT INDUSTRY
dm
CREATIONAND DEVELOPMENT
OFTHE LOGISTICS SYSTEM

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
1о

21 Pharmaceutical
Industry
Th e production of pharm aceutical products in t h e Republic
o f Belarus p ro vid e s d u ty -fr e e access to the large and d y n a m ic m a rke t
o f 5 m e m b e r states o f the Eurasian Econom ic Union (Russia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Arm enia and Kyrgyzstan).

HIGH HR POTENTIAL GOVERNMENTAL SUPPORT OF INVESTMENT PROJECTS

IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
Pharm aceutical ind ustry o f Belarus em ploys
more than 10,000 p ro fessio nals o f different Belarus has adopted a com prehensive state
qualification le vels possessing a w ide range of program for the developm ent o f the
s k ills . Each year, they are jo in e d by professionals pharm aceutical industry. T h e o b jectives o f the
who have s k ills in the developm ent o f original and Belarusian pharm aceutical ind ustry are as fo llo w s:
generic m edicines using biotechnology and organic • creation o f a modern research in frastru cture for
syn th esis m ethods, registration and prom otion of developm ent and production o f innovative
m edicines on foreign and do m estic m arkets, quality pharm aceutical products, including reconstruction
co n tro l at all stages o f the life cy cle o f m edicines, o f existin g en terprises and co n stru ctio n o f modern
w h o lesale and retail sales, pharm aceutical production fa c ilitie s, w hich w ill m eet international
marketing and management. q u ality standards,
• cooperation w ith leading pharm aceutical
m anufacturers through the organisation o f jo in t
v en tu res and foreign enterprises.
In 2021, the proportion o f do m estic m edicines
reached 5 0 % in valu e term s, 7 0 % in the hospital
secto r and up to 9 0 % in ind ividual hospitals. T h e
PRODUCTION OF PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS IN BELARUS, USD MLN
price sta b ility o f do m estic en terprises has been
ensured : 3 2 % o f m edicines are sold at a price
below $1. In 2021, the negative trend in the
reduction o f registered m edicines, w hich lasted
sin ce 2015, was reversed. A s o f January 1, 2022, the
num ber o f registered m edicines increased by 4 4 4
item s (to 5,787), w h ile the num ber o f finished
m edicin al products increased by 313 to 4 ,3 3 6 items.

* As of January 1, 2022, the number of registered medicines

amounted to 5,787, while the number of finished medicinal
products increased by 313 compared to last year and
amounted to 4,336 items
11

In g e n e r a l , o v e r t h e p a s t f e w y e a r s , a p o s i t i v e g r o w t h trend
has b e e n observed in t h e p h a r m a c e u t i c a l m a r k e t o f B e l a r u s ,
significantly e x c e e d in g G D P growth.

T h e production o f p harm aceutical products over T h e geographical structu re o f pharm aceutical

the past 5 years increased by 2 7% and am ounted to products im p ° rt to Belarus is quite d iversified .
U S D 748.6 mln in 2021. T h u s, the largest share com e from Russia
(165,912.3 thousand U S D ), G erm any
(151,625.4 thousand U S D ), C hina (62,142.6
thousand U S D ), France (60,931.3 thousand U SD )
and India (51,503 thousand U SD ).

IMPORT OF PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS I

N BELARUS, USD MLN

1132.1
980.0
960.2
837.2

201 8 201 9 201 О 2021

SHARE OF IMPORTED DOMESTIC DRUGS, %

53.7 53.5 50.2 50.0 52.0

2017 2 0 18 2 0 19 2010 2021

12

EXPORT OF PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS T h e geographical stru cture o f expo rt reveals the

FROM BELARUS, USD MLN significant im pact o f the C IS co untries. Russia
accounts for about 8 0 % o f export.

T h e mass segm ent and low prices are the main

co m p etitive advantages o f B elarusian m edicine
producers.

Belarus has a high level o f integration into the

internatio nal system o f pre-production testing and
quality co n tro l o f m edicines.

During 2021, vend ors o f pharm aceutical products

Source: National Statistical Committee
o f Belarus supplied m anufactured products to 37
of the Republic of Belarus
co un tries o f the w orld, including all C IS countries,
near and far-abroad co u n tries, 'far arc' countries.
M oreover, in 2021, the products w ere shipped to
new m arkets - to Libya - for 29.0 thousand U S D and
to Kenya - for 2.2 thousand U SD .
T h e share o f do m estic drugs in the Belarusian
G eographical diversificatio n rem ains one o f the
market is estim ated at 5 0 % in valu e term s for 2021.
p rio rity areas for pharm aceutical com panies, as the
T h e increase in im port-substituting pharm aceutical
Russian Federation cu rre n tly accounts for the main
products depends largely on the availab ility o f raw
volum e o f supplies.
m aterials and active pharm aceutical ingredients,
w h ich , however, are not produced in Belarus.
G en e rally, substances are bought in co u ntries with
significant co m p etitive advantages in the
production costs, nam ely India, Pakistan and China.

Sin ce the production o f su bstances is very

expen sive and based on scale effe ct, and also has O n e o f th e m a in o b j e c t iv e s
low m arginality, it is more appropriate to produce o f pharm aceutical industry
finished pharm aceutical products in Belarus.
d e v e l o p m e n t is t o o p t i m i z e
In 2021, export o f p harm aceutical products and
pharm aceutical drugs decreased slig h tly compared the p ro d u c t range p ro d u c e d
to 2020 and am ounted to U S D 311.4 mln.
by dom estic pharm aceutical
c o m p a n i e s in o r d e r t o s a t u r a t e
the dom estic pharm aceutical
m arket and stim ulate access
to foreign m arkets.
13

2 2 Transport and
Logistics
THE COUNTRY FOR LONG-TERM PARTNERSHIP

T h e transport com p lex is an e ssen tia l part o f econom ic and so cial infrastructure o f the country, and is
aimed to m eet e fficie n tly the needs o f the population in transport services, m aintain ac tiv ity o f all sectors
o f the econom y and provide national security.
Belarus is located at the in tersectio n o f m ajor pan-European transport corridors (II W e st-East and IX
N orth-South w ith IX B branch), and its advantageous geographical position has determ ined a
w e ll-d evelo ped transport infrastru ctu re. T h e trans-European transport corridor, as w e ll as its branch,
provides access for cargo ow ners from the regions o f Eastern U kraine and C en tral Russia to the
specialized seaports o f Klaipeda, V e n tsp ils and Kaliningrad.
T h e transport in frastru ctu re o f Belarus in clu d es a w ide netw ork o f railw ays, air routes, highw ays, river
and pipeline transport.
T h e growth o f cargo flow s on Belarusian routes is achieved by tim e ly response to changes in the
transport services m arket, o ptim ization o f traffic flow diagrams for the basic com m od ities o f foreign
com m erce and im provem ent o f ta riff conditions.
T h e main consum ers o f transport services o f the R epublic o f Belarus are Lithuania, G erm any, Russia
China.
T h e share o f in tern atio nal transportation in the total cargo turnover is about 76 % , and in passenger
turnover - 27% .
In 2021, e xpo rts o f transport services w ere the highest in the history o f the sovereign republic -
$4.3 billion.
C u rren tly, a set o f m easures is being im plem ented in Belarus in order to develop the lo g istics system
and transit potential.
In 2021, more than U S D 19 mln o f foreign investm ent was attracted in the "Transport" a ctivity category.

Ш
((III.
Ігч-Л 3

T h e length o f ra ilw a ys is 5 ,4 7 4 km, in clu d in g T h e length o f m o to r roads is 103.4 tho usan d km,
1,370 km o f e le c trifie d s e c tio n s ., 2021 in c lu d in g 9 0 .0 th o usan d km o f h ard -su rfa ce roads, 2021

T h e to ta l p ip e lin e length is n e a rly T h e to ta l length o f the operated w a te rw ays is

11.7 thousand km, 2/3 o f w h ich are 2.1 tho usand km ., 2021
gas p ip e lin e s , 2021
14

W A TER TRAN SPO RT

N avigation in the R epublic o f Belarus is carried

out by inland w aterw ays (the D nieper, Berezina,
So zh, Pripyat, W estern Dvina, Niem an rivers,
M ore than 1.9 m illio n M ore than 1.9 m illio n
D nieper-Bug and M ikashevichy channels). T h e total
p asseng ers w ere p assen g ers w ere
length o f Belarusian inland w aterw ays am ounts to
tran sp o rte d , 2021 tran sp o rte d , 2021
2,074 km, including 1,126.7 km o f the w aterw ays
w ith guaranteed depth.
W ater transport is im portant since its energy T h e developm ent o f Belarusian air transport
consum ption per unit o f transport w ork is much is associated w ith co ntinuo us w ork to increase
lo w er than that o f road transport and 1.5-2 tim es the capacity o f airports, expand the transportation
le ss than that o f rail transport. geography, increase the e fficie n cy o f regional
In th is regard, it is very im portant to reanimate airpo rts, replace the equipm ent o f automated
the form er w aterw ays connecting the B lack and co n tro l system s, use v isu alizatio n system s and
B altic Seas basins. A m ong them is the to o ls, enhance the aviation secu rity, etc.
D n ie p er-V istu la-O d e r w ater transport connection.
A num ber o f export-im po rt freight flows o f Belarus, T h e re are 7 registered airlin e s in the republic that
Poland, U kraine and o th er European countries, perform intern atio n al carriage by air, five o f which
as w e ll as flows from Scandinavia, the volum e are cargo airlin es. Belavia, the main passenger air
o f w hich is estim ated at m illio n s o f tons, carrier, operates modern W estern-m ade aircrafts
are connected to th is transport system . purchased in ow nership or under lease schem es.
W ater tourism developm ent, reconstruction T h e re are 11 certified aerodrom es in the Republic
o f inland w aterw ays, w hich provide access to the o f B elarus, 6 o f w hich are international. T h e M insk
territo ry o f U kraine and to the B la ck Sea, N atio nal A irp o rt is the leader in passenger traffic.
in frastru cture developm ent on the international
waterw ay Е -4 0 , transport fleet m odernization,
establishm en t o f the State W ater Transport D espite the negative im pact o f W estern sanctio ns
A d m inistratio n and other m easures contribute and certain d ifficu lties in the im plem entation o f
to im proving the w ater transport system . production activ itie s, air e n titie s operate stead ily:
T h e State Register o f Ships o f Belarus has labour c o lle c tiv e s are preserved, on tim e payment
registered 827 v e sse ls, including 333 self-p ro pelled o f wages, tax paym ents and loan obligations are
v e sse ls and 4 9 4 n o n-self-pro pelled v e sse ls. Total ensured.
carrying capacity o f cargo v e sse ls exceed s 240
thousand tons. In 2021, w ork w as carried out on the
im plem entation o f m ajor investm ent projects.
T h e A ir Traffic C o n tro l C en ter was put into
operation. Design and estim ate docum entation for
reco n structio n o f the first runway o f the M insk
N atio nal A irp o rt, as w e ll as the A rch ite ctu ral
C o ncep t for Prospective D evelopm ent and
about 2 .4 m illio n to ns 100 thousand
C o m p lex Im provem ent o f the A irp o rt Territory
o f cargo w ere passen g ers w ere
w ere developed.
tra n sp o rte d , 2021 tran sp o rte d , 2021

A IR T R A N S P O R T
A ir transport is a co m p lex o f en terp rises and
organisations transporting passengers and cargo by
air both in Belarus and ou tside, as w e ll as
perform ing aerial w ork. In Belarus, every major
regional c ity has its airport.
15

ROAD TRA N SPO RT R A IL W A Y T R A N S P O R T

61.2 m illio n p assen g ers

A
about 128.6 m illio n 61.2 m illio n p asseng ers about 128.6 m illio n
w e re tran sp o rte d , 2021 to n s o f cargo w ere w e re tran sp o rte d , 2021 to n s o f cargo w ere
tra n sp o rte d , 2021 tra n sp o rte d ,2021

Road transport in co nju n ctio n w ith urban R ailw ay transport is one o f the most im portant
e le c tric transport and the m etro carries over 9 0 % elem en ts o f the transport system o f the Republic
o f the total passenger traffic. In addition, about o f Belarus.
5 0 % o f the total freight traffic is transported by
road. R ailw ay transport organisations em ploy more
than 75 thousand people.
T h e share o f in tern atio nal transportation in the
total cargo turnover is about 7 6 % , and in passenger T h e B elarusian R ailw ay State A sso ciatio n is the
turnover - 27% . In 2021, e xpo rts o f transport railw ay netw ork operator, w hich provides about
services w ere the highest in the histo ry o f the 75% o f all freight traffic in the co untry and over
sovereign republic - $4.3 billio n. 5 0 % o f passenger traffic.

In Belarus, there w ere 324 m otor ve h icle s T h e operational length o f the railw ays is 5.5
per 1 thousand people in 2021 . thousand km.
In the field o f road transport, two key challenges
are to create co ndition s for international cargo C u rren tly, railroad passenger service covers
transportation and passenger transportation m ore than 2,100 settle m en ts o f the republic.
market. In 2021, m unicipal transport organisations T h e Belarusian R ailw ay is one o f the most
purchased 437 buses, 163 tro lleyb u se s, and 18 im portant lin ks in ensuring trade and econom ic ties
e le c tric buses (in 2020 - 196 buses, 8 4 betw een the co un tries o f the European Union and
tro lleyb u se s, and 9 e le c tric buses). the A sia-P acific region.

Intro duction o f advanced digital technolog ies in T h e B elarusian R ailw ay su cce ssfu lly im plem ents
transport plays an im portant role for the industry. jo in t transport and lo g istics pro jects o f servicing
In order to facilitate cooperation among all co ntainer traffic between Europe and A sia.
particip ants o f transport a ctiv itie s, w o rk is T h e growth in co ntainer traffic between the
underw ay to create a comm on digital trust space European Union and China and v ice versa should
that w ill provide a fu ll range o f services related to be considered as a positive result.
lo g istics, passenger and cargo transportation.
In 2021, the v olum e o f transit co ntainer traffic
increased by 2 9 % and am ounted to about 930
thousand containers in the T E U , including in
C h in a-Eu ro p e-C hin a com m unication it increased
by 1.3 tim es.

T h e frequ ency o f con tainer trains from China to

Europe has already reached 26 tim es a w eek, and
from Europe to China — 21 tim es a w eek.
16
T h e total volum e o f freight forwarding and
lo g istics services for 2021 am ounted to more than
P IP E L IN E T R A N S P O R T
U S D 3.38 bln (in 2020 - U S D 2.53 bln, or growth by
T h e share o f p ipeline transport in the total cargo 33% ).
turnover o f Belarus is 37.5%. T h e total volum e o f freight forwarding services
Druzhba (large o il p ipeline) and Yam al-Europe am ounted to U S D 3.11 bln (+ 34% compared to
(main gas p ipeline) pip elines are o f particular 2020 ).
im portance, providing transit transportation of T h e total volum e o f lo g istics services amounted
energy com m od ities from Russia to the European to - U SD 265.2 mln (growth by 2020 was 2 6 % ): in
Union through Belarus. T h e to tal length of transport and lo g istics centers - U S D 71.6 m ln); in
pip elin es is w ithin 11.8 thousand km, 2/3 o f w hich w h o lesale and lo g istics centers, trade and lo g istics
are gas pipelines. centers - U S D 18.8 m ln; in custom s and logistics
In 2021, 9 9 ,0 3 2 .2 thousand tons o f cargo were centers - U S D 2.9 m ln; in o th er infrastructure
transported through Belarusian pip elin es, the cargo fa c ilitie s (term inals, station s, ports, airports and
turnover am ounted to 44,577.9 m illion tons km. oth ers) - U S D 171.9 mln.
C u rren tly, about 60 lo g istics centers operate in
Belarus, o f w h ich M insk accounts for more than
L O G IS T IC S IN F R A S T R U C T U R E
70 % . A bou t 2 5% o f the existin g lo g istics centers
T h e sharp increase in the num ber o f lo g istics are state-ow ned, w h ile the rest w ere created by
centers in Belarus, w hich was largely due to the low dom estic (O M A , Prostor, Euroopt, etc.) and foreign
launching base, was replaced by a period of investors (from Russia, A zerbaijan , Iran and China).
qualitative developm ent. It is p re cise ly with A ccord ing to N A I Belarus, the w arehouse segment
qualitative changes in the form er quantitative is one o f the few in the com m ercial real estate
boundaries that lo g istics responds to crisis market that remained stable during the 1 st and 2 nd
phenom ena in the econom y. A ccord ing to the w aves o f covid-19 pandem ic in 2020, and
W orld Bank, in developed co u ntries, lo g istics throughout 2021. T h e year 2021, w hich was
services provide from 15 to 2 5% o f a co u n try's G D P ge n erally very su cce ssfu l for Belarusian econom ic
w ith a ten dency to increase. In the European U nion, e n titie s engaged in F E A , both in the field o f export
2 0 - 2 5 % o f G D P is formed due to logistics. and im port, contributed to the demand for
In recent y ears, the trend towards increasing the warehouses.
share o f lo g istics services in G D P has been W areho u se market su pply has increased
observed in Belarus. sig n ificantly for the period o f 2021 , when alm ost
150 thousand square m eters o f new warehouses
w ere com m issioned for operation in M insk, its
suburbs and the territo rie s adjacent to the
m etropolitan agglom eration. T h is is one o f the best
com m issioning volu m es in the histo ry o f modern
VOLUM E OF FREIGHT FORWARDING SERVICES w arehousing lo g istics m arket, w h ich began in 2008
(ASSOCIATION OF INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT (sin ce the im plem entation o f the Lo g istics System
FORWARDERS AND LOGISTICS BAIF)
D evelopm ent Program o f the Republic o f Belarus
for the period 2008-2015).
1.99

1.59
VOLUME OF FREIGHT FORWARDING SERVICES RENDERED (BY TYPE OF TRANSPORT), USD BLN:

1.12 1570 . 0
0.73
1147 . 0 1290.9
2 0 20 2021 9 9 6 .6

Source: Association of International

Freight Forwarders and Logistics BAIF 51.3 77.8
32.8
I I Under agreements with non-residents 3 0.5
of the Republic of Belarus 2 0 20 20 21 2 0 20 20 21 20 20 20 21 2 0 20 20 21
I I Under agreements with residents
of the Republic of Belarus
17

In total, alm ost 1,400 thousand square m eters of High demand for w areho uses, establishm ent of
modern w arehouses w ere built by the first quarter long-term w arehouse inventory made it possible
o f 2022. In addition to Khatezhino S L C , another not o n ly to m aintain stable rental rates, but also to
new and large fa c ility is the G ipp o log istics keep the vacan cy rate at a low level. M oreover,
(d istrib u tio n ) centre (B e lV ille sd e n ) near the village space was occupied both in long-standing facilities
o f Yarkovo. T h e fa c ility 's specifics are that a and in new ones, w ith a term o f one to one and a
Kitchen Factory w as created on its basis, w hich w ill h alf year after com m issioning.
ce n trally su pply the G ipp o netw ork fa c ilitie s with In a situatio n o f p e rsiste n tly high demand,
its products, sem i-finished products. T h e facility typ ica l for 2021 and I quarter o f 2022 , rental rates,
was com m issioned at the v ery end o f 2021 , and the even denom inated in euros, remained at the same
main organisation o f the fa c ility 's operation le vel: about 7 euros per 1 sq.m. o f class A
occurred in the I quarter o f 2022. w areho use; 5 euros per 1 sq.m o f class B
w arehouse.

NUMBER OF CARS PER 1,000 POPULATION IN 2021, UNITS

23 Mechanical Engineering
M ech anical engineering is one o f the main M odern innovative pro cesses in Belarusian
ind ustries that determ ine the developm ent o f the m echanical engineering are based on higher-level
w orld econom ic system . Its techn olog ical level techn o log ies (bio-, nanotechnology, inform ation
dictates the price and q u ality param eters o f and com m unication, aerospace), the use o f the
products o f in d ustrial en terp rises, and ensures their latest m aterials w ith specified properties, and
co m p etitiven ess. T h e m achine-building co m p lex of achievem ents o f m icro- and p h o to electro n ics,
Belarus in clu d es production o f e le c trica l w hich form the techn o log ical basis o f the
equipm ent, m achinery and equipm ent, com puter, know ledge econom y. T h e production potential of
ele c tro n ic and o p tical products, as w e ll as transport the m achine-building industry in Belarus com prises
v e h icle s and equipm ent. the highly qualified w o rkfo rce and extended
in frastru cture, w hich in clu d es know -how, scie n tific
o rganisations, supply and distributio n channels.
18

Industry leaders: zero em ission v e h icle s in use, expansion of

Belarusian m achine-building ind ustry is w idely e le c tric transport infrastructu re and m inim izing the
known abroad for such national brands as B e lA Z negative im pact on the environm ent.
dump trucks, Belarus tractors, and M A Z trucks. A ccording to the Belarusian A utom ob ile
A m kod o r's sp ecial equipm ent and G om selm ash's A sso cia tio n , 4 6 ,8 3 7 new cars w ere sold in 2021, o f
ag ricultural m achinery have also found th e ir own w hich passenger cars accounted for 88 % and
m arkets, co n stan tly expanding the geography of com m ercial cars 12%. T h e m arket share o f e le ctric
exports. cars am ounted to 0.1% , and that o f B-class
A cco rd ing to the M in istry o f Industry o f the passenger cars am ounted to 4 0 .4 % .
R epublic o f Belarus, in 2021, a significant increase In order to active ly attract investm ent in the
in ph ysical term s was achieved both in production m achine-building co m p lex, the w ork is carried out
and sales for the main com m odity groups of in the fo llo w ing areas:
m echanical engineering. - form ation and developm ent o f innovative and
T h u s, the follo w ing was produced: tracto rs - ind ustrial clu ste rs;
35.9 thousand units (growth rate 112.9%), dump - intensification o f in d ustrial subcontracting and
tru cks - 728 units (2 0 0 .6 % ), harvesters - 2036 units technolog y transfer;
(111.2%), transform ers - 30 thousand units (107.2%), - im plem entation o f jo in t in frastru ctu re projects
T V sets - 1.44 m illion units (106.5% ), passenger w ith investors based on public-private partnership;
v e h icle s - 1487 units (103.3% ), freight v e h icle s - - creation o f a set o f incen tives for investm ent
7416 units. aimed at accelerating the developm ent and
T h e fo llo w ing w as realized: tracto rs - 37.7 im plem entation o f fundam entally new
thousand units (116.9%), dump trucks - 7 8 8 units techn olog ies, im plem entation o f innovative
(180.7% ), harvesters - 2058 units, transform ers - p ro jects, and im provem ent o f resource efficien cy
29.7 thousand units (1 0 8 .8 % ), T V sets - 1.46 m illion o f production and product qu ality;
units (106.5% ), passenger v e h icle s - 1554 pieces - m achine-building enterprises' cap italizatio n
(104% ), freight v e h icle s - 7 8 9 9 units. growth.
T h e developm ent o f cooperation, interaction
and co llaboration in the m achine-building industry
ELECTRIC TRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT IN BELARUS
contrib utes to the im provem ent o f the investm ent
In A p ril 2021, the G overnm ent o f Belarus clim ate, increase in the export com ponent o f
approved a com prehensive program for the m achine-building
developm ent o f e le c tric transport for 2021-2025. enterprises.
T h e program is aimed at creating a new area of
eco nom ic growth through the form ation o f the
m achine-building industry - production o f e le ctric
transport, co ndition s for increasing the num ber of

24 Food
GROWTH POTENTIAL
Industry
Belarus is alm ost e n tire ly self-su fficien t in food: It is projected that the growth p o tential o f the
im ports account for le ss than 2 4 % o f total food ind ustry w ill remain at a high level in the
consum ption, and certain typ es o f agricultural com ing years, w hich o ffers good o ppo rtu n ities for
products represent export potential. Belarusian d o m estic and foreign investors.
products are w e ll known abroad. Belarus has FEEDSTOCK
becom e one o f the leading food expo rters over the
last years. T h e food ind ustry plays a leading role in the
Per capita agricultural production in the country structu re o f the in d ustrial production in Belarus.
corresponds to the le vel o f developed countries A lo n g w ith m etallurgic and fu el co m p lexes, the
and in many p o sitio ns (production o f potatoes, food ind ustry is a leader in the production of
sugar beet, meat and m ilk) exceed s the indicators ind ustrial goods.
achieved in the C IS countries.
19

Belarus has a high potential for the food Exp o rt ratio o f food products and agricultural
industry developm ent due to the feedstock feedsto ck in the total expo rt vo lum e o f the
availab ility and abundance o f ag ricultural products, R epublic o f Belarus am ounted to about 17%.
as w e ll as labour and land resources in the Belarusian food was supplied to 109 countries,
countryside. the Eurasian Econo m ic and European U nion, A sia,
Belarusian agricultural production ensures national A frica , the M iddle East, South A m erica and North
food security. A m erica.
Food secu rity is considered as one o f the main
indicators o f so cial and eco nom ic developm ent of Su p p lies have grown to alm ost all regions.
any region. E xp o rts to the C IS co u ntries (including Russia)
A cco rd ing to the G lo b a l Food S ecu rity Index have grown by 13%, to the European Union - by
(2021), Belarus ranks 36th out o f 113 countries. 4 3 .7 % , to A sia and O ceania - by 47.1%, to A m erica
and the Caribbean - by 42.1% . Exp o rt supplies to
certain A frica n co u ntries have grow n: Ghana, Egypt,
the D em o cratic Republic o f the Congo, Cote
G lo b a l Food S ecu rity Index
2021 d 'Ivo ire, Libya, M auritania, M ali, and Equatorial
Country Ranking G uinea.
Ireland 1
Germany 11 In general, supplies to far-abroad co un tries have
Poland 22 increased by 45.1% compared to 2020.
Russia 23
Belarus accounts for 6 % o f world trade in dairy
Belarus 36
Ukraine 58 products. A t the sam e tim e, the E A E U countries
account for 9.1% o f the world m ilk production.
Belarus' share in m utual trade o f dairy products
in the E A E U is about 85 % .
Belarus ranks 26th in the world by the Food
Q u a lity and Safety Su b-In dex: A cco rd ing to the M ilk M arket O bservatory
report in June 2021, Belarus ranks 2nd in the world
in exports o f condensed m ilk, 3rd in expo rts of
butter and w hey powder, 4th in exports o f cheese,
Country Ranking
5th in expo rts o f skim m ed m ilk powder.
Canada 1
Finland 4
Russia 23 T h e food ind ustry in Belarus is attractive to
Belarus 31 foreign investors. P ro jects for the production of
Poland 40 im port-substituting licenced products in the
Ukraine 55 brewing and co n fectio n ery industry, a number
o f jo in t v en tu res have proved to be successful.

A cco rd ing to the M in istry o f A g ricu ltu re and

Food o f the R epublic o f Belarus in 2021, export value
o f food products and ag ricultural feedstock
increased by 17.3% and reached U S D 6.7 bln by
2020. T h e re su lt is an increase o f about U S D 1 bln
during the year. Positive balance o f trade amounted
to U S D 2.2 bln and increased by U S D 700 bln or
4 4 % by 2020.
20

2.5 IT Sector
Inform ation and com m unication technologies A ccording to Balance o f Paym ents, the share of
cast the role o f an essen tia l developm ent to ol for teleco m m u nicatio n, com puter and inform ation
the high-tech secto r o f the econom y, providing services exports in 2021 am ounted to 31.4% o f total
co ndition s for the transition to the digital econom y, services exports and increased by 1.3% compared
im proving the in stitu tio n al and creating a favorable to 2020 .
business environm ent. T h e share o f the gross
added valu e o f the IC T secto r in the G D P has C om puter services are the fastest-grow ing type
increased in 2021 and reached 7.1% ( 6 . 6% in 2020). o f service: in 2021 , th e ir export value reached
Further increase in the num ber o f residen ts o f the U S D 3.2 bln (com pared to U S D 160 mln in 2009).
Hi-Tech Park (H T P ) played the pivotal role in the T h e reasons for the rapid developm ent o f exports
added valu e growth. o f com puter services are the growth o f external
demand, extended infrastru cture, solid engineering
H T P provides its residents w ith m inim um taxes, and techn ical background o f the human resources,
instrum ents o f so -called "English law ", p o ssib ility as w e ll as significant tax benefits w ithin the HTP.
o f free floating o f capital, transparent regulation of T h e D ecree No. 8 On the D evelopm ent o f the
blockchain and cryp to cu rre n cie s and many other D igital Econom y (com m enced on M arch 28 , 2018),
preferences. w hich im proved and extended the sp ecial H T P
regime u n til 2 0 4 9, w h ile retaining the
H T P residents can engage in 37 typ es of e x tra te rrito riality p rin cip le, became a pow erful
activ itie s: from cutting-edge artificial intellig ence incentive for the developm ent o f the IT secto r in
so lu tio n s to high-end softw are developm ent, Belarus.
engineering so lu tio n s, games and m obile apps, IT in
healthcare, agriculture, fintech, banking softw are, T h e Park's share in Belarus' G D P reached 4 .8 %
laser technology, optics. at the end o f 2021 , its valu e in the form ation o f the
G D P rate am ounted to 0.6 percentage points (out
319 new com panies jo in e d the Park in 2019, with o f 2.3% ). T h u s, H T P provided more than a quarter
a furth er 417 in 2020-2021. In ju s t 5 years since the o f Belarus' econom ic growth in 2021.
adoption o f the D igital D ecree, the num ber o f Park
residents increased 5 tim es, rising from 192 to Tax paym ents to the budget for 2021 increased
1,065. by 7 6 % and totalled U S D 290 m ln. O ver the past
year, about 8 thousand new jo b s w ere created in
H TP. By the end o f 2021, more than 78 thousand
professionals are already em ployed at the Park. In
addition, 112 developm ent centers o f international
com panies are cu rre n tly concentrated in HTP.

GROWTH OF NEW COMPANIES AND START-UPS

1,065 RESIDENTS OF HTP

319
237
268 18 0

20 33
14 !3 !3
13 12 15 19-
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
21

H T P prom otes the developm ent o f regions. Belarus is one o f the leading IT com petence
T h a n ks to the Park's legal regime, w h ich is valid centers in the C IS and Eastern Europe thanks to
throughout Belarus, a resident can be registered and the estab lish m en t o f the High-Tech Park. T h is is
operate anyw here in the country. largely due to the high le vel o f IT education.
IT secto r exp erts note that training of
M ore than 3 5 % o f the Park's residents are co m m ercially su cce ssfu l IT sp e cialists requires
com panies w ith foreign capital. Foreign direct high budgets and greater fle x ib ility in educational
investm ent in 2021 am ounted to U S D 529.5 mln. processes. T h is is facilitated by the active
T h u s, a significant growth was achieved and the interaction o f u n iversities and H T P residents.
basis for accelerated developm ent o f the product More than 90 jo in t research and production
model o f the IT-b u siness was established. laboratories on the basis o f higher education
in stitu tio n s are created and supported by the Park
H T P Belarus is one o f the largest clu sters in C entral com panies. In addition, the residents have
and Eastern Europe for com panies interested in IT developed and run sp ecialized educational
business developm ent. T h e uniqueness o f H T P is in courses in the relevant u n iversity departm ents.
the su cce ssfu l com bination o f high-quality A t the sam e tim e, more than 4 0 branches o f
techn ical education and high le vel of un iversity departm ents have been opened d irectly
professionalism o f IT -sp e cia lists on the one side on the prem ises o f H T P residents and the territory
and governm ental support o f the IT-in d u stry on the o f the Hi-Tech Park.
other. C onsum ers o f Belarusian softw are created by
H T P residents are the w ell-kn o w n global H T P prom otes the developm ent o f regions. H T P
corporations, such as M icro so ft, HP, C oca-C ola, residents active ly invest in the education system
C o lgate-Palm o live, G oo gle, Toyota, C itib an k, M TV, and the q u ality o f graduates' training. In particular,
Exped ia, Reuters, Samsung, H T C , M itsub ishi, British funds are allocated for the creation and
Petroleum , British Teleco m , the London stock strengthening o f the m aterial and techn ical base
exchange, the W orld Bank and others. H T P resident o f u n iversities, s ch o o ls, lyceum s, techn ical
com panies are included in the list o f the largest sch o o ls, organisation and holding o f sem inars,
softw are develo pers and su p p liers "Softw are 500", training for teachers and students, support and
published by Softw are M agazine, an influ ential holding o f republican and in ternation al co ntests,
publication o f the g lobal IT industry, and con feren ces, O lym p iad s in physics, m athem atics,
su cce ssfu lly com pete in the high-tech m arkets of com puter scie n ce, and the developm ent of
North A m erica and W estern Europe. innovative entrepreneurship among the young.

Belarus is introducing one o f the most

progressive legal system s in the world in the field of
digital econom y. C u rren tly, legal co n ditio ns have
been established for IC O , as w e ll as for the use of
cryp to cu rre n cy and the introductio n o f smart
co ntracts. Belarus is becom ing the first ju risd ictio n
in the world w ith com prehensive legal regulation of
b usinesses based on blockchain technology.
C o n d itio n s for the developm ent o f IT product
com panies in the co untry are provided.
 One h °P
investors: I
N ational A g e n c y
of Investment and Privatization

г
I
■I
'

.Ш I 1 1

N a tio n a l A g e n c y o f Investm ent and Privatization

a i m s t o a s s is t fo r e ig n i n v e s t o r s t o fin d a n i c h e f o r
d o i n g b u s i n e s s in B e l a r u s . T h e A g e n c y a c t s as
a ' o n e s t o p s h o p ’ fo r fo r e ig n d i r e c t i n v e s t o r s at n o c o s t .
23

з.і Services

(WWW)

“INVESTOR'S ROADMAP" INTERACTIVE PORTAL

CONSULTING AND INFORMATION
(httPS://MaP.INVEStINBELДrUS.bY/)
SERVICES FOR INVESTORS
• Database o f investm ent proposals,
• H andling investor enquiries
co n cessio n s and P PP projects
• Providing inform ation on doing busin ess
• Database o f real estate and land property
con ditio n s and investm ent clim ate in Belarus
• A n a ly tica l m aterials, co m p etitive advantages
• A n a ly sis o f p riority investm ent sectors
o f the regions o f Belarus
• Investm ent proposals
• Public-private partnership (P P P ) projects

SITE SELECTION SUPPORT

• Search for greenfield and brownfield

BUSINESS MISSIONS
pro ject opportunities
• V is it arrangem ents (visa facilitatio n , • Site v is its
accom m odation, lo gistics) • Cooperation w ith lo cal autho rities
• M eetings sch ed ule developm ent (negotiations
w ith lo cal au tho rities, private in stitu tio ns,
potential partners)
• Support and assistan ce at m eetings

□□□□ODD POST-INVESTMENT SERVICES

DDDBDDD
T h e agency provides re-investm ent
© prom otion and enterprise developm ent
support, in clu d in g :
PROJECT MANAGEMENT • A ssistan ce in the sele ctio n o f suitable site,
• D evelo p ing o f a roadmap for project real estate and investm ent projects
im plem entation • Search for business partners
• Search for suppliers, service providers • Arranging negotiations w ith lo cal and
and J V partners state autho rities
• Liaisin g w ith state bodies and ind ustry regulators • A ssistan ce in so lving problem s with
• A ssistan ce in so lving ad m inistrative issues investm ent project im plem entation
• A ssistan ce in dealing w ith issues related • Providing inform ation about investm ent
to P P P projects incentives
• C onsideration o f investors' proposals on
im proving the investm ent clim ate, etc.
 24

32 Public-private partnership
(PPP)
in Belarus
PPP A S A N A L T E R N A T I V E IN S T R U M E N T
O F IN F R A S T R U C T U R E D E V E L O P M E N T

О О P P P is an in stitu tio n al and organisational PPP PROJECT DEVELOPMENT INCLUDES

allian ce o f state and business w ith the aim to THE STAGES AS FOLLOWS:
im plem ent s o cia lly significant pro jects in the
prio rity sectors o f the econom y o f the R epublic o f STAGE 1
Belarus. PREPARATION OF THE PROPOSAL
T h e Public-Private Partnership C en ter (P P P FOR PPP PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION:
C enter) in Belarus was established on A p ril 1, 2014
on the site o f the Research Econo m ic In stitu te o f
P P P project in Belarus can be initiated by public
the M in istry o f Econom y. O n Septem ber 1, 2016 the
au tho rities or private business.
P PP C en ter was moved to the structu re o f the
Public or private initiato r prepares P P P project
A gency in order to increase the C enter's potential
concept and subm its it to the public authorities
and e ffe ctive ne ss o f its interaction w ith state
for th e ir agreem ent w ithin the lim its o f their
auth o rities in attracting investm ents to the
com petence. A fte r that, the concept is brought
R epublic o f Belarus.
to the Interm in isterial Infrastructure C oordinating
P P P C en ter searches for and prom otes PPP
Board (h ereinafter - IIC B ) or the D igital Econom y
pro jects, attracts investors to im plem ent these
D evelopm ent C o u n cil (h ereinafter - D E D C )
pro jects, cooperates w ith key state stakeholders
(for P P P pro jects in IC T sphere).
and internatio nal organisations to develop PPP
In case the concept is approved by the IIC B
market in Belarus.
or D E D C , the initiato r prepares proposal
docum entation, w hich in clud es fe a sib ility study,
PPP DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS IS AIMED AT:
passport o f the p ro ject, draft PPP agreement.
T h e n the proposal docum entation is subm itted
• co nso lid atio n o f m aterial, financial, in telle ctu al,
to the public auth o rities for th eir agreem ent w ithin
scie n tific, tech n ical and other resources;
the lim its o f th e ir com petence. A fte r that the
• ensuring the balance o f in terests and risks o f both
A gency form s com prehensive co n clu sion about
public and private parties;
the proposal. In case o f po sitive co n clu sio n , public
• raising extra-budgetary funds to im plem ent
in itiato r or concerned public body (for private
investm ent p ro jects, plans and in itiatives to
in itiative) prepares a package o f docum ents and
develop in frastru ctural facilities.
subm its it to the M onetary and C red it Com m ission
(hereinafter - M C C ) o r lo cal execu tive com m ittee,
depending on the le vel o f P P P project and amount
o f budget obligation, for th e ir consideration.
25

STAGE 2 PPP LEGISLATION IN BELARUS

ADOPTION OF LEGAL ACT TOAUTHORISE PPP PROJECT
IMPLEMENTATION: Im plem entation o f P P P p rojects in Belarus is
carried out in accordance w ith the fo llow ing legal
S u b ject to the approval by the M C C or local a c ts :
exe cu tive com m ittee, public initiato r or concerned
p ublic body prepares in a prescribed m anner a draft • Law o f the Republic o f Belarus No. 345-3 as of
legal act on P P P project im plem entation. T h e final D ecem ber 30, 2015 On Public Private Partnership;
decisio n about P P P project im plem entation is • R esolution o f the C o u n cil o f M inisters o f the
made by the Presiden t, C o u n cil o f M in isters or Republic o f Belarus No. 532 as o f Ju ly 6 , 2016
lo cal C o u n cil o f D epu ties, depending on the public O n M easures for the Im plem entation o f the Law
partner subordination. T h e decision is executed o f the Republic o f B elarus as o f D ecem ber 30,
in the form o f a legal act. 2015 On Public Private Partnership;
• D ecree o f the M in istry o f Econom y o f the
STAGE 3 Republic o f Belarus No. 4 9 as o f Ju ly 27, 2016
TENDER TO CHOOSE A PRIVATE PARTNER: O n M easures for the Im plem entation o f the Law
o f the Republic o f B elarus as o f D ecem ber 30, 2015
Public partner designs tender docum entation, O n Public Private Partnership.
creates tender com m ission and organizes the
tender to choose a private partner. Tender
com m ission determ ines the w inner. F O R M O R E IN F O R M A T IO N O N P PP IN
B E L A R U S , P L E A S E , V IS IT O U R D E D IC A T E D
STAGE 4 W EBPA G E
CONCLUSION AND EXECUTION OF THE PPP AGREEMENT http s://investinbelarus.b y/public-private-partnersh
ips/
P PP agreem ent is concluded for the period of
the P P P project im plem entation betw een public O R S E N D U S Y O U R R E Q U E S T V IA E M A IL
and private partners w ithin tw elve m onths from the m ail@ in vestin b elarus.b y
day the w in n er o f the tender is determ ined.
 26

з.3 Investor's guide:

step-by-step algorithms
CONCLUDING OF AN INVESTMENT AGREEMENT WITH BELARUS

D oes the investor need a

Yes No
land plot to im plem ent the
investm ent project?

1 .Se lectin g a land plot from the list o f p lots intended for subsequent
provision to investors and (or) organizations for the con stru ctio n of
fa c ilitie s stipulated by investm ent agreem ents w ith the Republic of
Belarus
T
T
1 . A p p licatio n for an investm ent agreem ent
2 . Draft investm ent contract and its e le c tro n ic copy
3 . For legal e n titie s: a copy o f the investor's ce rtificate o f state registration (for
re sid e n tso f the R epublic o f Belarus), anextract from the com m ercial register o f the
2 . Preparation o f a package o f
investo r's co u ntry o f incorporation, or other eq uivalent proof o f the legal status
docum ents for co ncluding an
investm ent agreem ent w ith the o f the investo r (for non-resid ents o f the Republic o f Belarus)
R epublic o f Belarus* 4 . For in d ivid uals: an attested copy o f the id en tity docum ent o f the investor
5 . C o p ies o f docum ents confirm ing the investo r's inten tion s to co nclude an

No
T
Does the in vesto r intentd to
Yes
investm ent agreem ent, as w e ll as docum ents confirm ing the au tho rity o f the
person who signed the draft investm ent agreement
6 . C o pies o f co n stitu en t docum ents o f the investor
apply for ad ditio nal benefits?
7.C o pies o f the audit report (fo rresid ents o f th eR ep u b lic o f Belarus), or the report
o f fin an cial Due D iligen ce, or the audit report according to the international
2 .1 .Preparation o f an additional standard IS O 700 w ith translation intoBelarusian or Russian (for n on-resid ents of
package o f docum ents** the Republic o f Belarus) - for 2 years preceding the date o f registration o f the
application for concluding an investm ent agreem ent, and for the investor, w hich
was created less than 2 years before - for the w h o le period o f activity, bank
statem ent on the balance o f funds in the bank account, letters from banks or
o th er d ocum ents confirm ing lenders intention to provide funds for the
3 . Subm ission o f the docum ents to a im plem entation o f the investm ent project
governm ental body 8. Fin an cial fe a sib ility study o f the investm ent project

9. investm ent project business plan

4 . C onsideration o f the docum ents 10 . the initiato r's annual fin an cial statem ents for 2 years preceding the
by the state body, re co nciliatio n o f planned year for the start o f the investm ent project (for the initiato rs created less
the docum ents by the state body than 2 years prior to the planned year for the start o f the investm ent p roject - for the
w ith parties involved w ho le period o f a c tivity), as w e ll as fin an cial statem ents for the current period (as for
the first day o f the month preceding the month o f subm ission o f the package of
docum ents)
11 .docum ents confirm ing the re lia b ility o f investm ent expen ditures for the
5 . If the decision is po sitive: equipm ent being purchased, including co n tracts, if any, for its supply
12 . docum ents confirm ing the calcu latio n or estim ation o f co n structio n costs,
signing of the investm ent
including the co nclusion (if any) o f the state exam ination o f p roject docum entation
agreem ent and its registration in the
13 . loan agreem ent or its project or other docum ents (co n clu sio n s) o f creditors
State Register of Investm ent
(len ders), foreign cred ito rs, confirm ing the in tention s and co nd itio n s o f rendering
A greem ents cred its (loans) for the im plem entation o f the investm ent project
14 .co n stitu ent docum ents o f the initiato r
15 . other d ocum ents as statu to rily require
 CONCLUDING OF AN INVESTMENT AGREEMENT WITH THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS (CONTINUED]

* for details of the requirements for the list, translation, legalization of the documents - see paragraph 4 of the Regulation on the procedure for concluding,
amending and terminating investment agreements between an investor (investors) and the Republic of Belarus, approved by Resolution of the Council of
Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated July 19, 2016 N 563
** Chapter 3 of the Regulation on the procedure for concluding, amending and terminating investment agreements between an investor (investors) and the
Republic of Belarus, approved by Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated July 19, 2016 N 563; clause 16 of the Regulation on
the organization of the development, approval and consideration of business plans for investment projects, as well as the examination of investment projects,
approved by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated May 26, 2014 No. 506

BENEFITING FROM PREFERENTIAL REGIMES OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS: REGISTRATION AS A RESIDENT OF

A FREE ECONOMIC ZONE (FEZ), BELARUS HI-TECH PARK, OR THE GREAT STONE INDUSTRIAL PARK
 28

THE PROCEDURE FOR CREatING Д LEGaL ENTITY

Investor T h e N a tio n a l A g e n c y o f In vestm en t and Privatization

The step is optional, but allows to simplify and speed up obtaining information about further procedures
 BELARUSIAN ECONOMY 5 -1 FDI ON NET BASIS.....................................................................3 6
OVERVIEW ..........................
5 2 EURASIAN INTEGRATION........................................................3 7
4.1 CONSUMER PRICE IN D E X ..................................................... 3 2
5 3 BELARUS AND CHINA:
4.2 INTERNATIONAL T R A D E ....................................................... 3 3 TOWARDS THE NEW LEVEL
5 INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION OF COOPERATION................................................................... 4 0
AND FOREIGN CAPITAL
IN BELARUS................................................................................3 5
30

4. Belarusian econom y
overview
REAL GDP
PREAL GDP GROWTH,1)
5
3.1
2.4 1.4 2.3
2016 2017 2018 2019 20 20 | 2021 |
о
- 2.6 -0 7 1

NOMINAL GDP
HISTORY OF NOMINAL GDP, USD BLN
68.2
::::6 4 .4
60.0

.4
6
1
545
47.4

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Source: National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

In 2021, Belarus' G D P am ounted to U S D 68.2 T h e situation in the m onetary sphere in 2021 was
bln, in com parison w ith 2 0 2 0, Belarus' G D P in formed in the co n text o f the need to m aintain and
com parable prices grew by 2.3% . increase the savings ac tiv ity o f the population and
In the G D P stru ctu re, the largest shares are eco nom ic e n titie s in order to replenish the
non ind ustry - 27.1%, services - 2 8 .3 % , trade - 8.7% , resource base o f banks and sub seq u en tly meet
non
non inform ation and com m unication - 7.4% , agriculture, the needs o f the econom y in resources. A t the
fo restry and fisheries - 6 . 8 %. sam e tim e, the average interest rate on new tim e
Such eco nom ic a ctiv itie s as m ining (+ 2 .8 % ), bank d epo sits o f ind ividuals in national currency
m anufacturing (+ 5.9% ), energy supply (+12.6%), in D ecem ber 2021 am ounted to 14.92 percent per
w ater su pply and w aste treatm ent (+2.7% ) showed annum (in D ecem ber 2 020 - 17.48 percent per
positive dynam ics in 2021 . annum ), the average in terest rate on new tim e bank
G rodno region show s the highest growth in gross d epo sits in the national curre n cy o f legal e n titie s -
regional product in 2021 (+ 4 .8 % com pared to 5.1 percent per annum (in D ecem ber 2020 - 12.37
2020 ). percent per annum). T h e le vel o f average loan
interest rates has not changed significantly.
T h u s, support w as provided to non-financial
secto r e n tities. T h e se m easures have slow ed down
the outflow o f savings from the banking system .
 31

DYNAMICS OF INTEREST RATES ON NEWLY PROVIDED CREDITS FOR LEGAL ENTITIES, % PER ANNUM

Fo r a term up to 1 y e a r
F o r a term m ore than 1 y e a r

253
: : 122.9 13 5
12.3 1 1 .3
10.6 12 1 1.0
. . . 10.5 10 5

8.9 6.8 94 87 662

72 58 5° 48 4 1 44 4.1
2 0 16 2 0 17 2 0 18 2 0 19 20 20 2021 2 0 15 2 0 16 2 0 1 7 2 0 18 2 0 19 20 20
| _ _ | in national | _ _ | in foreign
currency currency Source: National Bank of the Republic of Belarus

FOREIGN TR A D E:

m a te ria ls, and re g ard less o f th e e x te rn a l e co n o m ic

In 2021, B e la ru s in crease d e x p o rts o f goods
sh o c k s in re ce n t y e a rs, B e la ru s has retain ed its
and s e rv ic e s by 3 2 .5 % to U S D 49.261 bln
in d u s tria l p o te n tia l. T h e d e v e lo p m e n t o f in d u stry
com p ared to the sam e period in 20 20 .
d e te rm in e s to a sig n ifican t e x te n t the m ajor
T h e R e p u b lic o f B e la ru s is an e x p o rt-o rie n te d
e c o n o m ic tre n d s in th e co u n try . In 2021, e x p o rts
sta te w ith the d e velo p e d s e rv ic e s s e c to r and
o f go ods o f th e M in is try o f In d u stry am ounted to
a g ricu ltu re . T h e key s e c to rs o f th e eco n o m y
about U S D 5.3 bln, grow th rate - 135.5% .
are in d u stry , a g ricu ltu re , c o n s tru c tio n , trad e,
T h e b alance o f foreign trad e in go ods is p o sitiv e -
tra n sp o rt, in fo rm a tio n and co m m u n icatio n .
U S D 2 .4 bln.
D e sp ite th e la ck o f d o m e stic fu e l and energy
re so u rce s, as w e ll as o f the e s s e n tia l raw

DYNAMICS OF AVERAGE INTEREST RATES, PERCENT PER ANNUM

%

12

— Rate of the overnight interbank credit market

— Rate on new time deposits in national currency
— Rate on new time bank deposits in national currency (excluding interbank credits)
Source: National Bank of the Republic of Belarus
 32

41 Consumer price
index
In 2021 Q 4 , the in te n s ity o f in flatio n
co n tin u e d to slo w dow n. T h e an n ual co n su m er
p rice gro w th am ounted to 9 .9 7 % in D ecem b er
2021. T h e an n ual co re in fla tio n am ounted to DYNaMICS OF INDUSTRIaL PRODUCERS
9 .8 % in D e ce m b e r 2021 (9 .9 % in S ep te m b er % PRICES IN aNNUaL TERMS
2021). In term s o f c o n su m e r m arket segm en ts, 20
th e re w e re no sig n ifican t chan g es in the strength
o f th e im p act on the o v e ra ll fre e p rice grow th
com p ared to th e p re vio u s q u arter:
th e g re ate st c o n trib u tio n w as s t ill pro vid ed by
th e rise in p rice s fo r food pro d ucts.

T h e slo w d o w n in an n u al in fla tio n re la tiv e to

th e p re vio u s q u a rter w as due to the
co rre sp o n d in g trend in fla tio n d yn am ics,
re fle c tin g the p rice d yn am ics cleared of 3 6 9 12 3 6 9 12 3 6 9 12
sh o rt-te rm sh o c k s, as w e ll as the le ss in te n siv e 2019 2020 2021
in c re a se in regulated p ric e s and tariffs.
E co n o m ic a c tiv ity co n tin u e d to have a n eu tral — Growth in prices of industrial and technical goods producers
— Growth in prices of consumer goods producers
im p act on in fla tio n . M o n e tary p o lic y lim ite d the
— Growth in prices of industrial goods producers
in te n s ity o f in fla tio n — Consumer price growth

Источник: Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь,

T h e an n u al rate o f in cre ase in regulated p rices расчеты Национального банка
and ta riffs in D e ce m b e r 2021 d ecreased
com p ared to th e p re vio u s q u a rter and am ounted
to 9 % (1 0 .4% in S e p te m b e r 2021). P rice
d e ce le ra tio n is la rg e ly a ttrib u ta b le to the
co rre sp o n d in g d yn am ics o f t a riffs for DYNaMICS OF aGRICULTURaL PRODUCERS
te le c o m m u n ic a tio n s s e rv ic e s , as w e ll as PRICES IN aNNUaL TERMS
p assen g er tran sp o rt.

T h e average broad m o ney su p p ly in annual

term s in D e ce m b e r 2021 in crease d by 6 . 6 % ,
alm o st reachin g th e lo w e r lim it o f th e target o f
7 - 10% . Su ch d yn am ics o f the m oney su p p ly had
a re stra in in g e ffe c t on the in te n s ity o f in flatio n
in the co u n try.

2019 2020 2021

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX — Growth in prices of livestock producers
120
— Growth in prices of crop producers
104.6 105.6 10/,7 1° 7-4 109 9 — Growth in consumer prices for food products
100
2 0 17 2 0 18 2 0 19 20 20 2 0 21 Source: National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus,
National Bank estimates based on the National Statistical Committee data
Source: National Bank of the Republic of Belarus
33

4.2 International trade

COMMODITY STRUCTURE OF EXPORTS OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS
IN2019-2020, INPERCENT OF TOTAL
$ 32.6 billion $ 29.0 billion
Source: National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus
1 6 .4 % Products of chem ical and related industries
1 9 .8 %
2 1.2 %

13.4 % M ineral products

2 6 .5 %
Transport veh icles M achinery and equipment
1 9 .2 %
1 2 .9 %

1 0 .2 % 19.7% Food goods and agricultural raw materials

2 .3 % N o n-p recio u s metals

7 .6 %
3.3% 6 .4 % W ood and paper products
3 .0 % Tex tile s and textile products
7 .2 % Raw skins, fur and fur products
10 .9 %

im ports exports

In 2021, the balance of foreign trade in goods and In 2021, the balance of foreign trade in services was
services was positive and amounted to USD 3.8 bln (5.5% positive and amounted to USD 4.6 bln (6.7% of GDP).
of GDP). The increase in surplus of trade in goods and In 2021, exports of services amounted to USD 10.2 bln
services was due to outperforming growth rate of exports (15.0% of GDP). The increase in exports of services by
(by 32.5%) compared with the growth rate of imports 16.4% is primarily caused by the growth of exports of
(by 28.9%). transport services (by 18.7%) and telecommunications,
Exports of goods and services amounted to computer and information services (by 19.2%), while
USD 49.3 bln (72.1% of GDP), imports of goods and exports of construction services decreased (by 8.8%).
services - USD 45.5 bln ( 66.6% of GDP). The foreign Transport, telecommunication, computer and
trade turnover of goods and services increased 1.3 times information services provided 74.2% of the value of
up to USD 94.7 bln. exports of services. The share of exports of construction
The balance of foreign trade in goods with the member services in the total exports of services decreased to
states of the Eurasian Economic Union (hereinafter, 5.3%, travel - to 3.5%.
EAEU) was negative and amounted to USD 6.6 bln and Residents of the EU countries were the major
USD 7.4 bln with the Russian Federation. consumers of Belarusian services, which accounted for
In 2020, a significant share in the commodity structure 38.4% of the total exports of services (including Poland -
of exports was taken by chemical products (19.8% of the 8.7% and Germany - 8.5%). Exports of services to the
total volume of exports of goods), food products and EA EU member states amounted to 19.6% of exports of all
agricultural raw materials (19.7%), machinery, equipment services rendered (including to the Russian Federation -
and transport vehicles (19.2%), mineral products (13.4%). 18.2% of exports of services). Residents of the United
States provided 14.8% of the total exports of services.
34

STRUCTURE OF EXPORTS AND IMPORTS OF SERVICES OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS IN 2021

expo rts 4 2 .7 % 31 .4 % 5 .3 % 3 .5 % 17 .0 %

im ports 44 .6 % 13 .8 % 9 .3 % 8 .7 % 23 .7 %

H Transport services Telecommunications, computer and information services

■ Construction Other services
□ Travels

In 2021, imports of goods amounted to USD 39.8 bln Imports of services amounted to USD 5.7 bln (8.3% of
(58.3% of GDP) and increased by USD 9.4 bln, or 31.0%, GDP) and increased by 15.8% mainly due to the growth
mainly due to trade with the Russian Federation (growth of imports of transportation services (by 37.5%), travel
by USD 7.2 bln). services (by 17.9%), telecommunication, computer and
information services (by 14.4%). Imports of construction
The increase of imports value occurred alongside an services decreased by 18.5%. Transport services
increase of both average import prices (by 21.3%) and the accounted for the largest share of imports of services
physical volume of imports (by 5.2%). (44.6%), increasing by 7.0 percentage points as compared
to 2020. The share of imports of construction services
The commodity structure of imports was dominated by decreased by 5.8 percentage points to 13.8%. The share
machinery and equipment (26.5%), mineral products of imports of services related to the travel of Belarusian
(21.2%), chemical products (16.4%) and food and citizens abroad amounted to 9.3%, telecommunications,
agricultural raw materials (12.9%). computer and information services - 8.7%.

Residents of the Russian Federation provided 27.0%

of the total volume of services provided to the residents
of the Republic of Belarus, residents of Lithuania - 8.8%,
China - 6.0%, Poland - 5.3%, Cyprus - 3.9%, and
Switzerland - 3.8%.

STRUCTURE OF EXPORTS AND IMPORTS BY CONSOLIDATED COMMODITY GROUPS IN 2021 (IN PERCENT OF TOTAL)

3 .1 %

I Intermediate
■ Consumer
■ Investment
H Not allocated to commodity groups
35

5. International cooperation
and foreign capital
in Belarus
T h e R epublic o f Belarus pursues a m ulti-vector T h e European Union is the second largest
foreign eco nom ic p o licy and active ly participates trading partner, accounting for a fifth o f its foreign
in international integration processes. Belarus is trade. Key im porters o f B elarusian products to the
an export-o riented country w ith w ell-d evelo ped E U : G erm any, Poland, the N eth erland s, Lithuania,
ind ustry and agriculture, 6 5 % o f its production Italy, Latvia, France, Belgium , the C zech Republic,
is exported. Sweden and Spain. In 2021, it w as possible to
increase the su pply o f Belarusian products to 21 EU
In 2021, Belarusian products w ere exported countries. Belarusian m anufacturers are gradually
to the m arkets o f 174 co untries. T h e increase in expanding th e ir presence in the m arkets o f A sia,
expo rts o f goods is registered in all regions A frica , A m erica, and O ceania. Together w ith E A E U
o f the w orld. Russia is the m ajor trading partner partners, w ork is being done to expand access to
o f Belarus, its share in 2021 accounted for 4 9 % the m arkets o f "far arc" cou n tries through the
o f the valu e o f foreign trade in goods, 41% o f conclusion o f free trade agreem ents.
exports, 5 7% o f im ports.
Belarus prom otes cooperation w ith its partners
in integration allian ces and organisations o f the
Post-Soviet states: the C om m onw ealth of
Independent S tates (C IS ), the Eurasian Econom ic
U nion and the C o lle ctiv e S ecu rity Treaty
O rganisation (C S T O ).
 36

5 1 FDI on net basis

In 2 0 2 1 , f o r e i g n i n v e s t o r s i n v e s t e d U S D 8 . 7 b l n in t h e r e a l s e c t o r
o f the e c o n o m y o f Belarus, including U S D 6.6 bln o f foreign direct
investm ent (FDI).

In 2021, FD I adm ission on a net basis (excluding T h e Russian Federation rem ained a m ajor direct
debt to d irect investors for goods, w ork and investo r in the Belarusian econom y, w ith residents
services) to the Belarusian econom y am ounted to providing (on a net basis) U S D 0 .4 bln, or 3 5.4%
U S D 1.2 bln. o f the total net inflo w o f d irect investm ent from
abroad in 2021 .
A s o f January 1, 2022 there are 6,231 registered
com panies w ith foreign capital in Belarus. Significant d irect investm ents on a net basis
were also made by the residents o f C yprus, the
A significant am ount o f foreign direct U nited A rab Em irates, A u stria and Germ any.
investm ent in 2021 cam e from the Russian T h e largest am ounts o f foreign d irect investm ent
Federation (35% ). are directed to m anufacturing, financial and
insurance activ itie s, inform ation and
com m unications.

T O P -1 0 D O N O R - C O U N T R IE S
O F FD I IN B E L A R U S

Russia 27 . 8 %
C yprus 19 . 0 %
A u stria 4 .8 %
UAE 4 .5 %
G erm any 3 .6 %
Lithuania 2 .9 %
S w itzerlan d 2 .4 %
N etherland s 2 .0 %
Poland 1 .8 %
U SA 12.5,1%
Источник: Национальный статистический
комитет Республики Беларусь

Poland
1 .8 % / T h e stru cture o f accum ulated foreign
2 .0 % in vestm en ts is as fo llo w s: Russia occu p ies the 1st
N etherland s
2 .4 % place (27.8% ), Cyprus - the 2nd (19% ), A ustria
S w itzerlan d > ^ . 9 % is at the 3rd place (4 .8 % ), U A E at the 4th (4.5% )
and G erm any at the 5th place (3.6% ).
Lithuania A s o f D ecem ber 31, 2021, due to the ongoing
G erm any p o licy on attracting investm ents, 2,203 investm ent
agreem ents w ith investm ent vo lum e o f U S D 42.75
bln w ere registered at the State Register of
Investm ent A greem ents w ith the Republic
o f B elarus. A total o f 29 investm ent agreem ents
w ere registered in 2021 , w ith a total valu e o f
U S D 4,188.22 mln.
37

5 -2 Eurasian
integration
T h e E u r a s i a n E c o n o m i c U n i o n ( E A E U ) is a n i n t e r n a t i o n a l o r g a n i s a t i o n
o f re g io n a l e c o n o m ic in te g r a tio n w i t h i n t e r n a t i o n a l le g a l p e r s o n a lity .
F r e e d o m o f m o v e m e n t o f g o o d s , s e r v i c e s , c a p i t a l a n d l a b o u r , as w e l l as
c o o r d i n a t e d , c o h e r e n t a n d c o m m o n p o l i c y in t h e k e y s e c t o r s o f e c o n o m y
a re p r o v id e d w i t h i n t h e U n i o n .

T h e Eurasian Eco n o m ic Union (E A E U ) is an A n A greem ent on T rad e and Econom ic

in ternation al organisation o f regional eco nom ic C ooperation betw een the E A E U m em ber states, on
integration w ith intern atio n al legal personality. the one hand, and the Peop le's R ep u b lic o f China,
Freed om o f m ovem ent o f goods, se rv ice s, capital and on the other, as w e ll as the Interim A greem ent to
labour, as w e ll as co ordinated, co herent and comm on establish a free trade zone betw een the E A E U
p o licy in the key s e cto rs o f econom y are provided mem ber states, on the one hand, and the Islam ic
w ithin the Union. R ep ub lic o f Iran, on the other, w ere signed in 2018.
T h e A greem ent on the Eurasian Eco no m ic Union T h e p o ssib ilitie s o f launching free trade
was signed by the p residents o f the R ep ub lic of agreem ents w ith Singapore, Israel, India, Egypt, and
Belarus, the R ep u b lic o f Kazakhstan and the Russian o f unifying the trade regime w ith Serbia are being
Federation on May 29, 2014 in A stana. T h is negotiated. In general, more than 50 countries
A greem ent cam e into force on January 1, 2015. On dem onstrate in terest in cooperation w ith the
January 1, 2018, the T re a ty on E A E U C u sto m s Code E A E U in differe n t formats.
came into force. T h e E A E U m em ber states have a great potential
T h e Union m em bership is open to any state, in the leading se cto rs o f the econom y. T h e E A E U
w hich shares the goals and p rin cip les o f the E A E U , ranks first in the w orld in o il and natural gas
on the term s agreed by M em ber States. Furtherm ore, production, second in the production o f mineral
any interested State is provided w ith the po ssib ility fe rtiliz e rs and the length o f railw ays, third in the
to get an observer status w ithin the Union. production o f w heat and potatoes, iron production,
O n O cto b e r 10, 2014, the T re a ty on accessio n of fourth in the production o f e le c tric ity and meat,
the R ep u b lic o f A rm enia to the A greem ent on the and fifth in the to tal length o f roads and steel
E A E U (dated M ay 29, 2014) was signed during the production.
m eeting o f the Suprem e Eurasian Eco no m ic C o u n cil
(S E A E C ) in M insk. T h e T re a ty came into force on
EAEU MAIN ECONOMIC INDICATORS
January 2, 2015.
(AS A PERCENTAGE OF THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD OF THE PREVIOUS YEAR)
O n D ecem ber 23, 2014, during the S E A E C meeting
in M oscow the Heads o f states signed the T re a ty on Gross domestic product
accessio n o f the Kyrgyz R ep u b lic to the Agreem ent
on the E A E U . T h e T re a ty came into force on A ugust
12, 2015.
O n May 14, 2018, at the m eeting o f the S E A E C in
Sochi the status o f an observer state in the E A E U
was granted to the R ep u b lic o f M oldova.
T h e Union is em powered to perform w ithin its
com p etence in ternatio n al activ itie s, aimed to solve
the problem s w hich the Union faces.
T h e Free T rad e A greem ent betw een the member
states o f the E A E U and the S o cia list R ep u b lic o f
Vietn am is in e ffe ct sin ce 2016.
38
Foreign trade in goods of the Eurasian Econom ic Union:

In 2021, the total vo lum e o f foreign trade in goods o f the E A E U m em ber states w ith third co un tries am ounted
to U S D 8 4 4 .2 bln, Including exports o f goods - U S D 525.7 bln and im ports - U S D 318.5 bln .

FOREIGN TRaDE OF THE EAEU BY COUNTRIES-MaIN TMDING PaRTNERS

(SHaRE IN THE TOTaL VOLUME OF FOREIGN TRaDE)

C hina, 19.7%
G erm any, 7 . 5 %
N eth erland s, 6.4 %
Italy, 5 . 0 % 28.4 13.8
T u rk e y, 4.6 %
U S A , 4 .5 %
T h e R ep ub lic o f Korea, 3 . 9 %
G reat Britain, 3 .4 %
Poland, 3 .2 %
France, 3 . 0 %
Japan, 2 . 5 %
U kraine, 2 .4 %
India, 1 . 9 %

60.0 80.0
Exports Imports billion US dollars

In 2021, trade tu rno ver o f the R ep ub lic o f Belarus O n e o f the E A E U a ctiv itie s is the developm ent
w ith the E A E U m em ber states am ounted to U S D 41.3 o f a com m on trade, m onetary and tax policy,
bln, including exp o rts o f goods - U S D 17.5 bln, nam ely the maxim um po ssible econom ic
im ports o f goods - U S D 23.9 bln. integration.
T h e share o f the E A E U co un tries accounted for T h e A greem ent on the E A E U provides that the
4 3 .8 % o f the to tal export vo lum e o f the Republic form ation o f the E A E U com m on m arket w ill be
o f Belarus in 2021 (in 2020 - 4 9 .5 % ), o f w hich the im plem ented step by step in som e o f the most
Russian Federation accounted for 41.1% (4 7 .9% sen sitive se cto rs o f econom y. In particular, the
in 2020 ). com m on m arket o f drugs and m edicine devices
Foreign trade in services betw een Belarus and the started operating at the end o f 2016, the common
E A E U m em ber states in 2021 am ounted to U S D 3.6 m arkets o f e le c tric ity , o il and gas w ill com e into
b illio n (exports o f services - U S D 2.01 bln, im ports operation not later than in 2025.
o f services - U S D 1.6 bln). T h e share o f the E A E U T h e Heads o f States have approved the Priority
co un tries accounted for 19.7% o f the to tal export D irectio n s for im plem entation o f the Digital
volu m e o f the R ep u b lic o f Belarus in 2021 (22.7% in Agenda o f the Eurasian Eco n o m ic Union for the
20 2 0), o f w hich the Russian Federation accounted for period t ill 2025.
18.2% .
T h e creation o f the Union allo w s m em ber states to
coordinate th e ir in d ustrial p o licie s so as not to
duplicate production, as w e ll as to organize
production chains and supply com ponents for jo in t
production. O p p o rtu n ities for ind ustrial cooperation
and jo in t investm ent and innovation p rojects have
increased significantly.
39

P A R T I C I P A T I O N O F B E L A R U S IN T H E E A E U O P E N S UP
A D V A N C ED OP PORTU NITI ES FOR FORE IGN INV ES TO RS:

© 1 FREE MOVEMENT OF BOTH DOMESTIC

GOODS AND GOODS FROM THIRD
© EFFECTIVE LOGISTICS PROJECTS WITH
ACCESS TO THE EAEU AND THE EU MARKETS
© IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SINGLE­
WINDOW SYSTEM WITHIN THE
COUNTRIES WITHIN THE COMMON DUE TO THE FAVOURABLE GEOGRAPHICAL FRAMEWORK OF THE UNION WILL
MARKET OF THE UNION; LOCATION OF BELARUS; SIMPLIFY AND SPEED UP PROCEDURES
OF FOREIGN TRADE DUE TO EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE STATE

© 2 ) COMMON CUSTOMS TARIFF AND

NON-TARIFF REGULATION IN TRADE
LEGAL GUARANTEES FOR INVESTORS,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPARATION
AND USE OF INVESTMENT INCOME,
BODIES AND PARTICIPANTS OF FOREIGN
ECONOMIC ACTIVITY.

WITH THIRD COUNTRIES TO PROTECT

AS WELL AS GUARANTEE OF THE RIGHTS
THE INTERESTS OF DOMESTIC PRODUCERS,
IN EXPROPRIATION, PROCEDURES FOR
INCLUDING FOREIGN INVESTMENT
RESOLVING INVESTMENT DISPUTES
ENTERPRISES;
THROUGH ARBITRATION AND NATIONAL
COURT OR THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE
FOR SETTLEMENT OF INVESTMENT DISPUTES;
© RELIEF FROM CUSTOMS DUTY ON THE
IMPORTATION OF MANUFACTURI NG
EQUIPMENT, RAW MATERIALS TO IMPLEMENT
© JOINT MEASURES TO PROMOTE EXPORTS
INVESTMENT PROJECTS (IN CASE SUCH
OF GOODS OF THE MEMBER STATES TO THIRD
RAW MATERIALS ARE NOT PRODUCED
COUNTRIES CONTAIN A NUMBER
IN THE MEMBER STATES);
OF MECHANISMS TO SUPPORT EXPORTERS,
SUCH AS INSURANCE AND EXPORT
CREDITING, INTERNATIONAL LEASING,
@ TARIFF PREFERENCES FOR THE GOODS BRAND PROMOTION OF “THE EAEU PRODUCT”
IMPORTED FROM THIRD COUNTRIES AND A UNIFIED MARKING OF THE EAEU
AS A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STATUTORY PRODUCTS, EXHIBITION AND TRADE FAIR
FUND OF A COMPANY; ACTIVITIES, ADVERTISING AND IMAGE
PROMOTION ACTIVITIES ABROAD;

© FREE ACCESS TO THE LARGE

COMMON MARKET OF GOODS
AND SERVICES OF THE EAEU
FOR FOREIGN INVESTORS WHO
INVEST IN BELARUS;
 40

53 Belarus and China:

towards the new level
of cooperation
T h e high level of B elarusia n -C h in e se p o litical
relations serves as a solid basis for the developm ent
of bilateral trade ties.

T h e stru ctu re o f Belarusian exp o rts to China

China is one o f the most im portant trade and
has a pronounced advantage in the supply o f food
eco nom ic partners o f Belarus. China trad itio n ally
and agricultural products. Belarus is in the top 10
ranks among the top three trade partners of
suppliers to China o f potash fe rtiliz e rs (3rd
Belarus. A t the end o f 2021, the foreign trade
place), w h ey (5th place), meat products (chicken
turnover betw een Belarus and China am ounted to
and beef (9th and 10th places), rapeseed o il (10th
a record U S D 5.9 bln, w ith a growth rate o f 108.7% .
place). A s o f 01.01.2022, 123 Belarusian producers
T h e growth rate o f exports
were accred ited in the P R C , o f w h ich : 63 for dairy
is 109.7% , im ports - 108.3% .
products, 18 for frozen beef, 11 for frozen chicken
Bilatera l trade reached U S D 4 .9 bln, with
meat, 9 for frozen berries, 7 for processed fish
a grow th rate o f 111 . 8 % by 2020 and 111 % by
products, 6 for dairy feed products, 4 for sugar
pre-pandem ic 2019. Exp o rts o f Belarusian goods
beet pulp, 4 for m ink skins and 1 for peat.
to the P R C totalled U S D 868.8 m ln, a growth rate
Bilateral investm ent cooperation is the core of
o f 117.5%. Im ports from China to Belarus amounted
the B elaru sian -C h in ese eco n om ic relations.
to U S D 4.07 bln, a growth rate o f 110.6%. T hu s,
A cco rd in g to the N atio nal S ta tistica l C om m ittee
Belarusian expo rts to China are outstripping
o f Belarus, in 2021 Belarus received investm ents
from China in the am ount o f U S D 104.6 mln,
including d irect in vestm en ts - U S D 73.2 m ln, of
B ELA R U S-C H IN A TR A D E IN GOODS, USD M LN w hich on a net basis (exclu d in g debt to direct
5000 4 5 0 0 .3 4<94a2 in vesto r for goods, work, services) U S D 17.8 mln.
4480.
TURNOVER
4500 In 2021, the share o f China (including Hong Kong
4000 4071.4 and T aiw an) in to tal FD I on a net basis in Belarus
IMPORTS
3500
2830
am ounted to 1.3%.
30 0 0 A s o f the beginning o f 2021, 157 com panies
2500 23735 2 3 7 3 2 2 4 0 1.2 w ith C h in ese investm ents w ere registered in
219 3.9
20 0 0 Belarus: 45 jo in t v en tures and 112 w ith C h inese
150 0 7 4 9 .3 7 4 9 .3
capital. For com parison, by the beginning o f 2019,
10 0 0 7 8 1.0 67З.З 126 com panies w ith C h in ese in vestm en ts were
636.6 432.6 460 7
500
EXPO RTS registered in Belaru s: 37 jo in t ven tu res and 89
20 11 2 0 12 20 13 2 0 14 20 15 2 0 16 20 17 2 0 18 2019 2020 20 21 w ith C h in ese capital.

T h e main a rticle s o f B elarusian expo rts o f goods

to China are potash fe rtiliz e rs, frozen beef, sawn
tim ber, meat and ed ible o ffal o f poultry, condensed
and dry m ilk and cream , wood pulp, sodium or
su lfate, w hey, sugar, rapeseed o il, e lectro n ic
integrated circu its.

&
41

A developed co n tractu al legal fram ew ork for - new material

cooperation has been established between the - logistics
Rep u b lic o f Belarus and the P eo p le's R ep u b lic of - ph arm aceuticals, etc
China. M ore than 8 0 co n tracts have been signed. T h e Park has th re e -le ve l management structure:
T h e most im portant are the jo in t declaration of • Intergovernm ental C oordination C o u n cil (the
Belarus and China on the establish m en t o f superior body, exe rcisin g strategic managem ent and
tru stw o rthy all-round strategic partnership and so lving the issues that require participation o f both
m utually beneficial co operation, as w e ll as Belarusian and C h in ese sides);
agreem ents on trade and eco n om ic cooperation, • Industrial Park A d m inistratio n (state institu tio n,
on avoiding double taxatio n , on encouraging and established by the C o u n cil o f M in isters o f the
m utual pro tectio n o f investm ents. R ep ub lic o f Belarus, servicin g residents and
On June 5, 2012, the D ecree o f the Presiden t o f the investors on the basis o f "one-stop shop" p rin cip le);
Rep u b lic o f Belarus No. 253 "O n the establishm ent • Industrial Park D evelo pm en t Com pany, C JS C
o f the C hin ese-B elaru sian in d ustrial Park "G reat (established by Belarusian and C h in ese founders,
Stone" was signed. T h e G reat Ston e In du strial Park respo nsible for attraction o f in vesto rs, design and
is a sp ecial eco n om ic zone in Belarus created co nstru ctio n o f the Park infrastructure).
w ithin the fram ew ork o f the C h in ese Belarusian
intergovernm ental co operation. T h e Industrial Park
is located in the Sm o levich i d istrict o f the M insk
FDI ON N ET B A S IS R E C E IV E D FROM CHIN A, USD MLN
region, 25 km from the capital o f the R ep u b lic of
120
Belarus, M insk, and co vers an area o f 112.5 sq. km.
T h e Park's favourable geographical location arises
from its clo se p ro xim ity to the M insk International
A irp o rt, to the railw ay and to the B erlin -M o sco w
transnational highway, as w e ll as from access to the
Klaipeda port on the B altic sea coast at a distance
o f 500 km. T h e Industrial Park u n lo cks the
p o tential o f Belarus as a connecting lin k among the
co un tries o f Europe, Russia and A sia , and also
provides free access to the m arket o f the Eurasian T h e G reat Stone has a great po tential in the field
Eco no m ic Union (R ussia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, o f lo g istics. T h e project to create a trade and lo g istics
A rm enia, Kyrgyzstan) w ith a to tal capacity o f 184 sub-Park is being im plem ented by the largest
m illion people. In the territo ry o f the Park it is resident o f the Park, Z A O China M erchants
planned to build ind ustrial and resid en tial zones, C H N - B L R C om m erce and Lo g istics Com pany.
o ffice, shopping and entertainm ent co m p lexes, In A p ril 2018, D uisburger Hafen A G , the managing
financial and research centers. com pany o f the largest river port g lo b ally in
Duisburg, becam e a shareho ld er o f "In d u strial Park
D evelo pm ent Com pany". W ith its participation,
the co n stru ctio n o f a m ulti-m odal railw ay term inal
INVESTMENT RECEIVED FROM CHINESE INVESTORS, USD MLN
w ill be carried out in the Park.
T h e Park is also developing as a ce n te r o f scien ce
and innovation. C u rren tly, an inno vative ce n te r for
co m m ercializatio n o f scie n tific and techn ical
achievem ents is being built.

T h e purpose o f the Industrial Park is to provide the

most co m fo rtable co n d itio n s for the developm ent
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 o f modern production fa c ilitie s. T h e m ajor part
o f the Park's territo ry is engaged in the developm ent
o f its in d ustrial and lo g istics potential. T h e rest of
A s o f M ay 2022, the num ber o f residents o f the the territo ry is intended for co m m ercial and social
G reat Ston e Indu strial Park has reached 90 w ith a ind ustries. A n o th e r goal o f the "G reat stone" is to
to tal announced investm ent o f U S D 1.24 bln. bring the cooperation betw een the state and private
Prio rity areas o f investm ent cooperation are: business to a q u a litative ly new level. Fo r this
- m echanical engineering purpose, the Park is developing a so cial infrastructure
- e le ctro n ics and teleco m m unication s that w ill use the m echanism o f p ublic-private
- fine ch em istry partnership.
- biotechnologies
Legal environment
for investment
Currently, Belarus has a stable system of legal regulation of investm ent activities, co nd itio ns have been
created for the developm ent of p ub lic-p rivate partnership and a num ber of sp e cial preferential legal
regimes providing for establishm ent of production and sale of goods on preferential terms, including
in the E A E U territory.
43

61 Investment
law
6 . 1 . 1 . G e n e r a l p r in c ip le s , m e th o d s o f
in v e s tm e n t an d g u a ra n te e s fo r in v e sto rs

T h e R epublic o f Belarus p rio ritizes creation T h e list o f investm ent m ethods is contained in
o f co n ditio ns for attraction o f investm ents into the Investm ent Law and is open. T h e y in clu de:
its econom y both from foreign and dom estic • establishing a com m ercial com pany;
investors. T h is is due to the openness and export • acquisitio n , creatio n , including by means of
o rientation o f the co u n try's econom y, its location co n stru ctio n , o f o bjects o f im m ovable property;
at the crossroads o f im portant transport and • acquisitio n o f rights to in te lle ctu al property
lo g istics routes and in tern atio nal eco nom ic and item s;
p o litica l en titie s, and the need to m odernize the • acquisitio n o f shares, in terests in the authorized
econom y using innovative technologies. capital, sto cks in the property o f a com m ercial
W h en making investm ents in the Republic of entity, including cases o f increase o f the authorized
Belarus, the p riority o f u n iversa lly recognized capital o f a com m ercial en tity;
p rin cip les o f internatio nal law is recognised. For • co ncession ;
foreign investors in the Republic o f Belarus, the • w ithin the public-private partnership;
m eans o f protection o f investm ents stipulated • o ther methods.
by intern atio n al treaties are also available. T h e Investm ent Law also estab lish es guarantees for
foreign investors:
T h e key legal act that estab lish es the basic • guarantees to transfer com pensation and other
p rin cip les o f investm ent a ctiv ity in the Republic of funds o f foreign investors abroad;
Belarus is the Law o f the Republic o f Belarus o f • protection o f p roperty from n ationalisation and
Ju ly 12, 2013 O n Investm ent (hereinafter - requisitio n (allow ed o n ly in excep tio n al cases
Investm ent Law). under co ndition s established by law);
Investm ent in the R epublic o f Belarus is based on • p o ssib ility o f resolving disputes in international
the fo llow ing p rin cip les: arbitration courts (fo r d isputes not falling w ithin
• ru le-of-law p rin cip le; the exclu sive com petence o f the courts o f the
• p rincip le o f eq u ality o f investors (investo rs are Republic o f Belarus).
equal before the law and enjo y rights w itho u t any Investors are also granted the follo w ing rights:
d iscrim inatio n ); • right to establish a co m m ercial en tity;
• p rincip le o f good faith and reasonableness of • right to exem ptions and preferences (when
investm ent (investo rs make investm ents in good investing in p rio rity areas o f the econom y);
faith and reasonably w itho ut causing harm to • right to co nclude an investm ent agreem ent;
o thers or abusing th e ir rights); • right to em ploy foreign w orkers under
• p rincip le o f non-arbitrary in terferen ce in private em ploym ent contracts.
affairs (no in terferen ce in private affairs is
perm itted except in the interests o f national
secu rity, public order, protection o f p ublic m orals,
p ublic health, rights and freedom s o f others);
• p rincip le o f ensuring restoration o f vio lated rights
and legitim ate in terests, th eir ju d ic ia l protection
(investors are guaranteed protection o f rights and
legitim ate in terests in court and by o th er means
provided by the legislation o f the Republic of
Belarus, including internatio nal treaties o f the
R epublic o f Belarus).
 44

6.1.2. INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS OF THE REPUBLIC OF T h e first-level investm ent agreem ent is
concluded on the basis o f a decisio n o f the
О BELARUS IN THE AREA OF INVESTMENTS
republican public adm inistration body, state
organisation subordinated to the G overnm ent
T h e R epublic o f Belarus is a party to a number or Regional (M in sk C ity ) E xecu tive Com m ittee.
o f m u ltilateral internatio nal agreem ents, including: Legislation provides for a list o f substantial
• International Convention on the Settle m en t of benefits that are granted to the investo r w ithin
Investm ent D isputes betw een States and N ationals the fram ework o f first-level investm ent
o f O th e r States (W ashington C o n ven tio n ; 1965); agreem ents:
• C IS A greem ent on C ooperation in the Field of • p ro v is io n o fa la n d p lo tt o a n in v e s t o rw it h o u t
Investm ent A c tiv itie s (1993); holding an auction for the right to conclude a lease
• Energy C h arter Treaty (provisio nal, not ratified; agreem ent;
1994) • con structio n o f fa c ilitie s stipulated by the
• Investor Protection Convention (M oscow , 1997); investm ent agreem ent w ith the right to remove
• reaty on the Eurasian Econo m ic Union (2014). vegetation w itho u t paying com pensation for the
T h e R epublic o f Belarus is also a party to more valu e o f the removed vegetation;
than 65 bilateral investm ent protection agreem ents • deduction o f V A T in fu ll upon acquisition in the
w ith the fo llow ing states: A u stria , A zerbaijan, R epublic o f Belarus and im port into the country
A rm enia, Bahrain, Belgium , Bulgaria, Bosnia and o f goods (w orks, services), property rights used for
H erzegovina, G reat Britain, Hungary, Venezuela, co n stru ctio n , equipm ent o f fa c ilitie s provided for
V ie tn am , G erm any, G eorgia, Denm ark, Egypt, Israel, by the investm ent agreem ent;
Jordan, Iran, Spain, Cam bodia, Q atar, C yprus, China, • determ ination o f a co ntracto r or d eveloper
D P R K , Cuba, K u w ait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, o f design docum entation, su p p liers o f goods,
Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Luxem bourg, M acedonia, service providers for con structio n w ithout
M exico, M oldova, M ongolia, N eth erland s, U A E , perform ance o f procedures, stipulated by the
O m an, Poland, Romania, Saudi A rabia, Serbia, legislatio n ;
Singapore, S yria, S lo vakia, T ajikistan , Turkey, • exem ption from custom s duties and V A T levied
U kraine, Finland, C roatia, C zech Republic, by the custom s au tho rities on im port of
S w itzerlan d , Sweden and South Korea. equipm ent, com ponents and spare parts for the
investm ent project;
• exem ption from paym ent o f the fee for the right
6.1.3. INVESTMENT AGREEMENT to co n clu d e a land lease agreem ent;
• exem ption from land tax;
A n investm ent agreem ent is concluded between • exem ption from com pensation for agricultural
an investor and the R epublic o f Belarus in order to and (or) fo restry production lo sses associated with
create sp ecial co n ditio ns for an in vesto r in the the w ithd raw al o f a land plot;
im plem entation o f a co ncrete investm ent project. • exem ption from V A T and incom e tax
In practice, such an agreem ent is concluded for in co nnectio n w ith donation o f capital stru ctu res
pro jects in p rio rity investm ent areas. T h e list of and o th er fixed assets transferred for the
—iTj — these areas is quite w ide. T h e y in clude, in ter alia,
agriculture, production o f fo o dstuffs, textiles,
im plem entation o f the investm ent project;
• exem ption from paym ent o f the state duty for

ШП ch em ical products, pharm aceutical products,

production o f m achinery and e le c tric equipm ent,
issue (prolongation) o f perm its for engagement
o f foreign labour force in the Republic o f Belarus;
su pply o f e le c tric power, con stru ctio n , transport • p o ssib ility o f allo cating w ork stages in the
a ctiv itie s, rendering o f num erous services, co n stru ctio n p roject w ith executio n o f w o rks on
scie n tific activities. co n stru ctio n o f the fa c ility at the current stage
Depending on the benefits granted to the w ith executio n o f design w ork for the subsequent
investor, investm ent agreem ents are divided into stages, provided that the d uly approved
two levels: arch itectu ral design is available.
• first-level investm ent agreem ent (provides fo rth e
benefits established by law);
• seco n d -level investm ent agreem ent (provides for
additional benefits, e xcept as p ro v id e d b yla w ).
45

T h e con clusion o f the seco n d -leve l investm ent T h e co n clu sio n o f such an agreem ent in volves the
agreem ent w ill require a decisio n o f the provision by the investo r o f a business plan o f the
G overnm ent and co nsent o f the President o f investm ent project and the perform ance o f a state
Belarus. due dilig ence on the investm ent project.

62 C o n cessio n s
C o ncessio n agreem ents, depending on the
O n e o f the ways o f making investm ents in the sub ject m atter o f an agreem ent, are divided into 3
R epublic o f Belarus is the co n clu sion of types:
a co ncession agreem ent. U nder such an • fu ll co ncessio n agreem ent: w hereb y the investor
agreem ent the investor obtains a tem porary right retains ow nership o f the produced products;
to perform a certain a ctiv ity w ithin the exclu sive • production sharing co ncessio n agreem ent:
com petence o f the state (e.g. land managem ent, w hereb y produced products are shared between
genetic engineering, production o f to xic the co n cessio naire (investo r) and the grantor;
su bstances, lo ttery organisation and holding, • service (w ork) concession agreem ent: w hereby the
im port o f alco ho l and tobacco products), or the ow nership o f the produced products is transferred
right to use property belonging to the state to the grantor.
(su bso il, w ater, fo rest, land). Sub-con cessio n is prohibited.

Investors w ho make investm ents on the basis of

a concession are provided w ith guarantees
stipulated by the investm ent legislatio n. T he
co ncessio n agreem ent may provide for benefits and
preferences for investors or com panies established
by them in Belarus.

Prior to the co n clu sion o f the co ncession

agreem ent, the list o f fa c ilitie s for the concession
sh all be published in the media and on the Internet,
the type o f concessio n agreem ent and the
co ncession aire sele ctio n method shall be
determ ined, the con cession body sh all be
determ ined, and a tender sh all be held to se le ct the
co ncession aire. A s a rule, tenders are public.
C losed tenders may be held for concessio n objects,
inform ation on w hich co n stitu te s state secrets,
and o b jects o f strategic im portance for the
R epublic o f Belarus. Lists o f such o bjects are
also not published.

/ Ш

$
4б

63 Public-private
partnership
A n o th e r m echanism available to investors is the A n o th e r m echanism available to investors is the
public-private partnership (hereinafter, P P P ). It is public-private partnership (hereinafter, PPP). It is
im plem ented in relation to in frastru cture fa cilitie s im plem ented in relation to in frastru ctu re fa cilitie s
in the fo llow ing areas: road and transport activitie s, in the fo llo w ing areas: road and transport activitie s,
p ublic u tilitie s and com m unal services, healthcare, public u tilitie s and com m unal services, healthcare,
so cial services, education, cu ltu re , ph ysical culture, so cial services, education, cultu re , ph ysical culture,
sports, tourism , teleco m m u nication s, energy, sports, tourism , telecom m u nicatio n s, energy,
refining, transpo rtatio n, storage, o il supply, refining, transportation, storage, o il supply,
transportation, storage, gas supply, gas provision, transportation, storage, gas supply, gas provision,
agribusiness, d efense, law enfo rcem ent, scie n tific, agribusiness, defense, law en fo rcem ent, scien tific,
scie n tific and techno lo g ical a ctivitie s, inform ation s cie n tific and techno lo g ical activ itie s, inform ation
and telecom m unication techno log ies. How ever, and teleco m m unicatio n techno log ies. How ever,
th is list is not clo se d , so it is possible to im plem ent this list is not clo se d , so it is po ssible to im plem ent
projects in o th er areas. p ro jects in o th er areas.
A corresponding agreem ent is signed between A corresponding agreem ent is signed between
the public partner and the private partner for a the public partner and the private partner for a
certain period that provides for the rights, certain period that provides for the rights,
obligations, and benefits provided for the o bligations, and benefits provided for the
im plem entation o f the P P P project. im plem entation o f the P P P project.
A public partner can be: A public partner can be:
• T h e Republic o f Belarus, on b eh alf o f w hich a • T h e R epublic o f Belarus, on behalf o f w hich a
state body o r other state organisation authorized state body or o th er state organisation authorized
by the President or the G overnm ent acts; by the President or the G overnm ent acts;
• ad m inistrative and territo rial u nit, on behalf of • ad m inistrative and territo rial unit, on b ehalf o f
w hich the lo cal execu tive and ad m inistrative body w hich the lo cal execu tive and ad m inistrative body
acts. acts.
A private partner can be a co m m ercial en tity or A private partner can be a com m ercial en tity or
an in d ividual en trepreneu r registered in accordance an ind ividual entrepreneur registered in accordance
w ith the legislation o f the Republic o f Belarus. If a w ith the legislation o f the R epublic o f Belarus.
foreign en tity or a group o f legal e n titie s and If a foreign en tity o r a group o f legal e n titie s and
foreign e n titie s w ins the tender for determ ining a foreign e n titie s w in s the tender for d eterm ining a
private partner, they are obliged to establish a legal private partner, th ey are obliged to establish a legal
en tity in the R epublic o f B elarus to act as a private e n tity in the R epublic o f Belarus to act as a private
partner in the fram ework o f the PPP. partner in the fram ework o f the PPP.
If the private partner is supported by third parties If the private partner is supported by third
to im plem ent a P P P pro ject, the public partner, the parties to im plem ent a P P P pro ject, the public
private partner, lenders o f the private partner and partner, the private partner, lenders o f the private
other third parties can also conclude a cooperation partner and other third parties can also conclude a
agreement. cooperation agreement.
44

6.4 Preferential
regimes
T h e legislation provides for sp ecial p referential • developm ent, m aintenance and im plem entation
legal regimes in order to encourage business o f hardware and softw are techno log ies for the
developm ent in certain areas and regions o f financial secto r (co n tactless techno log ies for
Belarus. Such regim es provide benefits and ca sh less paym ents, m obile paym ents, e lectro n ic
preferences to businesses, s im p lify the procedure trading, etc.) and financial inform ation
for doing business, and allo w the perform ance o f techno log ies;
sp ecial typ es o f activ itie s and the application of • creation and training o f neural netw orks and other
foreign law. algorithm s in sp ecial areas o f artificial intellig ence
and im plem entation o f resu lts o f these activ itie s;
Such p referen tial regim es are established for: • cryp to cu rre n cy platform operator a ctiv itie s;
• High-Tech Park (clause 6.3.1); • cryp to cu rre n cy exchange operator activ itie s;
• G reat Stone In dustrial Park (clau se 6.3.2); • m ining;
• Free econom ic zones (clau se 6.3.3); • e-sports activ itie s, including training o f e-sports
• M edium and sm all tow ns, rural areas (clause teams, organisation and conduct o f com petitions,
6.3 .4 ); organisation o f th eir broadcasts.
• So uth-East D istrict o f M ogilev region (clause If a resident plans to engage in a ctiv itie s other
6.3.5); than those provided for in D ecree No. 8 , this
• O rsha d istrict o f V ite b sk region (clause 6.3.6); should be agreed w ith the H T P S u p erviso ry Board.
• B rem ino -O rsha S p e cial Eco no m ic Zone (clause H T P residents are granted, inter alia, the follow ing
6.3.7); benefits:
• A vgustovsky C h an n el S p ecial Tourism and • as a general rule, exem ption from incom e tax, VAT,
Recreation Park (clau se 6.3.8). offshore duty, im port duties and im port V A T
(in respect o f techn o lo g ical equipm ent,
6.4.1. HIGH-TECH PARK (HTP) its com ponents and/or spare parts in order to use
them e x c lu siv e ly in Belarus for im plem entation
H T P is the "highlight" o f m odern Belarus, a o f investm ent p ro jects w ithin the H T P activity;
clu ste r w hose residents are engaged in the to receive an exem ption it is necessary to obtain
developm ent and creation o f p rojects and products a co n clu sion from the H T P ad m inistration), land tax
using inform ation technologies and lo cal taxes;
(https://w w w .park.by/). T h e D ecree o f the President • incom e tax rate in case o f dispo sal by a participant
o f the Republic o f Belarus o f D ecem ber 12, 2017 o f the share in the statutory fund, d isposal o f the
No. 8 O n D evelopm ent o f Digital Econom y, enterprise as a property co m p lex, sale (redem ption)
provided residents w ith a num ber o f b enefits and o f secu rities - 9 % ;
new legal instrum ents, both in the field o f taxation • incom e tax exem ption on dispo sal o f shares /
and in the field o f corporate and labour relations. participatory interest in the authorized capital
For H T P residen ts, there is a list o f activ itie s that o f H T P resident if co ntinuous holding for at least
residents can engage in, for exam ple: 365 calend ar days is observed;
• production o f softw are programs as directed by • tax rate on incom e o f foreign organisations w hich
the user; do not carry out the alienation o f shares in the
• design, developm ent and im plem entation authorized capital o f an H T P residen t - 0 % ;
o f automated co n tro l system s;
• developm ent, m aintenance, operation and
im plem entation o f unmanned co ntro l system s for
v e h ic le s;
48

• tax rate on incom e o f foreign rganisations

6 .4 .2 . GREAT STONE INDUSTRIAL PARK (INDUSTRIAL PARK)
w hich do not carry out a ctiv itie s in Belarus through
a perm anent establish m en t w hen paying dividends P referential legal regime for Industrial Park
- 5 % , royalty - 0 % ; residents is established by the D ecrees o f the
• and plots in H T P territo ry required for President of the Republic o f Belarus No. 253 of
con structio n o f b uildings are exem pt from land tax 05.06.2012 O n Establishm ent of the G reat Stone
for the period o f up to 3 years; Industrial Park and No. 166 of 12.05.2017 On
• exem ption from paym ent o f insurance premiums Im provem ent o f the S p ecial Legal Regime o f the
to the N ational S o cia l S ecu rity Fund (hereinafter, G reat Stone Industrial Park. For more inform ation,
N S S F ) from wages in term s o f incom e exceeding see https://industrialpark.by/.
the o ne-tim e average salary in Belarus for the T h e main activitie s o f the Industrial Park are as
month preceding the month for w hich mandatory follo w s:
insurance prem ium s should be paid; • establishm ent and developm ent o f industries in
• H T P residents are not sub ject to legislation on the fields o f e le ctro n ics and telecom m unications,
the procedure for conducting and controlling pharm aceuticals (inclu din g biopharm aceuticals),
cu rren cy tran sactions; m edical products, m edical services, laboratory
• profit and incom e from m ining, creation, diagnostics, fine chem istry, biotechnology,
acquisition and d ispo sal o f tokens are exem pt from engineering, new m aterials, com plex lo gistics,
incom e tax and V A T u n til January 1, 2023. e-com m erce, a ctivitie s related to storing and
English law instrum ents such as co n vertib le loan, processing large data vo lum es, s o cial and cultural
non-com petition agreem ent, non-transfer of a ctivitie s;
em ployees agreem ent, o ption agreem ent are also • creation o f co nditions for carrying out innovation
available to H T P residents. T h e se instrum ents have activity in the Industrial Park, attracting and
not yet been incorporated into the C iv il Code and supporting the subjects o f innovation a ctivity of
co n stitute a "legal experim ent". the Industrial Park, developm ent o f land plots on
H T P p referen tial regime is valid u n til January 1, the territory o f this park w ith co nstructio n of
2049. infrastructure facilitie s on them , th eir m aintenance
H T P residen ts may be com panies and individual and creation o f conditions for attracting residents
entrepreneurs registered on the territory o f the o f the Industrial Park, investors o f the Industrial
R epublic o f Belarus. It is not required to reside in Park, subjects o f innovation a ctivity o f the
the H T P territory physically. Industrial Park to such plots;
In order to register as an H T P residen t, it is • im plem entation o f research, developm ent and
necessary to subm it to the H T P ad m inistration: techno log ical w ork w ith the use of 5G technologies
• a business project specifyin g one or several types and artificial intelligence.
o f a ctiv itie s allow ed for H T P residents, specific
a ctiv itie s for th e ir im plem entation, typ es and Benefits for Industrial Park residents include the
vo lum es o f goods, w o rks and services to be follow ing:
perform ed by the resident, planned resu lts of • exem ption from incom e tax on revenue from the
financial and econom ic a ctiv itie s; sale o f goods (w ork, services) o f own production
• a num ber o f docum ents about the applicant, for 10 years, after w hich incom e tax is paid at a rate
including a certified copy o f the charter and reduced by 5 0 % u n til the end o f the Industrial
a ce rtificate o f registration. Park's sp ecial legal regim e;
• exem ption from real estate tax and land tax on
T h e decision on registration or d enial of land plots in the Industrial Park;
registration is taken by the H T P Su perviso ry Board. • incom e tax rate, profit tax, incom e tax for foreign
By its d e cisio n , the H T P adm inistration may be com panies not operating in Belarus through a
entrusted to conduct a scie n tific and tech n ical perm anent establish m en t, and for dividends paid
expert evaluation o f the business project in order to the founder, for the first 5 years fo llow ing the
to make a decisio n on registration. declaration of profit - 0 % , and for major investm ent
projects - for 10 years;
49

• exem ption from V A T and custom s duties on goods

6.4.3. FREE ECONOMIC ZONES (FEZS)
(techn ological equipm ent, com ponents and spare
parts, feedstock and m aterials) imported
A t present, Belarus has 6 F E Z s (in the city of
e xc lu siv e ly for the im plem entation in Belarus of
M insk and each regional center), w hich account
investm ent projects that in clude construction
for over 4 4 0 com panies.
and/or equipping o f Industrial Park facilities
T h e main legal regulation: the Law o f the
• procedures for co n stru ctio n procurem ents and
Republic of Belarus o f 07.12.1998 No. 213-Z On
regulation o f prices and tariffs for goods (w ork,
Free Eco nom ic Z o n e s, the D ecree o f the President
services) in co nstruction are not applied;
o f the Republic o f Belarus o f 0 9 .0 6 .2 0 0 5 No. 262
• 180 days o f visa-fre e stay in the territo ry o f the
O n Certain Issues o f Free Econom ic Zones on the
Republic o f Belarus for workers of residents who
Territo ry o f the Republic o f Belarus, Reso lutio ns of
are foreign citize n s;
the C o u n cil o f M inisters concerning each F E Z and
• sim plificatio n of custom s procedures for the
further ( https://econom y.gov.by/ru/cez-lgoty-
im port o f goods, including the p o ssib ility of
preferencii-ru /).
release of goods before filing a declaration for
goods o f own production and the absence of the
Benefits for F E Z residents are valid until
need to provide secu rity for the fulfilm ent o f the
Decem ber 31, 2 0 4 9 and inclu de the follow ing:
obligation to pay custom s duties and fees - when
• exem ption from incom e tax if the goods produced
im plem enting major investm ent projects.
and sold are exported or sold to other F E Z
S in ce 2021, such English law instrum ents
residents;
as the co nvertible loan and option agreem ent have
Exem ption from incom e tax when sellin g goods
becom e available to residents and other en tities
(w ork, services) o f own production;
operating in the Industrial Park.
• Exem p tion from real estate tax and land tax;
Preferential regime for Industrial Park residents
• exem ption from "im port" V A T in relation to goods
is valid u n til 2062.
placed by F E Z residents under the custom s
T h e guarantees established by the investm ent
procedure o f release for internal consum ption,
legislation o f the Republic o f Belarus also apply to
produced (obtained) w ith the use o f foreign goods
Industrial Park residents.
placed under the duty-free custom s treatm ent;
Com panies registered in Belarus can become
Exem ption from im port custom s duties when
residents o f the Industrial Park.
placing goods under the duty-free custom s
A resident com pany should be registered in the
treatm ent;
Industrial Park. In addition, a resident's investm ent
• exem ption from paym ent o f com pensation
project should meet the follo w ing conditions:
for the value o f removed plants;
• should be carried out on the territory o f the
Industrial Park in accordance w ith the Park's
To sim p lify im port procedures to the FEZ
a ctiv itie s;
territory, areas under the duty-free custom s
• investm ent vo lum e should be at least U S D 5 mln,
treatm ent are allocated and equipped.
and w hen im plem enting the project for the
Investm ent projects w ithin F E Z should envisage:
perform ance o f research, developm ent and
• investm ent volum e o f at least E U R 1 m ln, an
techno log ical work - at least U S D 5 0 0 ,0 0 0 ;
alternative amount o f E U R 5 0 0 ,0 0 0 is applicable,
• for a project to be recognized as a major project,
provided that investm ents are made w ithin 3 years
the investm ent volum e should be at least U SD 50
from the co nclusion o f agreem ent on business
mln.
environm ent in F E Z ;
In addition to residents, start-ups operating
• creation and/or developm ent o f export- and/or
w ithin the Industrial Park and registered as
im port su bstitu tion -orien ted production.
innovation en tities can enjoy p referential regime
for a period o f not more than 2 years.
O n ly Belarusian legal en tities or individual
In order to becom e a resident o f the Industrial
entrepreneurs can be registered as F E Z residents,
Park, it is necessary to subm it to the Industrial Park
who are actu a lly registered in given F E Z and have
an application for residen cy status, ju stificatio n for
concluded agreem ent on business environm ent in
an investm ent pro ject, draft agreem ent on business
F E Z w ith the F E Z adm inistration, w hich reflects
environm ent and copies o f the certificate of
the procedure and conditions o f the investm ent
registration and incorporation docum ents.
project im plem entation.
50

To register as a F E Z resident, it is necessary to 6.4.5. SOUTH-EAST DISTRICT OF MOGILEV REGION (SED)

subm it an ap plicatio n, certified copies o f the
incorporation docum ents and certificates of
A sp ecial legal regime was introduced for the
registration, business plan for an investm ent project
integrated so cial and econom ic developm ent o f the
and pay a state duty. If there are two or more
S E D (K rich ev, K lim o vich i, Krasno polye, Ko styukovichi,
applicants for the sam e production facilitie s or for
Slavgorod, C herikov and Khotsim sk d istricts) by Decree
the sam e land plot and production area, a tender w ill
o f the President o f the Republic o f Belarus No. 235 of
be held.
08.06.2015 O n S o cia l and Econom ic Developm ent of
F E Z residents are subject to guarantees provided
the S o uth-East D istric t of M ogilev region.
by the investm ent legislation.
T h is legal regime is valid u n til Decem ber 31, 2025 and
stipulates that for em ployees o f legal en tities and
6.4.4. MEDIUM AND SMALL TOWNS, RURAL AREAS individual entrepreneurs registered in the S E D territory,
the incom e tax for 7 years from the date of registration
A sp ecial legal regime applied to stim ulate business o f the com pany or individual entrepreneur is 10 % , and
in medium and sm all towns, as w e ll as rural areas, was the am ount of contrib utions to the N ational Social
introduced by D ecree o f the President o f the Republic S ecu rity Fund is 2 4% (com pared to standard rates of
o f Belarus No. 6 o f 07.05.2012 (D e cre e No. 6). 13% and 3 4 % , respectively).
T h e territo ry o f m edium -sized, sm all urban settlem ents,
rural areas means the territo ry o f the Republic of
Belarus, except for the territo ry o f the citie s of
Baranovichi, Bobruisk, Borisov, Bre st, V ite b sk , G om el,
G rodno, Z hod ino , Z h lo b in , Lida, M insk, M ogilev, M ozyr,
M olodechno, N ovopolotsk, O rsha, Pin sk, Polotsk,
R echitsa, S vetlogo rsk, S lu tsk , S oligorsk.

T h is legal regime applies to legal en tities and

individual entrepreneurs registered and carrying out
activitie s for the production o f goods (w ork, services) on
the territo ry o f such citie s and lo calitie s for 7 years from
the date o f th eir state registration.

Am ong the benefits granted to businesses in these

areas:
• exem ption from incom e tax in respect o f profits and
incom e received from the sale o f goods (w ork, services)
o f own production;
• exem ption from paym ent o f the state duty for the
issuance o f licen ces, if such licen ces are necessary;
• exem ption from real estate tax.

T h e above benefits may also apply to branches or

other separate subdivisions in medium and sm all towns
and rural areas, if th ey have a separate balance sheet and
bank account.
51

6.4.6. ORSHA DISTRICT OF VITEBSK REGION

A sp ecial legal regime was also introduced in • exem ption from incom e tax in respect o f profit
O rsha d istrict o f V ite b sk region in accordance with received from sale o f goods (w ork, services) o f own
D ecree o f the President o f the Republic o f Belarus production, for 9 years from the tax period in which
No. 5 06 o f 31.12.2018. the gross profit arose;
T h is legal regime is part o f the O rsha D istrict • exem ption from real estate tax for 20 years;
Developm ent Program u ntil 2023 and includes, • 0 % rate o f incom e tax, dividend tax and related
inter alia, the follow ing benefits: incom e for 5 y ears from the date o f declaration o f
• p o ssib ility o f ap plication o f the sim plified tax profit (for resident founders and jo in t ven tu res);
system w ith paym ent of tax in relation to revenue • right to deduct V A T in fu ll when im porting or
from the sale o f goods o f own production at a rate purchasing goods (w orks, services), property rights
o f 1 % , and from the sale o f work (services) o f own for the con structio n and equipping o f fa c ilitie s in
production at a rate of 2 % ; the sp ecial eco nom ic zone on the territo ry o f the
• pay m andatory insurance prem ium s to the R epublic o f B elarus;
N ational S o cia l Secu rity Fund at a reduced rate of • tax rate on incom e o f foreign organisations on
24% ; ro yalties is 5 % (u n til January 1, 2 0 2 8 );
• have the right to apply an investm ent deduction • Stab ilizatio n clause in the area o f taxatio n is
in the am ount not exceeding 3 0 % for buildings, provided (if the adopted norm ative legal acts
con structio n s and transfer devices and in the aggravate the resid en t's situation , the legislation in
am ount not exceeding 5 0 % for m achinery and force on the date o f en try into force o f D ecree No.
equipm ent, each o f w hich is used in entrepreneurial 106 sh all ap ply; this clause is valid u n til January 1,
ac tiv ity on the territo ry o f O rsha d istrict; 2028).
• have the right to apply co n structio n and technical
standards o f EU , E A E U and PR C w ith state For im plem entation o f an investm ent project in a
exp e rtise o f design docum entation w itho u t its sp ecial econom ic zone, it is necessary to conclude
adaptation to Belarusian standards in the agreem ent on business enviro nm ent between a
developm ent o f design docum entation for resident and a management com pany o f th is special
co n stru ctio n projects in O rsha d istrict; eco nom ic zone. V ite b sk F E Z adm inistration also
• exem ption from the need to com pensate takes part in the management.
agricultural and fo restry production lo sses; A resident o f a sp ecial econom ic zone may become
• w hen granting a deferral and (or) instalm ents for o n ly a legal en tity situated on its territo ry and
the paym ent o f taxes, fees (d uties), interest is not im plem enting an investm ent p ro ject w h ich is
accrued on penalties levied by the tax authorities. sim u ltaneo u sly:
• corresponds to the a ctiv itie s o f a special
econom ic zone;
6.4.7. BREMINO-ORSHA SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE • investm ent volum e is at least U S D 5 mln, and in
case o f the investm ent project with
im plem entation o f research, developm ent and
O rsha d istrict offers another sp ecial legal regime
techn o log ical w ork - at least U S D 5 0 0 ,0 0 0 ;
for business in the Brem ino -O rsha M ultim odal
Investm ent vo lum e can range from U S D 500
Industrial Log istic Center. In accordance w ith the
thousand to 5 m ln, provided that the project
D ecree o f the President o f the Republic o f Belarus
is im plem ented w ithin three years from the
No. 106 o f 21.03.2019 (D ecree No. 106), this center
co n clu sion o f agreem ent on business environm ent.
became a sp ecial eco nom ic zone, the legal regime
for w h ich is established for 50 years.
U nder the sp ecial legal regime, the follow ing
p references and benefits are granted:
• p o ssib ility o f lease mortgage to banks;
• no prior approval o f the land plot location
is required;
• no con structio n procurem ent requirem ents
are applied;
• no developm ent o f pre-project (pre-investm ent)
docum entation is required;
52

6.4.8. AVGUSTOVSKY CHANNEL SPECIAL TOURISM AND

RECREATION PARK

A ccord ing to D ecree o f the President o f the • com pensation for agricultural or forestry
Republic o f Belarus No. 220 of May 26, 2011, production lo sses caused by seizu re o f agricultural
benefits are provided for the im plem entation of and fo restry fund lands;
investm ent projects in the territo ry adjacent to the • paym ent o f the state duty for the issuance of
Belarusian part o f the Avgustovsky C han n el till sp ecial perm its to foreigners for the right to engage
2031 in order to develop the tourism industry and in labour activity.
infrastructure. Legal e n titie s and individual entrepreneurs
representing p ro jects w ith investm ent vo lum e o f at
A number o f p references are provided for Park least E U R 200 thousand aimed at creation and
residents, including exem ption from: developm ent o f to urist ind ustry and infrastructure
• tax on incom e received from the sale of goods, fa c ilitie s in certain typ es o f activ itie s can become
work or services of own production for a period the Park residents.
o f 5 calendar y ears; after this period, the tax is
reduced by 5 0 % ;
• real estate tax (buildings and stru ctures located
in the Park's territory, regardless o f th eir designated
use, including lease) and paym ent for the right to
conclude agreem ent on the lease o f a plot o f land
located w ithin the Park's boundaries
• im port custom s duties and V A T on the im port into
the territo ry o f the Republic of Belarus of
techno log ical equipm ent, its com ponents and
spare parts, feedstock and m aterials for use
e xc lu siv e ly on the territo ry o f the Republic of
Belarus for the im plem entation o f investm ent
projects w ithin the Park boundaries according to
the list of goods approved by the Grodno Regional
Execu tive Com m ittee;

m
В
53

6.5 Innovation
activities
T h e Republic o f Belarus supports the R esiden ts o f the R epublic o f Belarus are entitled
im plem entation o f innovative p rojects and the to claim for funds from innovation funds by
developm ent o f innovative technologies. applying to the State C om m ittee on S cie n ce and
Technology, the Belarusian Innovation Fund to
T h e concept o f innovation a ctivity is contained im plem ent innovative pro jects under the State
in the Law o f the R epublic o f Belarus o f 10.07.2012 Programme o f Innovative D evelopm ent, to carry
On State Innovation Po licy and Innovation out research, developm ent and techno lo g ical w ork
A c tiv itie s , w h ich , inter alia, inclu d es: as part o f innovation activitie s. Funds are allocated
- R& D w ork required to transform novation into on a co m p etitive basis.
innovation;
- developm ent o f new or im proved products, new
or im proved technology, creation o f new services,
new organisational and tech n ical so lu tio n s;
- perform ance o f w ork on preparation and
m astering the production o f new or improved
products, m astering the new or improved
technology, preparation o f ap plication o f new
organisational and techn ical so lu tio n s;
- production o f new or im proved products,
production o f products based on new or improved
technology;
- introductio n o f new or im proved products, new
or im proved technology, new services, new
organisational and techn ical so lu tio n s into
c iv il circu latio n or for th e ir own use.
54

6.6 Corporate law:

organizational
and legal forms
of business in Belarus
T h e r e are v a r io u s o rg a n is a t io n a l and leg al form s o f c o rp o r a t e p r e s e n c e a v a ila b le to foreign in ve sto rs
p la n n in g to d o b u s in e s s in Belarus. L e t's c o n s i d e r the m o s t c o m m o n o f them .

6.6.1 REPRESENTATIVE OFFICES OF FOREIGN COMPANIES IN BELARUS

Representative office o f foreign com panies in O utstand ing procedures after the perm it issuance
Belarus is a co nvenient form at the in itial stage of take at least two w eeks and inclu de registration
business in Belarus for the purpose o f preparatory w ith the tax au tho rities, N atio nal S o cia l S ecu rity
and a u xiliary a c tiv ity - for exam ple, market Fund, insurance com pany, as w e ll as opening
research, investm ent o ppo rtunities, tick e t sales, representative office bank accounts.
and o th er s o cia lly u sefu l activity. R epresentative offices o f foreign com panies are
R epresentative office operates on the basis o f the established on the basis o f perm its o f Regional
Statute. It is managed by the Head o f the (M insk C ity ) E xecu tive C om m ittees. A perm it for
representative office, acting by virtu e o f the power establishing a foreign representative office is issued
o f attorney and co ntract concluded w ith him. It is for 3 years w ith a p o ssib ility o f prolongation for the
im portant to note that the num ber o f foreign same period. State duty for three y ears o f v a lid ity of
em ployees o f the representative office cannot the perm it for e stablishing a representative office
exceed 5 people, and em ployees o f the in Belarus eq uivalent to 195 basic units (about E U R
representative office cannot be d ire c tly involved in 2,447). A foreign com pany pays this duty before
the conduct o f business by the parent company. subm itting the docum ents to the relevant
Representative offices o f foreign com panies are execu tive com m ittee.
established on the basis o f perm its o f Regional A perm it for establishing a representative office
(M in sk C ity ) Execu tive Com m ittees. A perm it for is issued w ithin 30 days after subm ission o f a
establishing a foreign representative office is issued package o f docum ents to the execu tive com m ittee
for 3 years w ith a p o ssib ility o f prolongation for the at the planned lo catio n. O utstand ing procedures
same period. S tate duty for three years o f v a lid ity o f after the perm it issuance take at least tw o w eeks
the perm it for e stablishing a representative office and in clu de registration w ith the tax authorities,
in Belarus eq u ivalent to 195 basic units (about E U R N ational S o cia l S ecu rity Fund, insurance company,
2,447). A foreign com pany pays th is duty before as w e ll as opening representative office bank
subm itting the docum ents to the relevant accounts.
executive com m ittee. R epresentative offices should be distinguished
A perm it for e stablishing a representative office from perm anent estab lishm en ts o f foreign
is issued w ithin 30 days after subm ission o f a com panies for tax purposes. Tax legislation
package o f docum ents to the execu tive com m ittee provides that foreign com panies may conduct
at the planned location. en trepreneu rial a ctiv ity in Belarus through a
so -called perm anent estab lishm en t o f a foreign
com pany for tax purposes.
55

Such a representative office is not a stru ctu ral A d d itio n al lia b ility com pany (A L C ) is a kind
subdivision and is not subject to registration, but o f b usiness com pany Its authorized capital is also
is registered w ith the tax authority at the request divided into shares, but, u nlike an L L C , members
o f a foreign com pany. Tax legislation provides o f an A L C bear subsidiary resp o n sib ility for its
criteria for the recognition o f a foreign company obligations. A t that, mem bers are liable jo in tly,
as operating through a perm anent establishm ent i.e. in case o f insu fficien t property o f one member,
for tax purposes. For exam ple, such a criterion may lia b ility for the com pany's obligations is distributed
be the im plem entation o f co n stru ctio n or o ther among the other mem bers o f an A L C . T h e amount
activ itie s in Belarus for a long period o f tim e or the o f additional lia b ility is determ ined by members
presence in Belarus o f a perm anent representative ind ependently, but it cannot be le ss than the
(dependent agent) w ho ensures the co nclu sion and statu to ry m inimum o f 50 basic units (about E U R
executio n o f co n tracts in the interests o f a foreign 470). O th erw ise, an A L C is co m p lete ly sim ilar
company. to an L LC .
Sp ecific criteria and grounds for recognition of A Jo in t S tock Com pany (JS C ) is founded by
a perm anent estab lish m en t are specified by the tax one or more in d ividuals and/or legal entities
legislation and intern atio n al double taxation (shareholders), and the authorized capital
treaties. T h e consequence o f recognizing the o f a JS C is divided into shares. Shares in the JS C
existe nce o f a perm anent estab lishm en t is the are se cu ritie s issued by the company. T h e ir issue is
paym ent by a foreign com pany o f all taxes and registered w ith the Departm ent o f S e cu ritie s o f the
obligatory paym ents, as for a Belarusian legal entity. M in istry o f Finance (or its relevant territo rial
It should be noted that in som e cases it may be subdivisions).
more advantageous for a foreign com pany to Issue (can cellatio n ) o f shares or increase
operate through a perm anent establish m en t for (d ecrease) in th eir nom inal value is also
tax purposes than to establish a subsidiary. accom panied by registration. Transactio ns with
shares in a JS C can be made on a recognized market
(transaction s w ithin the B elarusian C u rren cy and
6.6.2 COMMERCIAL LEGAL ENTITIES S to ck Exchange) and unrecognized markets
(w itho ut exchange m ediation). If transaction s with
(1) Form s and typ es o f com m ercial legal en tities
shares in a JS C are not made on an unrecognized
C om m ercial legal e n titie s in B elarus are u sually m arket, th ey m ust be registered by professional
created as lim ited lia b ility com panies, and more operators in the secu rities market (broker or
rarely as jo in t stock com panies or unitary depo sitary w ith an appropriate licence).
enterprises. It is im portant to note that the chosen JS C s are divided into two typ es: open (O JS C )
form o f a legal en tity does not affect the taxation and closed (C JS C ). Shares in an O JS C may be sold
o f th is organisation. fre ely to the general public w itho u t the consent of
A Lim ited Lia b ility Com pany (L L C ) is the most o th er shareholders. T h e main d ifference between
w id ely used form o f business. L L C mem bers can be a C JS C is that its shares may o n ly be sold to other
both ind ividuals and legal en tities. A n L L C may shareholders or to a lim ited range o f individuals
co n sist o f a single member. Shares in L LC determ ined under its article s. In addition, C JS C
authorized capital do not require separate shareholders have a pre-em ptive right to acquire
registration. S hares in an L L C , as w e ll as the number shares o f other shareholders.
o f votes and the am ount o f profit attributable A U nitary E nterp rise (U E ) has a single owner.
to a given share, are determ ined in proportion T h is form o f a legal en tity w as popular at the tim e,
to the m embers' contribution to the authorized w hen the law did not allo w setting up an L L C with
capital o f an L L C . H ow ever, the m em ber may a single member. C u rren tly, U E s are rarely founded.
establish a non-proportional shareholding T h e property o f a U E is the property o f its owner,
stru ctu re, num ber o f vo tes or share in profits. and the U E its e lf owns such property on the right
T h e popularity o f L L C s stem s from the o f econom ic ju risd ictio n . T h e property o f a U E is
co n ven ien ce o f owning and disposing o f shares in in d ivisib le and cannot be distributed by deposits
the authorized capital, as w e ll as from the flexible (shares). T h u s, a U E is a com m ercial com pany not
distribution o f rights and duties in its management. endowed w ith the right o f ow nership o f the
In L L C s o f other business com panies, mem bers property assigned to it by the ow ner, w hich can
may enter into an agreem ent on the procedure for be founded e x c lu siv e ly by a single legal entity
e xercisin g m em bers' rights (the so -called m em ber's or ind ividual (m atrim onial regime is allowed).
agreem ent), as w ill be described in more detail
below.
56

A U E may be sold or o therw ise assigned To attract a partner into the business, it is practised
as a w h o le asset co m p lex, including buildings, to reorganize a U E into an L L C or a legal en tity of
equipm ent, inventory, raw m aterials, finished goods, ano ther organisational and legal form allow ing for
claim s, debts, tradem arks and other e xclu sive rights m u ltiple shareholders/m em bers.
o f the U E . Such an asset com p lex is considered
a real estate object and is registered w ith the
N ational C ad astral A gency (including related rights
and operations).

(B) MINIMAL AMOUNT OF AUTHORIZED CAPITAL AND NUMBER OF SHAREHOLDERS/MEMBERS

MINIMALAUTHORIZEDCAPITAL MINIMAL NUMBEROFSHAREHOLDERS AUTHORIZEDCAPITAL

TYPE / FORMOF LEGAL ENTITY
ACCORDINGTOLEGISLATION (MEMBERS) / OWNERS FORMATIONPROCEDURE

UNITARY ENTERPRISE (UE) NOTSTATED O nly one owner of assets Authorized capital should be declared
in BYN and fully paid within 12 months
LIMITEDLIABILITYCOMPANY after state registration of a legal entity.
NOT STATED Minimum 1 , maximum 50
(LLC)
The legislation also allows members to
make contributions that do not change
CLOSEDJOINT-STOCKCOMPANY )00 BASIC UNITS Minimum 1, maximum
authorized capital value. Such
(CJSC) (ABOUT EUR 1,254) is unlimited
contributions do not constitute a loan
and do not require repayment,
accordingly. Such contributions may be
useful at the start of business activities,
OPENJOINT-STOCKCOMPANY 400 BASIC UNITS when funds are needed for the lease of
(OJSC) (ABOUTEUR5,019) premises, purchase of equipment, wages
of hired employees, and setup for
production.
57

T h e fu n ctio n s o f the execu tive body may be

6 .6.3 MANAGEMENT
transferred to an outsourced organisation or
( 1) Bu sin ess com panies manager. It is most popular in Belarus to appoint
a D irector.
M anagement structure o f an L L C and a JS C A foreign citize n may be appointed as a
in clu d es: a) suprem e management body - general d irector/m em ber o f the Board o f D irecto rs in any
m eeting o f m em bers (shareholders) and b) com pany, provided that he/she has a sp ecial w ork
execu tive body - D irecto r (M anagem ent Board). perm it. C itiz e n s o f states w hich are parties to the
T h e re may also be established an interm ediate Eurasian Eco n o m ic Union and em ployees o f H T P
body - S u p erviso ry Board (Board o f D irectors). residents do not need to obtain a w ork perm it.
T h e general m eeting o f m em bers/shareholders A perm it is also not required to perform the
(M eeting) is the suprem e managing body in an L LC fu nctio ns o f a m em ber o f the S u p erviso ry Board
and a JS C . T h e M eeting must be held at least once (Board o f Directors).
a year, extraordinary m eetings are possible. In order to co ntro l the com pany's a ctiv itie s,
T h e M eeting can decide on issues of the shareholders/m em bers must e le ct an audit
reorganising and liquidating the company, com m ission or an auditor. T h is su p erviso ry body
am ending its article s, changing the am ount of is en titled to inspect the com pany's financial and
authorized capital, form ing other managing bodies, business operations at any tim e and to have access
and other strategic issues. T h e M eeting can be to all docum ents related to the com pany's
convened and held rem o tely using digital operations. A n auditor is obliged to inspect the
techno log ies. Establishin g a S u p erviso ry Board annual accounts and balance sh eets o f the
(Board o f D irecto rs) is m andatory o n ly in an open com pany before they are subm itted to the
JS C w ith the num ber o f shareho lders o f m ore than M eeting for approval.
50 shareho lders, but is also po ssible in an L L C and 2) U n itary enterprise
a clo sed JS C . T h e com petence o f th is body, as T h e ow ner o f a U E is the suprem e management
determ ined by the com pany's A rtic le s o f body. E x clu siv e com petence o f the ow ner covers
A sso ciatio n , may in clude such issues as introducing am endm ents to the U E articles,
determ ination o f the com pany's main a ctiv itie s, increasing (decreasing) authorized capital. T h e
form ation and early term ination o f pow ers of o w ner appoints and d ism isses the d irecto r o f the
execu tive bodies, convening and holding o f the U E. T h e ow ner may p erso n ally be the d irecto r o f
M eeting, and resolution o f other issues prescribed the U E (in this case, the co nclusion o f a labour
by law (if no S u p erviso ry Board is establish ed, its co ntract is not mandatory).
main powers are exercised by the M eeting, and the
M eeting may exe rcise part o f the powers o f the
S u p erviso ry Board even if the latter e xists, as long 6 .6.4 SHAREHOLDERS' AGREEMENT
as the divisio n o f powers betw een the bodies is
co rre ctly defined in the A rtic le s o f A sso ciatio n ). Belarusian corporate law allo w s the use o f such
M em bers o f the S u p erviso ry Board (Board of a to o l for regulation o f relatio ns between ow ners as
D irecto rs) may o n ly be in d ividuals (not n ecessarily shareholders' agreem ent in a JS C or m embers'
mem bers o f the com pany), for the perform ance of agreem ent in an L L C (hereinafter, shareholders'
th eir fu nctio ns may receive rem uneration. agreem ent). Such shareholders' agreem ent may be
T h e executive bodies have residual com petence co ncluded , in ter alia, between a ll members
and manage the current activ itie s o f the company. sim ultaneo usly. A shareholders' agreem ent allow s
T h e y are accountable to the M eeting and the coordinating the m em bers' a ctiv itie s related to the
S u p erviso ry Board (if any). T h e com pany may be com pany managem ent, as w e ll as to establish
managed by a sole and/or co lleg ial execu tive body sp ecial m echanism s for exercisin g the rights and
(D irector/M anagem ent Board). T h e com pany may protecting the legitim ate in terests o f the members
sim u ltaneo u sly have two execu tive bodies - the A sh areholders' agreem ent may set the follow ing
D irecto r and the M anagement Board, and the obligations:
D irecto r sh all be the Chairm an o f the M anagement • to vote in a certain w ay at a general m eeting of
Board. W hen choosing such a stru cture of sh areho lders;
execu tive bodies, it is im portant to clearly • to coordinate a voting option w ith other
d elineate th eir co m p etencies in the A rtic le s of sh areho lders;
A sso ciatio n , for exam ple, taking into account the
im portance o f a particu lar d ecisio n to the company.
58

• to acquire or d ispo se o f shares at a predeterm ined For inform ation: som e fu nctio ns o f the
price and/or subject to o ccurrence o f certain w eb-portal o f the Unified State Register o f Legal
circu m stan ces; E n titie s may be restricted for residen ts o f foreign
• to refrain from disposing o f shares before the countries.
occurrence o f certain circu m stan ce s; and W h en setting up a com pany, m em bers must
• to perform o th er concerted actio n s associated with p erso n ally appear at the registering authority or
the managem ent o f the com pany, com pany activitie s, issue a power o f attorney to the representative.
reorganisation, and liquidation o f the company. D ocum ents issued by foreign com panies (extracts
O bligatio ns o f a party to a shareho lders' agreem ent from the com m ercial register, notarised co pies of
to vote according to the in stru ctio n s o f the incorporation docum ents or personal passport)
managem ent bodies o f a com pany in respect o f which must be legalised or a p o stilled , u nless o therw ise
the agreem ent has been signed cannot be the subject provided for in internatio nal treaties w ith the
o f a shareholders' agreement. Republic o f Belarus.
State registration process takes one working day,
6.6.5 ESTABLISHING A COMMERCIAL COMPANY and all activ itie s related to the com pany's
functioning, including opening bank accounts, take
To establish a co m m ercial com pany in Belarus, about tw o w eeks.
the follo w ing actio ns are required: A com pany is deem ed to be operating from the
• cho o se and agree the name w ith the territorial date o f its state registration, w h ich is carried out on
adm inistration or use the w eb-po rtal o f the Unified the day o f filing the docum ents by putting a
State Register o f Legal En titie s relevant stamp on the a rticle s o f association.
(h ttp://egr.gov.by/egrn/indexjsp?content= eJurReorgC Registration w ith the tax auth o rities, N ational
reate); S o cia l S ecu rity Fund, s ta tistica l au tho rities and
• cho o se the com pany address (fictitio u s addresses insurance com pany is accom plished w ithout
w itho u t a real address are not allow ed) involvem ent o f the ap plicant during the next five
• execu te the a rticle s o f asso ciation; business days. A fte r registration, the applicant
• make the necessary decisio n s on setting up a should hire the head and c h ie f accountant, produce
com pany, w here to approve the a rticle s o f association, corporate seal (it is also possible to w ork w ithout
cho o se and appoint persons to the management a seal, but business practices s till require it today),
bodies, make o th er necessary decisio ns for the and open bank accounts.
com m encem ent o f activ itie s;
• subm it the com pany registration application w ith the
attached package o f docum ents to the territorial
adm inistration or use the w eb-po rtal o f the Unified
State Register o f Legal En titie s
(h ttp://egr.gov.by/egrn/indexjsp?content= eJurRegFor
m) w ith authorization using digital signature (for
residen ts o f the R epublic o f Belarus).

67 Privatization
Belarus is undertaking planned privatizatio n to Potential investors can jo in the privatization
allo w do m estic and foreign investors to become o f state en terprises process at vario us stages:
ow ners o f o b jects from v ario us sectors o f the • access as new shareholders during transform ation
econom y. o f en terprises into open jo in t-sto ck com panies;
Privatizatio n objects in Belarus can be: • by acquisitio n o f state-ow ned shares in existing
• state-ow ned shares (shares in authorized capital); open jo in t-sto ck com panies;
• housing; • by acquisitio n o f a state or m unicipal unitary
• state enterprises; enterprise as an asset com plex.
• leased state property.
59

W eb site http://www.gki.gov.by/ru/ 6.7.3 OBTAINING THE CONSENT OF A COMPETITION

auction-auinf-auishares/ o f the State Property AUTHORITY FOR CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
C om m ittee o f the R epublic o f Belarus (hereinafter,
G osko m im ushch estvo ) ann u ally publishes a list of
Certain business activ itie s (purchase of
jo in t-sto ck com panies in w hich shares are available
shares/share, creation o f holdings, acquisitio n of
for purchase. T h e above Internet resource contains
real estate and others) may affect co m p etition in
inform ation on the term s o f p rivatizatio n , Belarus
the co u ntry - lead to increase/decrease in prices,
share in the privatizatio n o b ject, and a brief
affect the co n ditio ns o f circu latio n o f goods in the
d escription o f privatization objects.
com m odity m arket. A num ber o f such actio ns and
If an investor is interested in purchasing shares
transactions are recognised as econom ic
from the list, it sends a le tte r to the State Property
concentration and require the prior consent o f the
C om m ittee. S ubsequently, this le tte r is review ed by
M in istry o f A n tim o n o p o ly Regulation and Trade or
a sp ecial com m ission that d ecid es on the feasib ility
its regional branches (hereinafter, M A R T ) or
o f preparing a decision o f the President on
notification o f th is autho rity if certain indicators are
privatization o f shares via tender, auction or direct
exceeded. T h e m ost comm on cases in w h ich the
sale.
consent o f the M A R T is required are:
A n investor interested in acquiring properties
• acquisition o f shares (interests) when the book
not on the list o f the State Property Com m ittee
value o f assets (over 200 thousand basic units ~
may also take the in itiative. If the governm ent finds
E U R 1.8 m illio n ) or annual revenue (over 400
the term s offered by the investo r favourable, the
thousand basic units ~ E U R 3.6 m illio n ) exceeds
o b ject may also be sold.
the target com pany or the acquiring com pany;
• acquisition o f p roperty located in Belarus that
co n stitu te s o ver 20 % o f fixed assets o f the target
6.7.1 CO-FOUNDER OF AN OPEN JOINT-STOCK COMPANY com pany if the book valu e o f the assets (over
2 0 0 ,0 0 0 basic units ~ E U R 1.8 m illio n ) o r the
State bodies may decide to transform state annual revenue (over 4 0 0 ,0 0 0 basic units ~ E U R 3.6
un itary enterp rises into a jo in t-sto ck company. m illio n) exceed s the target com pany or the
T h e State Property C om m ittee (its lo cal divisio ns), com pany w hose assets are on sale;
depending on the size o f the unitary enterprise • establishm ent o f a holding com pany if the total
w hich is to be transform ed, may announce a book valu e o f assets o f the com panies to be
co n test to choose a private investo r in addition to included in it exceed s (over 200 thousand basic
the state - the future sh areho lder o f an open units ~ E U R 1.8 m illio n ) or th eir total revenue (over
jo in t-sto ck com pany. T h e w inn ers are sele cted after 4 0 0 thousand basic units ~ E U R 3.6 m illion).
the co ntest by a sp e cia lly established com m ission, A pproval o f the com p etition autho rity w ill require
or may be d ire ctly negotiated if there is o nly one a package o f docum ents from the acquiring
co n test participant. It is also po ssible to acquire com pany and the com pany w hose shares (interests,
a share in a transform ed com pany at the stage of property) are being acquired. If the holding is
sale o f shares. establish ed, a package o f docum ents w ill be
required for all planned participants o f the holding.
D ocum ent review period is 30 days.
6.7.2 ACQUISITION OF STATE-OWNED JSC SHARES AND A sim p ler notification method about com m itting
o f econom ic co ncentratio n (according to the form
ENTERPRISES AS ASSET COMPLEXES
established by the legislation w ithin one month
from the day o f its im plem entation) is applied in
T h e State Property C om m ittee can also its e lf
the fo llo w in g cases:
organize an auction or contest for the sale o f
• when the same people own more than 5 0 % of
state-ow ned shares or e n terprises. T h e co n test or
shares (inte rests) in com panies participating in the
auction is announced in the Belarusian mass media
econom ic co ncen tratio n ;
and on the C om m ittee's o fficial w ebsite
• ow ner o f the assets o f unitary com panies
ww w.gki.gov. by. T h e investo r prepares all necessary
participating in an eco nom ic concentration is the
docum ents for participation. C o ntest participants
same person.
should also file a tender proposal corresponding to
the term s o f the con test. T h e w in n er o f the contest
or auction becom es eith e r the shareho lder in the
com pany or the ow ner o f the en terprise as an
asset com plex.
 60

N ote that the Belarusian com petition law has an result in lim itatio n or elim in atio n o f com petition
extrate rrito rial effe ct: the perform ance by foreign on the market (e.g., increase or d ecrease in prices
en titie s o f actions recognized as econom ic (tariffs), change in term s o f goods circu la tio n ) -
co ncentratio n under the Belarusian com petition such action s may also require the prior co n sen t o f
law in relation to Belarusian e n titie s may require the M ART.
the prior consent o f the M A R T. If a transaction or In Belarus, there is no state duty for the
o th er action (inactio n) o f foreign e n titie s is not com p etition authority to review an ap plication for
d ire c tly related to Belarusian e n tities, but may consent to a transaction (or o ther action).

6.8
Financial regulation
in Belarus
6.8.1. E-MONEY IN BELARUS

1) Legal regulation
foreign e-m oney for exchange, for issuing to
In addition to cash and cla ssic non-cash
em ployees for paym ent o f expen ses abroad,
transactions, e-m oney is w id e ly used in Belarus.
paym ent o f gam bling w innings.
T h e basic requirem ents for e-m oney circulatio n
are set out in the R u les o f E-M on ey Transactions
3) Exam p les o f foreign e-m oney in circu la tio n :
(approved by R esolution No. 201 o f N ovem ber 26,
YooM oney - Russian Federation (Belarusian
2003 o f the Board o f the N atio nal Bank o f the
agent bank is Sber Bank O JS C ).
Republic o f Belarus).
Used for o n line purchases w ith cashback and
discounts.
W eb M o n ey Tran sfer - R F (Belarusian agent bank
2) E-m oney turnover features
is Technobank JSC ).
In Belarus, not o n ly foreign e-m oney is w id ely
Paym ent for com m unication services, o nline
used, but also e-m oney issued by Belarusian banks
shopping, u tilitie s, etc.
("n atio nal e-m oney").
Som e national e-m oney can be received by
4) Exam ples o f national e-m oney in circu la tio n :
foreigners, including rem otely.
B erlio - Belarusian bank issu er -
T h e d istrib u tio n , redem ption and exchange of
Belgazprom bank O JS C .
e-m oney issued by non-resid ents ("foreign
Used to pay for fu el and related goods at petrol
e-m o ney") in Belarus is possible o n ly through a
stations.
Belarusian agent bank (a legal en tity opened in
Q IW IB e l - Belarusian bank issu er - Reshenie
Belarus and licenced to perform banking activitie s).
Bank C JS C .
Individuals may use foreign and do m estic e-m oney
Used for o n line and o fflin e paym ents, bank card
to pay for goods, w o rk, services and other
transfers, paym ents for com m unication services
transactions in com pliance w ith legal requirem ents.
and in-store settle m en ts, cash w ithdraw als.
W h en using foreign e-m oney, the requirem ents of
O p lati - Belarusian bank issu er - Belinvestbank
cu rre n cy legislation m ust be observed, such as
O JS C .
re strictio n s on the use o f foreign cu rre n cy in
Used by in d ividu als to pay for goods, work,
settle m en ts between residents.
services, including paym ent for public transport
Legal e n titie s may spend national e-m oney for
services, m oney transfers between individuals.
exchange, paym ent o f th eir e xp en ses, expenses
o f th eir e m ployees on business trips, paym ent of
custom s duties and o th er fees to the budget;
61

6.8.2 . CRYPTOCURRENCY IN BELARUS 3) C ryp to cu rren cy benefits

U n til January 1, 2023, the fo llo w ing categories
1) Legal regulation w ill be exem pted:
In Belarus, the circu latio n o f cryp to currency • in d ivid uals: from the incom e tax applied in
(tokens) is recognized by law. respect o f the incom e generated from mining,
T h e main regulatory act on the circulatio n purchase, disposal and exchange o f cryp to cu rren cy
o f cryp to cu rre n cy is the D ecree o f the President (tokens);
o f the R epublic o f Belarus No. 8 "O n the • legal e n titie s: from the corporate tax in respect
developm ent o f the digital econom y" o f the incom e generated from the dispo sal of
o f D ecem ber 21, 2017. tokens w here th ey are exchanged for other tokens;
• legal e n titie s and foreign en titie s: from the value
added tax in respect o f the circu latio n generated
2) D isting uishing ch aracte ristics o f cryp to currency from the dispo sal o f cryp to cu rre n cy (tokens);
circu latio n in Belarus • legal e n titie s w ho are High-Tech Park residents:
T h e re are d ifferences in the cryptocu rren cy from the value added tax and corporate tax in
circu latio n as ap plicable to ind ividuals and legal respect o f the activ itie s involving m ining, creation,
entities. purchase, and dispo sal o f cryp to cu rre n cy (tokens);
Individuals are en titled to:
• own cryp to cu rre n cy (tokens); 4 ) C ryp to cu rren cy exchanges, cryp to cu rren cy
• mine and keep cryp to cu rre n cy (tokens) in virtu al exchange offices, IC O organizers in Belarus
w a lle ts; It's perm itted in Belarus:
• exchange cryp to cu rre n cy (tokens) for another • opening a cryp to cu rre n cy exchange (obtaining
cryp to cu rre n cy (tokens); the status o f a crypto platform operator);
• purchase and dispose o f cryp to cu rre n cy (tokens) • opening a cryp to cu rre n cy exchange office
for Belarusian roubles, foreign currency, e lectro n ic (obtaining the status o f a cryp to cu rre n cy exchange
m oney; office operator);
• donate and bequeath cryp to cu rre n cy (tokens). • acting as an IC O organizer (providing services for
M ining, purchasing and disposing cryp to cu rren cy the creation and (or) placem ent o f crypto currency
(tokens) is not an entrepreneu rial ac tiv ity if an (tokens), services for the prom otion of
individual does not involve other ind ividuals in this cryp to cu rre n cy (tokens), co nsulting and related
activity. services).
Tokens are not subject to declaration. O n ly High-Tech Park residents can have this
Legal e n titie s are entitled to: status.
• create and place th e ir own crypto currency T h e requirem ents for applicants and the
(tokens) in Belarus and abroad by acting through requirem ents for the procedure for th e ir a ctivitie s
a Belarus High-Tech Park resident w ho conducts are established by the S u p erviso ry Board o f the
relevant activ itie s; High-Tech Park.
• keep tokens in v irtu a l w a lle ts; For exam ple, one o f the requirem ents is a certain
• purchase, to dispose o f cryp to cu rre n cy (tokens) am ount o f the authorized capital o f a legal entity.
and to effe ct other transactions (operations) T h is am ount must be formed by the tim e of
involving cryp to cu rre n cy by acting through application and be observed during the entire
cryp to cu rre n cy platform s operators, period o f residence in the High-Tech Park:
cryp to cu rre n cy exchange operators, and other • th is am ount is 2 m illion Belarusian roubles (o r an
High-Tech Park residen ts who co nducts relevant am ount in foreign cu rren cy eq u ivalen t to 2 m illion
a ctiv itie s; Belarusian roubles) for a cryp to cu rre n cy exchange
T h e above activ itie s o f in d ividu als and legal or cryp to cu rre n cy exchange office, and
e n titie s sh all not be sub ject to cu rren cy legislation. • 5 0 0 thousand Belarusian roubles (o r an am ount in
H ow ever, the use o f foreign cu rren cy in foreign cu rren cy eq u ivalen t to 5 0 0 thousand
settle m en ts between residents o f the Republic Belarusian roubles) for an IC O organizer.
o f Belarus is not allow ed, w ith the exceptio n of
transactions (settlem en ts) made in the system s
o f cryp to cu rre n cy platform s operators or with
these operators, as w e ll as on foreign trading
platform s.
62

Support is provided for the im plem entation

T h u s, in Belarus,
o f investm ent projects in the fo llo w ing areas:
• C urrency.co m , Free2ex.co m , B yn e x.b y are
• creation , d evelopm ent, and expansion of
registered as cryp to cu rre n cy exchanges;
production o f goods (w orks, services);
• W h ite b ird .io is registered as a crypto currency
• organisation and developm ent o f production;
exchange office;
sale o f expo rt-oriented and im port-substituting
• Finstore.by, A e tso ft.b y are registered as ICO
prod ucts;
organizers.
• m anufacture o f products intended for energy
co nservation and co st-effective use o f resources;
6 .8 .3 . FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM • im plem entation o f new technolog ies (having
ENTREPRENEURSHIP higher q u ality ch aracte ristics compared to the best
analogues available in the given m arket, in a certain
To stim ulate the developm ent o f sm all and market segm ent, for w hich this techno log y is new );
medium entrepreneurship in Belarus, there is an for the fo llo w ing purposes:
opportunity to receive funding for a pro ject both • co n stru ctio n , acquisitio n o f buildings, structures,
on a repayable and non-repayable basis (see isolated prem ises and (or) th eir repair and
exam ples below). reco n stru ctio n;
M oreover, the D evelopm ent Bank o f the • acquisitio n o f equipm ent, v e h icle s, sp ecial devices
Republic o f Belarus and som e com m ercial banks and ap pliances;
offer loans and leasing on p referen tial term s under • procurem ent o f com ponents, raw m aterials and
a sp ecial program o f financial support for sm all and m aterials for in-house production and provision of
medium entrepreneurship. services.
T h e basis o f the ac tiv ity o f the Belarusian Fund
for Fin an cial Support to En trepreneu rs is D ecree
1) Belarusian Fund for Finan cial Support to o f the President o f the Republic o f Belarus No. 255
Entrepreneurs "O n som e m easures o f the state support for sm all
T h e Fund provides financial support in the business" dated M ay 21, 2009.
fo llow ing way:
• Provision o f funds to sm all b usinesses on 2) E xecu tive com m ittees
condition o f repaym ent (loan) on a com p etitive E xecu tive com m ittees provide support to sm all
basis. b usinesses in the follo w ing way:
• T h e loan am ount is up to 2 5 6 ,0 0 0 Belarusian • as financial resources on condition o f repaym ent,
roubles. T h e loan m aturity is up to 5 years. and on a reim bursable or non-reim bursable basis;
• Provision o f property on a com p etitive basis under • as subsidies to repay part o f the in terest payable
the term s and co n ditio ns o f financial lease (leasing). on bank loans.
T h e leasing am ount is up to 2 5 6 ,0 0 0 Belarusian Lim its for the loan repaym ent in Belarusian
roubles. T h e loan m aturity is up to 5 years. roubles: no more than 0.5 o f the refinancing rate of
T h e loan in terest rate / the fee under the the N ational Bank, established on the date o f the
financial lease (leasing) agreem ent is set to be repaym ent o f part o f the in terest;
equal to the refinancing rate o f the N ational Bank in foreign cu rre n cy: in the am ount o f not m ore than
o f the R epublic o f Belarus (since 01.03.2022 the 0.5 o f the loan rate.
refinancing rate has been 12 % ). • as subsidies to repay part o f the co sts o f paying
S u b ject to certain co ndition s, the in terest rate lease paym ents under leasing agreem ents in term s
may be set low er than the refinancing rate o f the o f paying the am ount o f the le sso r's rem uneration.
N ational Bank, including in the am ount o f 6.5% Sub sid y lim its are set at an am ount not
per annum. exceeding 0.5 o f the le sso r's rem uneration;
• Providing guarantees for p referen tial loans, • as subsidies to repay part o f the co sts associated
including to m icro cred its, issued by banks o f the w ith participation in exh ibition and fair events or
Republic o f Belarus. w ith th eir organisation.
A guarantee am ount for one sm all business
en tity cannot exceed 7 0 % o f the am ount of
a p referen tial loan, including m icrocredit.
T h e guarantee fee is 5 % o f the amount
o f a guarantee.
63

S u bsidy lim its are set at an am ount not No loan insurance and co llateral are required.
exceeding 5 0 % o f the co sts incurred to pay for the • O n a non-repayable basis in the form o f an
rental o f exh ibitio n space and equipm ent, innovation vo u ch er up to 25 thousand U S dollars.
publication o f printed m aterials about participants It is provided to ind ividuals and individual
in events, and production and placem ent entrepreneurs w ith the aim o f im plem enting the
(d istrib utio n) o f ad vertisem ent prom oting in the preparatory or design and engineering stage.
media exh ib itio n and fair events being organized. • O n a non-repayable basis in the form o f a grant
Support is provided on a co m p etitive basis (i.e ., in the am ount o f up to 100 thousand U S dollars.
based on the resu lts o f co m p etitive sele ctio n o f It is provided to legal e n titie s that are sm all
investm ent pro jects and business projects) business en titie s, su b ject to financial participation
o f at least 10 % o f the total am ount o f necessary
3) T h e B elarusian Innovative Foundation (B IF ) funds.
Scope o f financing: T h e grant is issued during the im plem entation
• scie n tific-te ch n ica l w ork, design and experim ental o f the design and engineering stage for
w o rk, techno log ical work; scie n tific-te ch n ica l, design and experim ental,
• w ork that in volves organizing and mastering and techno lo g ical w ork.
scie n tific and tech n ical products m anufacture; B IF provides support on a com p etitive basis.
• ven ture projects.
Possible financing options:
• O n a repayable basis in the form o f loan
T h e loan in terest rate: 0.5 o f the refinancing rate
o f the N ational Bank o f the R epublic o f Belarus.
T h e loan m aturity is up to 7 years, w h ile providing
an extensio n o f p rincipal and in terest repaym ent
o f up to 2 years.

69 Regulation
of international
econom ic activity
>.9 .1.OPENING AND USING ACCOUNTS

1) A cco u n ts opening and th eir use by a resident

abroad
R esidents (ind ivid u als and legal entities, H ow ever, there is one requirem ent stating that
in d ividual entrepreneurs) have the right to open earnings from expo rt and the am ount o f prepaym ent
accounts in foreign banks w ithou t restrictio n s, for im port, that are subject to return in cases when
using both Belarusian roubles and foreign currency the counterparty does not fu lfil (in w h o le or in part)
as the cu rren cy o f those accounts. its obligations, m ust be transferred to the resident's
R esidents can fre ely make paym ents between account in a Belarusian bank w ithin 5 w orking days
th e ir accounts (both Belarusian and foreign ones). from the m om ent it is credited to a foreign account.
Using such foreign accounts, residen ts can Residents can make paym ents using funds held in
receive expo rt proceeds (those related to goods, th eir foreign accounts, subject to re strictio n s and
w orks, services, exclu sive rights to in telle ctu al pro hib itio ns on making foreign exchange
property, e tc.), loans, cre d its, d ividend s, and make transactions w ith and betw een non-residents.
o th er payments.
64

2) O pening accounts in a Belarusian bank by a A n agreem ent under w hich cu rren cy transactions
n on-resident are carried out is a cu rren cy agreement.
N o n -residen ts have the right to open accounts
in Belarusian roubles or foreign cu rren cy in 1) R u le s fo r co n d u ctin g c u rre n c y tra n sa ctio n s
Belarusian banks w itho u t restrictio ns. betw een re sid e n ts and n o n -re sid e n t legal e n titie s.
T h e list o f docum ents that m ust be provided to C u rre n c y tra n sa ctio n s b etw een re sid e n t legal
open an account for a non-resident varies from e n titie s and n o n -re sid e n t legal e n titie s can be
bank to bank. carrie d out in th e fo llo w in g w ay:
A s a rule, the main package o f docum ents a) in B e laru sian ro u b le s:
in clu d es: • no re s tric tio n s are ap plied w hen using a n o n ­
• a notarized and ap ostilled /legalised copy o f the cash fo rm ;
A rtic le s o f A sso ciatio n o f a foreign en tity; • s u b je c t to the m axim um am ount o f cash
• m inutes (extract from the m inutes) o f the meeting paym en ts w hen using ca sh ;
o f founders, or a c iv il law co n tract, or a pow er of b) in foreign cu rre n c y :
attorney confirm ing the autho rity o f o fficials • no re s tric tio n s are ap plied w hen using a n o n ­
(notarized copy, ap ostille/leg alisatio n ); cash form ,
• a trade register e xtract o f the country • su ch tra n sa ctio n s are p ro h ib ited w hen using
o f incorporation o f the non-resident (with ca sh , w ith the e x c e p tio n o f c e rta in ca se s
ap ostille/leg alisatio n ); esta b lish e d by law.
• a notarized and ap ostilled copy o f the passport H o w e v e r, th e re are a num ber o f re q u ire m en ts
o f a person (perso ns) w ho w ill have the right to ap p lied to such o p e ra tio n s:
manage the account, etc. W ith regard to c u rre n c y ag reem en ts provid ing
A translation into R ussian/Belarusian with fo r e x p o rt and im port (o f foreign trade
notarization is required if the docum ents are drawn a g ree m en ts) th o se re q u ire m e n ts in c lu d e :
up in a foreign language. • re q u ire m e n ts fo r th e m and ato ry p ro v isio n s o f
O n M ay 24, 2 022, the Board o f the N ational c u rre n c y ag ree m en ts;
Bank o f the R epublic o f Belarus adopted • re p atria tio n o f c u rre n c y v a lu e s.
R esolution No. 198 w hich made it possible to A t the sam e tim e , regarding a ll cu rre n cy
rem o tely id en tify a directo r, ch ie f accountant, and ag ree m en ts, su ch re q u ire m e n ts in c lu d e :
o th er authorized person o f a non-resident in order • th e ir re g istratio n .
to open a current bank account.
Som e Belarusian banks already offer an option 2) R e q u ire m e n ts fo r the m and ato ry p ro v isio n s
to open an account rem otely. o f c u rre n c y ag reem ents regarding exp o rt/im p o rt.
R e p a tria tio n o f cu rre n c y v a lu e s M andato ry
6 .9 .2 .BASIC RULES TO CONDUCT FOREIGN EXCHANGE p ro v isio n s fo r a c u rre n c y ag reem ent are
TRANSACTIONS IN BELARUS e sta b lish e d fo r ag reem en ts that govern
e x p o rt/im p o rt o f th e fo llo w in g :
• g o o ds;
T h e main statutory instrum ent that sets forth the
• p ro p e rty fo r re n t;
rules for conducting foreign exchange transactions
• u n d isclo se d in fo rm a tio n ;
is the Law o f the R epublic o f Belarus No. 226-Z
• e x c lu s iv e rig hts to in te lle c tu a l p ro p e rty ite m s;
"O n cu rren cy regulation and cu rren cy control"
• p ro p e rty rig h ts;
(as am ended on June 30, 2 0 2 0) dated Ju ly 22, 2003.
• p e rfo rm an ce o f w o rk , p ro visio n o f s e rv ic e s on
Foreign exchange transactions include:
a re im b u rsab le basis to a n o n -resid en t/b y
• operations involving the use o f foreign currency
a n o n -re sid e n t (h e re in a fte r referre d to as
as a means o f paym ent, except for cu rren cy
e x p o rt/im p o rt item s).
exchange o perations;
M an d ato ry p ro v isio n s o f an ag reem en t under
• transaction s for the acquisition and disposal
the B e la ru s c u rre n c y le g isla tio n are as fo llo w s:
o f se cu ritie s in foreign currency,
• term o f paym ent by th e n o n -re sid e n t o f the
• transaction s between residents and non-residents,
tran sfe rre d ite m s o f e x p o rt;
and betw een non-resid ents involving the use of
• the term fo r th e p re p aym e nt refund in cases
Belarusian roubles as a means o f paym ent, and
w h en th e n o n -re sid e n t has not fu lfille d its
acquisitio n and disposal o f secu rities in Belarusian
o b lig a tio n s to tra n s fe r the ite m s o f im port
roubles;
or has not fu lfille d such o b lig a tio n s in fu ll;
• etc.
65

• the am ount (approxim ate am ount) o f the 4) C u rren cy transaction s involving non-resident
m onetary obligations o f the parties under the individuals.
agreem ent; U n like cu rren cy tran saction s between legal
• paym ent term s (prepaym ent, paym ent after en tities, w hich can be carried out w ithout
delivery, mixed paym ent). re strictio n s in a non-cash form, Belarusian
U nder agreem ents providing for export/im port, legislation is based on the prohibition on currency
the obligation to repatriate is established, i.e. the transactions involving non-resident individuals.
obligation o f a resident to ensure the follow ing A t the same tim e, there are legal excep tio n s to
is transferred to Belarusian accounts: this prohibition.
• proceeds from expo rt item s transferred to the For exam ple,
non-resident, or T h e follo w ing operations are allow ed between
• the am ount o f the prepaym ent in cases w hen the a residen t legal en tity and a non-resident individual:
non-resident has not fu lfilled its obligations to • paym ents and tran sfers in foreign cu rren cy in a
tran sfer the item s o f im port or has not fulfilled such non-cash form from /to an account o f a residen t legal
o bligations in fu ll; en tity in a Belarusian or a foreign bank;
T h e term o f repatriation depends on the term s • transactions in foreign cu rren cy under real estate
o f paym ent by the non-resident for the transferred rental contract w here such real estate is located in
item s o f export and the term s for the prepaym ent the territo ry o f a foreign state, etc.
refund for the item s o f im port established by the T h e follo w ing operations are allow ed between
agreem ent. a residen t ind ividual and a non-resident individual:
• paym ents and tran sfers in foreign cu rren cy in a
3) Registration o f cu rren cy agreem ents non-cash form;
O n e o f the obligations o f residen ts when • operations in foreign cu rren cy in the territory
w orking w ith cu rren cy agreem ents is that such o f a foreign state;
agreem ents sh all be registered on the web portal of • accepting/giving away foreign currency/Belarusian
the N ational Bank o f Belarus in certain cases. ro u b les/secu rities denom inated in foreign currency
C riteria (cases) for registration o f currency or in Belarusian roubles as a gift or as a donation
agreem ents (in aggregate): (can cellin g a gift/donation), for storage and their
a) A curre n cy agreem ent is concluded between return, by way o f inheritan ce;
a resident and a non-resident. • providing interest-bearing loans, etc.
For exam ple, donation agreem ents in foreign
cu rren cy between citize n s o f Belarus w ill not be 5) C u rren cy transactions involving resident
registered. individuals.
b) Separate transactions are carried out under a C u rren cy tran saction s between resident
cu rren cy agreem ent, the list o f w h ich is closed. ind ividuals and non-resident legal e n titie s are
For exam ple, such o perations include prohibited, w ith the excep tio n s of:
settle m en ts during export/im p ort, making a • paym ents and tran sfers in a non-cash form;
contrib ution by a non-resident to the authorized • cu rren cy transactions in a foreign country;
capital o f a resident legal entity, obtaining a loan • paym ent o f rem uneration in foreign currency
from a non-resident, etc. for perform ance o f labour d u ties;
c) Such cu rren cy agreem ent does not sp e cify the • paym ent/reim bursem ent o f expenses
am ount o f m onetary obligations, o r it is specified for a business trip or referral for training;
and, as o f the date o f co n clu sion o f the agreement, • transactions in foreign cu rren cy under real
reaches 4 ,0 0 0 base v alu e s for resident legal estate rental contract w here such real estate
e n titie s and in d ividual entrepreneurs / 2,000 base is located in the territo ry o f a foreign state;
v alu e s for resident individuals. • transactions in foreign cu rren cy when
A fte r registration o f such agreem ents, the discharging co nsular fu n ction s and co llectin g
resident m ust subm it inform ation on their appropriate fees and duties.
alterations and executio n to the web portal.
610 Legal status
of land and other
immovable property
In a c c o r d a n c e w ith th e c iv il le g isla tio n o f B elarus, the fo llo w in g is c lassified as real esta te:
lan d plots, s u b s o il plots, su r fa ce w ater b o d ie s and e v e r y t h in g that is in se p a ra b le from or s tro n g ly
" c o n n e c t e d w ith th e land, that is, o b j e c t s that c a n n o t b e m o v e d w it h o u t d is p r o p o r t io n a t e d am a g e
"I to their p u rp o se , in c lu d in g forests, p e r e n n ia l p la n ta tio n s, c a p ita l s t ru c t u re s (b u ild in g s, structures),
u n fin ish e d m o t h b a lle d p e r m a n e n t b u ild in g s , iso la te d p r e m is e s, a nd parking sp a c e s.

A n e n te r p ris e as a w h o le as an a s s e t pack age, as w e l l as aircraft and sea v e s s e l s s u b je c t to state

registration, in lan d navig a tio n v e s s e ls , riv e r -s e a navig a tio n v e s s e ls , and s p a c e o b j e c t s s h a ll be
d e e m e d to b e real e sta te and s h a ll b e treated as s u c h . L e g isla t iv e a c t s m a y c la s s if y o t h e r p ro p e rty
as im m o v a b le as well.

Registration is carried out by territo rial agencies

6.10.1 REAL ESTATE REGISTRATION
for state registration and land cadastre (lo cal
agency) in accordance w ith the d eclarative p rinciple
Real estate, as w e ll as any relevant rights to it and
(provisions are made for appearance in person
tran saction s th e re o f are su b ject to state registration.
o f the ap plicant or his representative) for a fee.
Such registration is public.
A ll inform ation about registered real estate
T h e docum ent confirm ing the state registration in
is available in the Unified State Register o f Real
respect o f property or rights to it is a state
Estate, Rights and Transactions (the Real estate
registration certificate. T h e registration o f a real
register). Registration data is open to public access,
estate transaction is certified by making a
except for those that contain personal data o f
registration in scrip tio n on the original docum ent
ind ividu als, and are provided on a fee basis. A
expressing the content o f the registered transaction.
ny person may request inform ation (including
A real estate transaction sh all be invalid if the
inform ation on ow nership and o th er rights) on a
requirem ent for state registration is not fulfilled . In
sp ecific real estate unit by providing its address
som e cases, the legislation estab lish es d eadlin es for
and/or inventory/cadastral number.
applying for state registration.
Refusal o r evasion o f state registration o f real
estate, rights to it and transactions relating to it may
be appealed in court.
T h e procedure for state registration and the
grounds for refusal o f registration are established
by the legislatio n on state registration o f real estate,
rights to it and transactions relating to it.
Such transaction s w ith real estate as lease,
sublease and gratuitous use o f buildings and
structu res and rights to them are not subject
to state registration.
 67

H ow ever, o nly right holders, th eir successors, Furtherm ore, by a decisio n o f the lo cal executive
governm ent agencies and, in som e cases, notaries com m ittee and w itho u t an auction, an investo r can
and law yers can access the list o f all real estate get ow nership o f a land plot in order to
item s owned by a particu lar in d ividual or legal accom m odate a con structio n object.
entity. Lists o f sites for the im plem entation of
investm ent pro jects sh all in all cases be placed on
inform ation boards and o fficial w ebsites o f the
6.10.2. LAND PLOTS lo cal execu tive com m ittees on the Internet (if any),
and can also be distributed in o th er a ccessible
w ays, including through the media.
In Belarus, land plots are used in accordance with
Execu tion by investors o f investm ent
th e ir intended purpose, w hich is established in the
agreem ents w ith the R epublic o f Belarus that make
decisio n on the w ithd raw al and granting o f a land
provisions for giving land plots for the construction
p lot, such decisio n being adopted by the local
o f fa c ilitie s, is allowed after 30 days from the date
execu tive body. T h e lands o f the R epublic of
o f inclu sio n o f the relevant plot in the list o f plots
Belarus are categorized as fo llo w s: agricultural
intended for subsequent provision to investors and
lands, lands o f settle m en ts, in d ustrial lands, lands
(or) organisations im plem enting investm ent
for transportation and other pu rposes; lands o f
p ro jects for the co nstru ction o f fa c ilitie s provided
nature co n servatio n, o f health im provem ent, of
for by investm ent agreem ents concluded w ith the
recreatio nal, o f h isto rical and cu ltu ra l purposes;
R epublic o f Belarus.
forest reserve lands, w ater reserve lands, reserve
T h e right to perm anent use o f a land plot gives
lands.
the right to own and use a land plot for its intended
T h e purpose o f land plots can be changed by
purpose w itho u t a tim e lim it. B elo w are categories
a decisio n o f lo cal execu tive com m ittees on the
o f co m m ercial legal e n titie s that may own a land
grounds o f an ap plication o f an interested person
plot by the right o f perm anent use:
and a package o f docum ents attached to such
• ag ricultural en terprises;
application.
• non-state legal e n titie s (rights to land plots used
Belarusian legal e n titie s (including those with
for servicin g state-ow ned real estate item s);
foreign investm en ts) may have the fo llo w ing rights

* >.
2
to land:
• o w nership;
• right o f perpetual use;
• legal e n titie s w ho use such plots for construction
and m aintenance o f m ulti-apartm ent residen tial
buildings (except for lu xu ry resid en tial buildings
that fall under criteria defined by legislative acts),
• right o f tem porary use;
and for co nstru ction and m aintenance of
• leasehold (the m ost comm on one).
d o rm itories, garages, and car parks;
Transferring land plots from state ow nership to
• legal e n titie s in cases w hen it is required to
private ow nership, w ith som e excep tio n s, is based
provide them w ith another land plot instead o f the
on the resu lts o f an auction. S tate-ow ned land
seized one, in cases w here the seized land plot is
plots are also sold to B elarusian legal en tities:
provided to such e n titie s by the right o f perm anent
• through e le c tro n ic trading;
u se;
• at a public auction for the sale o f a
• legal e n titie s - for the reco nstruction o f existing
co n structio n -in -pro g ress, non-m othballed facility
perm anent stru ctures, isolated prem ises in
in case o f w ithd raw al o f a plot from an investor due
perm anent stru ctu res, in cases when it is required
to non-fulfilm ent o f an investm ent agreement.
to increase the size o f a land plot provided to the
W ith o u t an auctio n, land plots may be
legal en tity by the right o f perm anent use;
transferred from the state ow nership to private
• legal e n titie s - for the con structio n and (or)
ow nership in cases established by legislative acts
m aintenance o f transport and engineering
or specified by the President. For e xam ple, w ithout
in frastru ctu re fa c ilitie s and roadside service
an auction, a land plot can be purchased when
fa c ilitie s (except for the co nstru ction o f roadside
buying a property. A prerequisite for th is is that the
service fa c ilitie s in M insk, in ad m inistrative centers,
property m ust be sold w itho u t an auction and must
and in Bre st, V ite b sk , G o m el, G rodno, M insk, and
already be on the site.
M ogilev d istricts);
Furtherm ore, by a decisio n o f the lo cal executive
T h e above e n titie s may also be granted the right
com m ittee and w itho ut an auctio n, an investo r can
to tem porary use o f a land plot (for a maxim um of
get ow nership o f a land plot in order to
ten years, w ith som e exceptions).
accom m odate a co nstru ctio n object.
68

T h e right o f tem porary use can also be granted • o th er co n ditio ns for the allo tm en t o f the land plot
to investors acting based on concession (including the term for the state registration in
agreem ents w ith duration o f up to 99 years. respect o f the land plot being provided, the term
Lease agreem ents can be concluded for a and o ther con ditio n s for the occupation o f the land
m axim um o f 99 years. Such agreem ents shall plot).
sp e cify the am ount o f lease payments. Foreign legal e n titie s can use land plots o nly by
T h e general rule is that land p lots owned by the the leasehold right.
state are leased based on the resu lts o f one o f the
fo llow ing main typ es o f auctions: 6 .10.3 . BUILDINGS AND CONSTRUCTIONS
• auction for the right to conclude a lease
agreem ent for a land plot;
T h e main docum ent in the field o f construction
• auction for the right to design and build
a ctiv itie s is the Law o f the R epublic o f Belarus No.
perm anent structures.
3 0 0 -Z "O n arch itectu ral, city-plan nin g and
State-ow ned land plots are provided in
co n stru ctio n activ itie s in the R epublic o f Belarus"
accordance w ith the procedure for the w ithdraw al
dated 05.07.2004. In accordance w ith SN
and provision o f land plots, w h ich , as o f A ugust
3.02.07-2020 "C o nstru ction projects.
2022, was established by the President o f the
C lassificatio n ", buildings and stru ctu res are divided
Republic o f Belarus, and after 01.01.2023 w ill be
into 5 classe s o f co m p lexity depending on th eir
established by the C o u n cil o f M in isters o f the
design features, purpose and tech n ical and
Republic o f Belarus.
eco nom ic indicators. Various requirem ents for the
A decisio n on w ithd raw al and provision o f a land
adm ission o f those participating in constructio n
plot m ust sp ecify:
a ctiv itie s (custom er, designer, contractor,
• land users from w hose lands the land plot is
engineering organisation) to these activitie s
w ithdraw n;
im plem entation are based on the co m p lexity class
• the area o f the land plot, indicating that the area
o f a co n stru ctio n project.
to be entered into the Real Estate Register and
Buildings may be resid en tial or non-residential,
included in the lease agreem ent for the land plot (if
w hich is defined by th eir purpose. T h e building
the land plot is leased out) w ill be specified when
codes o f Belarus establish requirem ents for the
establishing the boundaries o f the land plot in situ;
design o f con structio n p ro jects, depending on the
• ind ividuals w ho are granted the right to land;
type o f co nstru ction w ork (construction,
• real right to the land plot and its v a lid ity period if
reco n stru ctio n, restoration, overhaul) and the
the right is a fixed-term one;
p rojects purpose. In som e cases, no project
• intended purpose o f a land plot being provided, as
docum entation has to be developed.
w e ll as the purpose o f the land plot in accordance
Buildings and stru ctu res, as w e ll as isolated
w ith the unified classification o f the purpose o f real
prem ises in them , may be owned by foreign legal
estate o b jects and, if necessary, inform ation on the
e n titie s and individuals.
transfer o f the land plot from one category to
Rental rates for real estate item s owned by state
another;
legal e n titie s should be established in accordance
• the am ount and term s o f paym ent for the right to
w ith the rules established by the presidential
co nclude a lease agreem ent for a land plot;
decree, and are calculated in the base rental values
• the am ount o f lo sses, lo sses o f ag ricultural and
using various co efficien ts. T h e size o f the base
(or) fo restry production su b ject to com pensation,
rental value is an n ually set by the C o u n cil of
the procedure and con ditio n s for their
M in isters o f the R epublic o f Belarus on A p ril 1,
com pensation, and a specified account o f the
taking into account the change in the consum er
republican budget intended for crediting relevant
price index for the previous year in relation to the
paym ents to it;
prior one. Taking into account the moratorium
• existe nce o f re strictio n s (encum brances) o f the
introduced by the President o f the R epublic o f
rights to use the land p lot, including land
Belarus and its subsequent exte nsio n , the base
easem ent;
rental value in 2022 rem ains at the le vel o f 16.90
• co ndition s for the rem oval, preservation and use
roubles (about 6.5 euros) u n til M arch 31, 2023.
o f the fertile so il layer, as w e ll as the procedure for
Rental rates for real estate item s that are
the return and (or) recu ltivatio n o f the land
p rivately owned by in d ividuals and non-state legal
provided for tem porary use;
en titie s, including foreign ones, are defined by
agreem ent betw een the le sso r and the lessee.
69

Local execu tive com m ittees take precedence in Mortgage o f land plots and other property is
term s o f acquiring certain buildings and o th er real allow ed o n ly inso far as th eir circu latio n is allowed
estate item s that can be used for lo cal needs and by legislative acts.
are located w ithin th e ir ju risd ictio n . Lists o f these A lo n g w ith the mortgage o f land plots owned by
real estate item s are established an n ually by local pledgors through the right o f ow nership, in relation
autho rities. In practice, few o b jects are included to a land plot provided on a leasehold basis, such a
in the lists, and the right is used ve ry rarely. right can be pledged, subject to paym ent for it.
Registration in the Real Estate Register o f the T h e fo llow ing e n titie s may act as pledgees o f land
transfer o f ow nership o f the object included plots (or pledgees o f leasehold rights to such land
in the list w ill be made o n ly after the decision plots):
o f the lo cal execu tive com m ittee to refuse • banks that have a sp ecial perm it (lice n ce) to carry
to purchase it. out banking a ctiv itie s in term s o f banking
A lso , legal e n titie s have the p rio rity right to operations for the placem ent o f raised funds on
acquire state property (except for land plots) th eir own b eh alf and at th eir own expense on
when renting it for a period o f at least 3 years co ndition s o f repaym ent, paym ent and m aturity;
w ith paym ent in in stallm en ts for a period o f up • O JS C A sse t M anagement A gency, O JS C
to 5 years, if the alienation o f p roperty was initiated D evelopm ent Bank o f the R epublic o f Belarus on
by a state body that owns the leased property. co n ditio ns that the listed organisations received
interest on the mortgage loan;
6 .10.4 . MORTGAGE • IF C , E B R D and the Eurasian D evelopm ent Bank on
condition that the pledge o f a land plot (pledge of
the right to lease a land plot) ensures repaym ent o f
A ccording to Belarusian legislatio n, mortgage
a loan or o f a cre d it granted to a Belarusian
is a pledge o f im m ovable property (land plots,
resid en t;
perm anent structu res (buildings, structu res), etc.)
• China D evelopm ent Bank, Exp o rt-Im p o rt Bank of
and other property equated by legislative acts to
C hina, IF C , E B R D , Eurasian D evelopm ent Bank in
im m ovable things.
relation to land plots located in the territo ry o f the
A mortgage may arise from a contract (mortgage
G reat Stone In dustrial Park on condition that the
by virtu e o f a co n tract) or on the basis o f a
pledge o f a land plot (pledge o f the right to lease a
legislative act upon the occu rrence o f the
land plot) ensures the repaym ent o f a loan received
circu m stances specified in it, if the legislative act
by C JS C Industrial Park D evelopm ent Com pany or
provides for what property is recognized as being in
a resident o f the above park.
mortgage and what obligation this property is
Mortgage o f b uildings, as w e ll as mortgage o f
supposed to secu re (mortgage by virtu e o f law).
isolated prem ises located on a privately-ow ned
Mortgage can be used to secu re obligations under
land plot is allow ed o n ly in the case of
credit agreem ents, loan agreem ents, purchase and
sim ultaneous mortgage o f the land plot (share in
sale agreem ents, lease agreem ents, w orks contracts
the land plot). A building or isolated prem ises shall
and other agreem ents, as w e ll as from in flictio n of
not be deemed independent mortgaged property
damage, u n le ss o therw ise provided by legislative
u n less no paym ent for the right to co n clu d e a lease
acts.
agreem ent has been made. T h e re fo re , buildings or
Mortgaged property may include real property
isolated prem ises located on a privately-ow ned or
and other property equated by legislative acts to
leased land plot (provided that paym ent for the
im m ovable things, including property w hich w ill be
right to co nclude the lease agreem ent has been
received by the pledgor in the future and which
made) can o n ly ensure the repaym ent o f bank loan
at the tim e o f the co n clu sio n o f a mortgage
agreem ents and loan agreem ents w ith the IFC ,
agreem ent is not deemed to be created in
E B R D , Eurasian D evelopm ent Bank, as w e ll as
accordance w ith the law (fo r exam ple,
C hina D evelopm ent Bank and Exp o rt-Im p o rt Bank
an apartm ent under co nstructio n).
o f China (for land plots located in the territo ry of
W h en a com pany is mortgaged as a property
the G reat Stone In du strial Park).
co m p lex, the right o f pledge extend s to all property
T h e v alu e o f mortgaged property is defined by the
included in the property co m p lex, including the
parties w hen entering the agreem ent, unless
right to claim and e xclu sive rights, including those
o th erw ise provided by legislative acts.
acquired during the mortgage period, u nless
o therw ise provided by legislative acts or the
mortgage agreement.
70

A t the sam e tim e, the v alu e o f a mortgaged land debts o f the pledgor for paym ents to the budget
plot cannot be lo w er than the cadastral valu e of and (or) o ther obligatory paym ents related to the
th is land plot, and the valu e o f mortgaged mortgaged property (if the pledgee, in accordance
perm anent stru ctures (buildings, o b jects) located w ith the term s o f the mortgage agreem ent or out o f
on the land plot or unfinished m othballed capital n ecessity bears such costs), the co sts o f foreclosing
stru ctu res cannot be lo w er than th e ir value on the mortgaged property, including the co sts o f
determ ined by the market m ethod, unless this property d ispo sal during the foreclosure.
o th erw ise established by the President o f the Mortgage o f real property (including an agreement
R epublic o f Belarus. thereof, as w e ll as acqu isition , tran sfer or
A mortgage secures the claim s in the am ount that term ination o f rights) requires its state registration
th ese claim s have at the tim e o f satisfactio n , in the Real Estate Register.
including the am ount o f the main obligation.
U n le ss o therw ise provided by agreem ent, th is also
in clu d es interest, fo rfeit, claim for com pensation
for damages caused by non-perform ance or
im proper perform ance, expen ses for paym ent o f
716 .11 In te lle c tu a l property
protection
In addition to national laws concerning in te lle ctu a l property protection, the Republic o f Belarus is a party
to several international, regional and bilateral agreem ents in this domain.
T h e R epublic o f Belarus also c lo se ly cooperates w ith in tern atio nal and regional bodies active w ithin the
secto r o f in te lle ctu a l property protectio n, including the W orld In te lle ctu al Property O rganization (W IP O ),
the European Patent O ffice and the Eurasian Patent O rganization.

T h e national patent auth o rity in Belarus is the In addition, in 2 0 2 0, the E A E U m em ber countries
N ational C en tre o f In te lle ctu al Property (N C IP ). signed the T reaty on Tradem arks, S ervice M arks and
Its a ctiv itie s inclu de national registration of A p p e lla tio n s o f O rigin o f G oods o f the Eurasian
in te lle ctu al property (IP ), o f agreem ents Eco no m ic U n ion , and now a unified tradem ark
concerning assignm ent o f e xclu sive rights to registration system is being created w ithin the
IP item s, o f licen ce agreem ents, etc. T h e official en tire E A E U .
w ebsite o f the N C IP (ncip.by) publishes and • sele ctio n inventions
regularly updates databases o f registered IP T h e rights to plant v arietie s and anim al breeds
objects. (selection in ventions) are subject to protection
upon obtaining a patent. Sim u ltane o u sly w ith the
6.11.1. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OBJECTS registration o f a plant variety, the plant's name is
registered, w hereas the ap plicant receives a plant
T h e first group o f IP objects is formed by breeder's certificate.
copyrighted item s (w orks o f scie n ce, literatu re and • corporate names
art) and item s o f related rights (perform ances, T h e e xclu sive right to a corporate name arises
phonograms and programmes o f broadcasting and is su b ject to protection from the m oment an
organisations). en tity is registered.
For acquisitio n and exe rcise o f copyright and • layout designs o f integrated circu its
related rights, no registration procedures are To obtain legal protectio n, layout designs must
required, as they arise from the m om ent the be registered w ith the N C IP. Registered layout
relevant o b jects are created. C om puter programs, designs are provided w ith a certificate, w hich
however, may be v o lu n tarily registered w ith the certifies the authorship, the p rio rity o f the design
N C IP if the copyright holder w ish e s to obtain and the e xclu sive right to it.
additional evidence o f its rights and the scope of • geographical ind icatio ns
rights in the event o f any disputes w ith the third T h e legal protection o f a geographical
parties. indication is based on registration w ith the N CIP.
T h e second group o f IP o bjects in clu d es objects A geographical name id entifies a product
o f in d ustrial property rights: as originating from the territo ry o f a certain
• in ventions, u tility m odels, in d ustrial designs geographical o b je ct, and therefore in clu d es the
T h e rights to in vention s, u tility m odels and name o f the place o f the product origin. A t the
ind ustrial designs are protected su b ject to same tim e, the right to use a product can be
obtaining a patent for such objects. Through the granted to several persons, both separately
N C IP it is also possible to file an international and jo intly.
application for an invention in accordance w ith the • production secrets (know-how)
Patent C ooperation Treaty (P C T ), and a Eurasian T h e re is no any established requirem ent for
application to the Eurasian Patent O rganization registration for the purpose o f production secrets
(E A P O ). (know -how ) protection. Know -how is protected
• tradem arks and service marks under the trade secret mode. T h is regime is
Tradem arks are protected in Belarus after th eir established by determ ining the scope o f protected
national registration w ith the N C IP , as w e ll as inform ation and taking m easures necessary to
during th eir international registration under the ensure its confidentiality. T h e trade secret mode
W IP O procedure, if such in tern atio nal registration inclu d es re strictin g access to such secret by
is ap plicable in the territo ry o f the Republic of establishing a procedure for handling trade secret
Belarus. carriers, as w e ll as ensuring that access to
72
inform ation con stitu ting the trade secret is being 6 .11.3 . PROTECTION AGAINST ILLEGAL IMPORT AND EXPORT
kept track of. A n em ployer is en titled to conclude
w ith em ployees w ho need access to trade secrets A s a preventive measure against the practice of
an obligation not to d isclo se trade secrets. "gray" or p arallel im port o f goods, the right holder
o f a tradem ark registered in the R epublic o f Belarus
is entitled to include that tradem ark in the
6.11.2. REGISTRATION OF AGREEMENTS IN RELATION TO Custom s Register o f IP item s m aintained by the
RIGHT TO IP OBJECTS State C u stom s Com m ittee o f the R epublic o f
Belarus.
Licensing agreem ents, agreem ents on the If the custom s auth o rities, w hen perform ing
cession o f rights, agreem ents on the pledge o f custom s procedures, d iscover that any
property rights, franchise agreem ents, and other unauthorized person is trying to im port or export
sim ilar agreem ents regarding the rights to item s of goods marked w ith a tradem ark included in the
in d ustrial property rights, as a rule, are sub ject to register, the custom s au th orities w ill suspend the
registration w ith the N C IP and com e into force release o f goods and inform the right holder, who
o n ly after th e ir registration. A sim ilar rule applies w ill have the oppo rtunity to apply to the custom s
when entering agreem ents to amend the above auth o rities, the court or o th er state bodies to
agreem ents, as w e ll as term inating a franchise protect its rights.
agreement.

6.12 Regulation of labour

6 . 1 2 . 1 EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT A t the request o f the em ployee, the em ploym ent
contract is term inated in the event o f his illn e ss or
T h e basis for e stablishing labour relations d isab ility, entering the m ilitary service under an
between an em ployer and an em ployee in Belarus en listm en t co ntract and other good reasons that
is an em ploym ent agreem ent. Types o f em ploym ent prevent the perform ance o f w o rk under the
agreem ents are provided for by the Labour Code of em ploym ent co n tract, as w e ll as in case o f violatio n
Ju ly 26, 1999 (L C ), w hich is the main statutory by the em ployer o f labour legislation , a co llective
instrum ent regulating labour relations. agreem ent, an em ploym ent agreement.
T h e contract is the most w id e ly used form to
form alize labour relations. 6 .12.3 . CONFIDENTIALITY AND COMPETITION
T h e m inimum term for w hich a contract can be
concluded is 1 year; the maxim um term is 5 years. A n em ployer may require em ployees to sign a
T h e sp ecific v a lid ity o f a co ntract is defined by n o n -disclosure agreem ent. Refusal to sign such an
agreem ent o f the parties. A fte r the expiration o f a agreem ent represents grounds for d ism issal o f the
5-year co n tract, an em ployer is obliged to conclude em ployee.
a new contract for a period o f at least three years. It is im portant to note that an em ployer must
T h e main differences betw een contract and first take care o f establishing a trade secret mode,
agreem ent: i.e. sp e cify the scope o f inform ation to be
protected, the procedure for accessing it and other
6 . 1 2 . 2 EMPLOYMENT TERMINATION aspects provided for by the legislation on the
protection o f trade secrets.
If the mode has been established and a
In Belarus, an em ploym ent relatio nship w ith an
n o n -disclosure agreem ent has been signed, an
em ployee is term inated on the fo llo w ing grounds:
em ployer can com pensate for his lo sses, including
• by the em ployee own v o litio n and at his/her
lo st profits, in case o f disclo su re o f confidential
request;
inform ation.
• by agreem ent o f the parties;
C u rren tly, the Belarusian legislator allow s
• at the d iscretio n o f the em ployer.
co n clu sion o f non-com petition agreem ents only
w ith H T P residents.
 A non-com petition agreem ent may provide Heads o f state enterprises and enterprises w ith a
for m o nthly paym ents to an em ployee upon state share o f at least fifty percent are banned from
term ination o f em ploym ent in the am ount o f at carrying out other a ctiv itie s except for teaching,
least one third o f the average m onthly earnings scie n tific, cu ltu ra l a ctiv itie s and m edical practice.
for the last year, w hereas the m axim um allow able D irecto rs o f en terprises o f all form s o f ownership
v a lid ity is one year from the date o f dism issal. cannot be mem bers o f the bodies carrying out
co n tro l and su p erviso ry fu nctio n s o f such an
6 .12.4 . OPTIONS enterprise.
T h e head bears fu ll financial lia b ility for actual
S in ce 2021, the legislation has made provision damage caused to the property o f the entity.
for co ncluding option agreem ents in L L C s and T h e legislation provides for ad ditio nal grounds
JSC s. for term ination o f em ploym ent relatio ns w ith the
A fte r a certain tim e and su b ject to certain d irector, w hich are as follo w s:
co n ditio ns (for exam ple, fu lfilm en t o f K PI, • bankruptcy proceedings initiated against the
expiration o f a certain period o f w ork in the e ntity;
com pany), key em ployees o f com panies are given • a decisio n to term inate labour relatio ns made by
the right to receive part o f the shares o f the an authorized body (if such decisio n is not
com pany as an in cen tive under an option associated w ith a vio latio n o f the law or the
agreem ent (agreem ent). Such a share may later contract by the head, e arly term ination is possible
be disposed o f together w ith the shares o f other if there is a condition in the em ploym ent contract
participants (for exam ple, w hen the com pany is on the am ount o f com pensation for such early
bought out by a third party), w ith an option to term ination).
distribute profit to such a share.
6 .12.7. REMOTE WORK
6 .12.5 . PERSONAL DATA
Rem ote w ork is perm itted in Belarus starting
For the first tim e in Belarus , a norm ative act from 2020. Em ployees can w ork rem otely not only
regulating the protection o f personal data has been in Belarus, but also abroad. To perform w ork,
adopted - the Law "O n the Protection o f Personal inform ation, and com m unication technolog ies are
Data" dated 07.05.2021. A sp ecialized body - the used, and the personal attendance o f an em ployee
N ational Personal Data Protection C en ter (N P D P C ) is necessary tw ice - w hen being hired and when
- has been created. labour relatio ns are being term inated.
A s a general rule, personal data are processed It is also possible to use com bined working
w ith the con sen t o f the personal data subject, hours, that is, to alternate rem ote w ork and w ork in
except for cases provided for by legislative acts. the office.
H ow ever, w hen form alizing labour (service) It is expected that the process o f organising
relations, as w e ll as in the process o f labour rem ote w ork o f em ployees w ill be facilitated after
(service) activ itie s o f the sub ject o f personal data in the entry into force o f changes in the Labour Code,
cases provided for by law, no consent to the w hich legalises e le ctro n ic docum ent management
processing o f personal data is required. w ithin an entity. In particular, such procedures as
To m aintain u nifo rm ity w hen processing warning an em ployee, obtaining em ployee's
personal data in the labour secto r, N P D P C has co nsen t, fam iliarization (including against
developed Recom m endations on the processing o f signature) w ith lo cal legal acts, w ith orders o f the
personal data regarding labour (service) activitie s. em ployer, no tificatio ns, requirem ents can be made
rem otely, including using handw ritten signature
analogues (that is, for exam ple, using services like
6.12.6. DIRECTOR EMPLOYMENT
D ocuSign, D igital signature, A do be fill & sign,
SignEasy, ZohoSign).
Labour relatio ns w ith the d irecto r as the sole
execu tive body o f a com pany can be differe n t in
certain aspects. T h e basis for regulation is both the
em ploym ent contract and the A rtic le s o f
A sso ciatio n o f the company.
T h e same person may be a d irecto r in several
e n titie s at the sam e tim e, if it is provided for by the
A rtic le s o f A sso ciatio n o f the en tity or agreed upon
by the decision o f the general m eeting of
participants.
74

6.12.8. EMPLOYING FOREIGNERS 6 .12.9 . NON-LABOR RELATIONS

T h e labour a c tiv ity o f foreigners in Belarus is A n en tity can use contractors who are
d istin ct, as th ey can w ork o n ly if the em ployer has in d ividu als by co ncluding a c iv il law contract.
the follo w ing perm issions: A w orks contract is o f a fixed-term nature and is
• perm ission to attract foreign labour. T h is permit co nclu ded , as a rule, for the perform ance o f certain,
must be obtained in cases w here an em ployer most often one-tim e w ork, and is considered
em ploys m ore than 10 foreigners or in cases where fulfilled and sh all be term inated after the purpose
the to tal num ber o f foreigners em ployed exceeds is achieved. T h e legislator provides for the
10 ; co n clu sion o f a c iv il law contract if the need to
• sp ecial perm ission for labour activity. It sh all be perform any w ork is not o f a perm anent and
obtained by the em ployer for each foreigner, long-term nature.
except when the em ployer is an H T P re sid en t; the A contracto r may provide services, perform work
foreigner is a citize n o f the Russian Federation, the or create item s o f in te lle ctu a l property both at the
Republic o f A rm enia, the Republic o f Kazakhstan, location o f the organisation (w h ile paying
the Kyrgyz R ep u b lic; the foreigner is a person who insurance prem ium s), and in another place at its
is not subject to the Law "O n Extern al Labor d iscretio n .
M igration". A n organisation assum es obligations to ensure
Em ploying a foreigner sh all co m p ly w ith the com pliance w ith labor protection requirem ents,
requirem ents o f the Labor Code. For th is end, as w e ll as obligations to pay so cial insurance
a foreign w o rker must present the docum ents co ntrib utions, to calcu late, w ithh o ld and pay
required by law. H ow ever, th ere are som e specifics incom e tax. T h e am ount o f co ntrib utions and taxes
here too: for e xam ple, ed ucatio nal docum ents is sim ilar to the am ount o f such paym ents
obtained in a foreign cou n try require legalisation. ap plicable to the em ploym ent relationship.
A d istin ctiv e feature o f an em ploym ent If the w ork is o f perm anent nature, inherent in
agreem ent w ith a foreigner is that such agreement the perform ance o f o fficial duties by the em ployee,
must inclu de provisions on the procedure for then there is a risk o f recognising such relations as
changing and term inating the em ploym ent labour relations.
agreem ent in case o f cancellatio n o f the sp ecial Recognition o f relations based on a c iv il law
perm it. C o n d itio n s for moving a rem ote w o rker to co ntract as an em ploym ent relatio nship may entail
the R epublic o f Belarus, insurance co n ditio n s, and the need for additional paym ents (com pensation
con ditio n s for his residence in Belarus must be for unused vacation leave, paym ents related to
included as w e ll. T h e term o f an em ploym ent wages, fines for vio la tio n o f labour law s, etc.).
agreem ent must not exceed the term o f the special
perm it, if required, i.e. such an em ploym ent
agreem ent cannot be perpetual. A n em ploym ent
agreem ent must be drawn up in Russian or
Belarusian language, as w e ll as a language
understandable to the em ployee.
A n em ploym ent agreem ent sh all be registered
after co nclusion . It is registered by the em ployer in
the bodies o f citizen sh ip and migration w ithin a
m onth from the date o f its co n clu sion. For this
purpose, the em ployer provides two co pies o f the
em ploym ent agreem ent - one copy belonging to
the em ployer and the o ther, to the em ployee.
75

613 D isp u te s resolution

6 .13.1. STATE COURTS 6 .13.3 . COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION

State courts considering disputes between T h e parties may cho ose arbitration as a m eans to
organisations and/or citize n s can be divided into resolve disputes. T h e re are two popular perm anent
eco nom ic courts and courts o f general ju risd ictio n . internatio nal com m ercial arb itrations in Belarus:
T h e s e courts operate under d iffere nt procedural the In tern ation al A rb itratio n C ourt at the
law s (the Code o f C o m m ercial Procedure and the Belarusian C ham ber o f Com m erce and Industry
C iv il Procedure Code re sp e ctive ly). T h e s e courts (https://iac.by/) and the Internation al A rbitratio n
are headed by the Suprem e Court o f the Republic (A rb itral) C ourt "Cham ber o f A rb itrato rs at the
o f Belarus, in w hich ju d ic ia l d ivisio n s have been Union o f Law yers" (https://arbcham ber .by/).
established for the relevant areas o f practice. T h e re are also about 30 perm anent arbitration
C om m ercial disputes are heard by econom ic courts courts that are not international.
o f the city o f M insk and regions. Belarusian legislation on international
T h e am ount o f the state fee for filing a claim com m ercial arbitration is based on the 1985
w ith the court depends on the nature o f the claim U N C IT R A L M odel Law. D isputes o f econom ic
and its size. W hen applying to the econom ic court nature w ith foreign persons' particip atio n, as w e ll
w ith a real action, a regressive scale o f the state fee as disputes between Belarusian com panies can be
is applied: starting from 5 % o f the valu e o f the referred to internatio nal arbitration courts, u n less
claim (but not le ss than 25 base units or about 290 this is prohibited by law (for exam ple, bankruptcy
euros) and ending w ith 1 %. cases cannot be referred to arbitration).
T h e procedural periods during w hich the A judgem ent rendered by an international
eco nom ic court o f first instance m ust hear arbitration tribunal based in Belarus can be set
a com m ercial dispute is two m onths (up to aside in a state court o n ly for a lim ited number
7 m onths in cases involving foreign persons). o f form al grounds and cannot be review ed on the
A lo n g w ith action proceedings, there is merits.
a p o ssib ility o f resolving cases w ithin the T h e Republic o f Belarus is a party to the N ew
fram ework o f w rit proceedings, w h ich is allowed York Convention on the Recognition and
regarding cases w itho ut an issue in law and o n ly for Enfo rcem ent o f Foreign A rb itra l A w ards o f 1958,
a certain case type. T h e most comm on is w rit as w e ll as the European Convention on
proceedings regarding debt recovery cases. In w rit International C o m m ercial A rb itratio n o f 1961.
proceedings, cases are considered faster than in
action proceedings, the cost o f the state fee is
6 .13.4 . FOREIGN COURTS
much low er, and court hearings are not held.

Dispute reso lution involving foreign parties may

6 .13.2 . NOTARIES
be referred to a foreign court. But som e categories
o f disputes are referred to the exclu sive
In Belarus, notarial a ctiv itie s are carried out by
com petence o f Belarusian courts, in particular:
both governm ental and p rivate-secto r notaries.
• disputes, the subject o f w hich is real estate
For a certain category o f cases, notaries have the
located in the territo ry o f B elarus;
right to issue an enforcem ent in scrip tio n , w hich is
• disputes on econom ic in so lven cy (bankruptcy)
recognized as an execu tive docum ent. T h is is
o f legal en tities located in Belarus;
popular when co llectin g debts on indubitable
• disputes related to the estab lishm en t, registration
cases, subject to prim ary docum ents availability.
or liquidation o f legal e n titie s in the territo ry o f
O btaining an enforcem ent in scriptio n speeds up
Belarus, as w e ll as disputes related to appealing
the process o f debt co llectio n and makes it
against decisio n s o f th eir bodies;
econom ical.
• disputes arising from ad m inistrative legal
relations.
76

Enforcem ent o f foreign jud gm ents in Belarus is 6 .13.6 . ENFORCEMENT

po ssible based on m u ltilateral or bilateral
intern atio n al agreem ents, and in the absence o f such, Enfo rcem ent o f ju d ic ia l decisio n s and other
based on recip ro city, i.e. considering the execution of executive docum ents is carried out by officers of
jud gm ents o f Belarusian courts in a foreign state (the ju stice . T h e unified system o f enforcem ent agencies
existe n ce o f re cip ro city by B elarusian courts is is represented by the main departm ent o f
presum ed). Today, Belarus has intern atio n al treaties enforcem ent o f the M in istry o f Ju stice , as w e ll as
w ith the fo llo w ing co un tries in the relevant sector: by territo rial bodies. Private services o f officers
A rm enia, A zerbaijan, Bulgaria, C hina, Cuba, C yprus, o f ju s tic e are not provided.
C zech R epublic, Egypt, Georgia, Hungary, Iran, Italy, In 2 0 2 0, an automated inform ation system for
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, M oldova, the fulfilm en t o f m onetary obligations (A IS FM O )
M ongolia, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, S erbia, Slovakia, began to operate, sig nifican tly speeding up and
Syria, T ajikistan, Turkm enistan, Turkey, U kraine, sim plifyin g the process o f debt co lle ctio n . A fte r
U zb ekistan , V ietn am . T h e Russian Federation should sending a request to the system through a bank
be given particu lar em phasis: ju d ic ia l acts o f Russian serving the recoverer, A IS FM O w ill c o lle c t data
courts on co m m ercial disputes, in essence, are reflecting the availab ility o f the debtor's funds on
equated w ith acts o f B elarusian courts (and vice all accounts or e le c tro n ic w a lle ts belonging to such
versa) and do not need a sp ecial recognition debtor. If such funds are available (including in
procedure. another cu rren cy), th ey are blocked and, taking into
account the established o rder o f paym ents, are
6 .13.5 . MEDIATION debited from the account or e le ctro n ic w allet
o f the debtor. T h e se operations take several
A n o th e r alternative w ay to resolve a dispute is dozens o f m inutes to perform.
m ediation. In Belarus, m ediation can be used to In January 2021, a database o f enforcem ent
resolve disputes in the field o f civ il, eco nom ic, labour proceedings w as launched containing data on all
and fam ily law, both before and after initiating a case enforcem ent proceedings. Parties can find out the
in court. M ediators act on the basis o f the p rin ciples content o f the requirem ents o f the enforcem ent
o f con fid entiality, im p artiality and independence, and docum ents, the am ount to be recovered, the
must co m p ly w ith the rules o f e th ics approved by the enforcem ent actions taken, etc. A t the sam e time,
M in istry o f Ju stice. In case o f n on-execution o f the clie n ts can find out the queue o f a specific
mediation agreem ent on a vo lu n tary basis, a party is executive docum ent in the register o f debts for free.
en titled to apply to the court for the issuance o f a From M ay 2 022, w ithin the fram ework of
w rit o f execution for enforcem ent. enforcem ent proceedings, cryp to cu rre n cy may also
In 2021, the Republic o f Belarus ratified the be foreclosed on. To th is end, an officer o f ju stice
Singapore Convention on In tern ation al Settlem en t seizes the debtor's cryp to cu rre n cy assets and
A greem ents R esulting from M ediation, which transfers them to the v irtu a l w a lle t o f the
estab lish es the p o ssib ility o f executing international enforcem ent authority. S ubsequ ently, the frozen
mediation agreem ents concluded for the purpose of cryp to cu rre n cy is sold and its valu e is determ ined
settlin g com m ercial disputes, as w e ll as a lim ited list by the am ount o f funds credited to the account
o f form al grounds for refusing such execu tio n . T he o f the enforcem ent authority.
national m ediation law and procedural code have
been am ended to regulate the enforcem ent o f such
mediation agreements.
 7. Taxes and other
obligatory
payments

T h e m a i n n o r m a t i v e l e g a l a c t r e g u l a t i n g t a x a t i o n i n B e l a r u s is t h e T a x C o d e
o f th e R e p u b lic o f B e la ru s .

71 Corporate tax
C o r p o r a t e t a x is p a i d b y e n t i t i e s . A t t h e s a m e t i m e , f o r e i g n e n t i t i e s c a n
b e p a y e r s o f c o r p o r a t e t a x o n l y i n r e l a t i o n t o a c t i v i t i e s c a r r i e d o u t in
B e l a r u s t h r o u g h a p e r m a n e n t e s t a b l i s h m e n t , o r in r e l a t i o n t o i n c o m e
f r o m s o u r c e s in t h e R e p u b l i c o f B e l a r u s a n d in r e l a t i o n t o p r o p e r t y
l o c a t e d in t h e t e r r i t o r y o f B e l a r u s .
78

T h e s t a n d a r d c o r p o r a t e t a x r a t e is 1 8 % . S i n c e 2 0 2 2 , l o c a l a u t h o r i t i e s h a v e b e e n g r a n t e d
t h e r i g h t t o i n c r e a s e t h e c o r p o r a t e t a x r a t e b y 2 % (i n 2 0 2 2 , t h e c o r p o r a t e t a x r a t e in
G o m e l , V i t e b s k , M o g i l e v r e g i o n s is 2 0 % ) .
A p r e f e r e n t i a l r a t e o f 5 % is u s e d t o t a x c o m p a n i e s ' p r o f i t s g e n e r a t e d f r o m t h e s a l e o f
g o o d s t h a t a r e p r o d u c e d b y t h o s e c o m p a n i e s a n d a r e i n c l u d e d in t h e l is t o f h i g h - t e c h
g o o d s ( R e s o lu t io n o f th e C o u n c il o f M in is te rs o f th e R e p u b lic o f B e la ru s N o . 3 0 8
" A b o u t d e t e r m i n a t i o n o f t h e lis t o f h i g h - t e c h n o l o g y g o o d s " d a t e d M a y 1 7 , 2 0 2 2 ) .
B a n k s , in su ra n ce c o m p a n ie s , fo re x c o m p a n ie s a n d m ic ro fin a n c e o rg a n is a tio n s p a y
c o r p o r a t e t a x a t a ra te o f 2 5 % .
W i t h re gard to d iv id e n d s , B e la ru s ia n m e m b e r s o f B e la ru s ia n e n titie s are e n t it le d to
a r e d u c e d t a x ra te o f 6 % if n o p r o fit has b e e n d i s t r ib u t e d d u r i n g t h e last 3 c a le n d a r y e a r s ;
a n d a t a ra te o f 0 % if t h e p r o fi t has n o t b e e n d i s t r i b u t e d o v e r t h e p a s t 5 y e a r s ,
n o t w i t h s t a n d i n g t h e f a c t t h a t t h e p r o f i t f o r d i s t r i b u t i o n w a s , in f a c t , a v a i l a b l e .

72 Foreign companies
income tax (FC TI)
Payers o f incom e tax are foreign e n titie s that - 6% for in ternatio n al transportation, forwarding
receive incom e from sources in the Republic and freight charges;
o f Belarus and do not operate in the country - 10 % on incom e from debt obligations
through a perm anent establishm ent. (fo r e xam ple, incom e from cre d its and loans);
T h e follo w ing rates may apply for incom e tax: - 12 % on dividends and incom e from the alienation
-5% on dividend s if th ey are paid by an H T P o f shares and in terests in the en tity 's authorized
resident cap ital;
For reference: For a num ber o f incom es, full - 15% for o th er typ es o f incom e pursuant to the list
exem ption from incom e tax is provided. Such provided by the T a x Code.
exem ption includ es incom e generated from the Double taxation treaties (D T T s ) u sua lly allow
provision o f data processing and inform ation eith e r exem ption from tax on incom e (m ost often,
placem ent services to H T P residents, data entry this applies to ordinary business incom e) or
and processing services, advertising services, establish reduced incom e tax rates depending on
interm ediary services, etc. A 0 % rate is also applied the type o f incom e (ro yalties, property incom e,
when alienating a share in the authorized capital dividends).
o f an H T P entity. T o apply the relevant D T T , a no n-resid ent must
- 6 % o f participation in Belarusian investm ent provide its Belarusian co unterp arty w ith an
funds for 3 calend ar years, starting from the first up-to-date certificate o f its tax re sid en cy issued by
calend ar year in w h ich the profit from such a fund a com p etent foreign authority.
was made: u n til January 1, 2025 in case of In som e cases, in order to apply a reduced rate,
alienation o f se cu ritie s in Belarus (except for it w ill also be necessary to prove to the tax office
shares) and (or) th e ir redem ption; o f shares in the that the re cip ien t is the actual ow ner o f the
authorized capital o f an organisation located in incom e, and does not perform e x c lu siv e ly
Belarus interm ed iary fu nctio n s in order to tran sfer that
incom e to any third parties.
 79

Incom e tax in Belarus is u sually w ithh eld by legal

en titie s, ind ividual entrepreneurs and individuals
(fo r several typ es o f incom e) w ho accrue and (or)
pay incom e to a foreign person and are obliged to
w ithh o ld the am ount o f tax from the am ounts paid
to a non-resident.

73 Income tax
Incom e taxpayers can be both citize n s o f the M em bers o f a Belarusian en tity have the right to
Republic o f Belarus and foreign citize n s or apply a reduced rate o f 6% when paying taxes
statele ss persons. ap plicable to the am ount o f dividends in cases
T h e criterion o f tax resid en cy is im portant in w hen no decision has been made on the
determ ining w h e th e r there is a tax lia b ility in distributio n o f profits during the last 3 calendar
respect o f incom e tax. years between the m em bers (shareholders) o f a
A s a general rule, a tax resident o f Belarus is a Belarusian en tity, provided th ese mem bers are tax
person w ho has actu a lly stayed in the territo ry of residents o f the R epublic o f Belarus. A rate o f 0 % is
the R epublic o f Belarus for more than 183 days allow ed to be applied in cases w hen no decision
in a calen d ar year. has been made on the distribution o f profits over
Tax residents pay incom e tax ap plicable to their the past 5 years betw een the members
incom e both from so urces in Belarus and from (shareholders) o f a B elarusian entity, provided
sources o utside the country. these participants are tax residents o f the Republic
Tax non-resid ents pay incom e tax ap plicable to o f Belarus. T h is benefit ap plies o n ly to participants
th eir incom e from so urces in the R epublic of w ho are tax residents o f the Republic o f Belarus.
Belarus only. Regarding incom e from the lease (sublease), rent
T h e standard incom e tax rate is 13% (including o f resid en tial and n o n-resid en tial prem ises in the
dividends). territo ry o f the R epublic o f B elarus, the incom e tax
A rate o f 16% ap plies to the incom e o f individual is established in fixed am ounts. For exam ple, for
entrepreneurs. renting a one-room apartm ent in M insk, it is
T h e rate o f 16% also applies to a situation w here necessary to pay 3 6 .8 0 Belarusian roubles
the tax inspectorate reveals undeclared incom e of (approxim ately 14.50 U S d o llars) per month,
any in d ividual and (or) a cle a rly expressed amount for a two-room apartm ent - 73.60 Belarusian
by w h ich expen ditu res exceed the incom e. roubles (approxim ately 29 U S dollars).
A rate o f 4 % applies to certain w innings
(returned unplayed bets) o f gam bling games from
o rganizers-residents o f the R epublic o f Belarus.
 8о

7-4 Contributions to the

social insurance fund
C om pulsory insurance con trib ution s include For ind ividual business e n tities, benefits have
pension and so cial insurance contrib utions. Payers been established for paying co ntrib utions to the
who make these co ntrib utions in clu de em ployers N ational S o cia l S ecu rity Fund, w hich can be used
(including representative offices o f foreign in relation to an em ployee if he/she w ishes,
e n titie s), and w orking individuals. for e xam ple, for:
T h e base for accruing co m p ulso ry insurance - H T P residents
co n trib utio n s is wages, as w e ll as o th er paym ents - residen ts o f the G reat Stone In du strial Park.
in kind and in cash, including prem ium s, bonuses T h u s, co m p ulso ry insurance co ntrib utio ns are
and rem uneration under c iv il law contracts. not charged on the part o f the incom e (paym ents)
A s a rule, co m p ulso ry insurance contrib utions o f these em ployees, w hich is the base for accruing
at a rate o f 3 4 % (inclu din g 2 8 % o f com pulsory such co n trib utio ns, if that part exceed s the single
insurance con trib ution s for pension insurance and average wage o f em ployees in the republic for the
6 % for s o cial insurance) o f the am ount o f paym ents month preceding the month for w hich com pulsory
are paid by an em ployer, and 1 % by an em ployee. insurance co n trib ution s m ust be paid.
U su ally, the en tire am ount o f co m p ulso ry insurance For exam ple, an em ployee received U S D 1000
co n trib utio n s is w ithh eld by an em ployer or other in A ugust. T h e average salary in Belarus in Ju ly was
organisation when paying to an individual. U S D 60 0 . T h e am ount o f insurance contrib utions
C o ntributio n s to the N ational S o cia l Secu rity w ill be calculated by using the value U S D 600
Fund w ill not be paid from the am ount o f incom e (not U S D 1000).
that exceed s five tim es the average wage of
em ployees in the republic for the month preceding
the month for w hich co m p ulso ry insurance
co n trib utio n s w ere paid.

7.5 V alu e added

tax (VAT)
нИЮ *

zs
T h e first category in clu d es the im portation of T h e standard V A T rate is 2 0 % . O th e r rates:
goods into the R epublic o f Belarus, and in th is case, • 0 % : for goods subject to the custom s procedure
the taxpayers are the im porters o f the relevant for expo rt and upon presentation o f supporting
goods. W h en im porting goods from the territo ry of docum ents;
the E A E U , V A T is co llecte d by the tax auth o rities at • 10 % : in plant growing and ag ricultural production;
the place o f registration o f the im porter. In other • 10 % : w hen im porting and sellin g food products
cases, it is co llecte d by custom s authorities. and goods for ch ildren in accordance w ith the list
T h e second largest category in clu d es turnovers established by A p p e n d ix 26 to the T ax Code;
associated w ith the realizatio n o f goods (w orks, • 10 % : w hen im porting into the territo ry o f the
services), and property rights in the territo ry o f the Republic o f Belarus and (or) when selling
R epublic o f B elarus, and, in this case, the tax pharm aceutical drugs and m edical devices in the
lia b ilitie s for V A T are borne by persons carrying out territo ry o f the R epublic o f Belarus, subject to a
the said realization. num ber o f co n ditio n s;
81
• 2 5 % : for teleco m m unicatio n services (service T h e obligation to draw up an EFI does not arise
providers, operators providing m obile in the fo llow ing cases:
com m unications). • the su b ject o f sale and purchase is not considered
Belarus uses a single registration w ith the tax a tax unit su b ject to V A T and is not indicated in the
auth o rity for the paym ent o f all types o f taxes, tax return;
th erefo re, for the purposes o f paying V A T, no • certain banking tran sactions;
separate registration is required. A n exception to • insurance services;
th is rule is foreign organisations that in cur V A T • sale o f goods, se rv ice s (w orks) exem pt from V A T ,
due to the sale o f services in e le ctro n ic form to or sale o f property rights to foreign com panies not
in d ividu als in the territo ry o f the R epublic o f registered w ith the Belarusian tax auth o rities;
Belarus. • goods are im ported into the territo ry o f B elarus
A n e le ctro n ic tax invoice (E F I) is the basic on the basis o f com m ission (interm ediary)
docum ent for a ll V A T payers. A n EFI is used to agreem ents;
calcu la te V A T between se lle rs and buyers, as w e ll • provision o f services in e le c tro n ic form
as for dedu ctib le input V A T am ounts. T he by a foreign com pany to individuals.
EFI-b ased e le ctro n ic docum ent w orkflo w is
im plem ented using a sp ecial portal o f electro n ic
invoices (vat.gov.by), w hich is an inform ation
resource o f the M inistry o f Taxes and D ues o f the
Republic o f Belarus. A t the same tim e, an E FI is not
a prim ary accounting docum ent.

7 6 Property tax
Property taxpayers are ow ners, tenants, lessees, registration, before the state registration o f their
borrow ers. Property tax is paid by both legal creation, m odification or acquisition o f rights for
en titie s and individuals. them , tran sfer o f th eir o w nership, econom ic
In the case o f legal e n tities, the o b jects of management or o perational m anagem ent;
taxation are as fo llo w s: - perm anent stru ctu res (buildings, stru ctu res), th eir
- perm anent structu res (buildings, stru ctu res), their state-ow ned parts, including parts received for
parts, w hich are the property or are covered by the gratuitous use by jo in t-sto ck com panies created in
econom ic management or the operational the process o f transform ation o f rental, c o llective
managem ent o f e n tities; (national), state, and state unitary enterprises.
- perm anent structu res (buildings, stru ctu res), their In the case o f ind ividuals, the o b jects o f taxation
parts located in Belarus and taken on a financial are as fo llo w s:
lease (leasing) from B elarusian e n tities, if the - perm anent stru ctu res (buildings, stru ctu res), th eir
o b jects o f leasing are not on the balance sh eet o f parts owned by ind ividuals by right o f ow nership or
le sso r e n titie s; inherited parts; shares in the right o f ow nership or
- perm anent structu res (buildings, stru ctu res), their shares in the inheritance o f the said property;
parts located in Belarus and taken on lease by - unfinished perm anent structu res;
en titie s (financial lease (leasing )); other - perm anent stru ctu res (buildings, stru ctu res), th eir
com pensated or free use provided by foreign parts, taken in financial lease (leasing) from an
en titie s that do not operate in Belarus through a organisation by an ind ividual acting as an individual
perm anent representative office; entrepreneur when entering into the agreem ent,
- registered (by w ay o f accounting, or registered in if under the term s o f the financial lease (leasing)
the incom e and expenditure ledger o f en tities agreem ent these o b jects are not on the balance
applying the sim plified taxation system ) perm anent sheet o f the lesso r organisation;
stru ctu res (buildings, stru ctu res), th eir parts, the - single-apartm ent resid ential buildings or
creation , m odification o f w hich or acquisition of apartm ents taken by an individual w ho does not act
rights for them , tran sfer o f th eir ow nership, as an individual entrepreneur when entering into
econom ic management or o perational management the agreem ent, in financial lease (leasing) under
for w hich are su b ject to state a financial lease (leasing) agreem ent providing for
the purchase o f the leased asset.
 T h e standard real estate tax rate for e n titie s and Furtherm ore, reduced real estate tax rates are
in d ividual entrepreneurs is 1% o f the book valu e o f applied to perm anent structu res erected after
the buildings and stru ctu res or isolated prem ises. 01.01.2019: 0 .2 % , 0 .4 % , 0 .6 % , 0 .8 % during,
A t th e ir d iscretio n , lo cal execu tive bodies have the resp e ctive ly, the second - fifth years from the date
right to increase or d ecrease real estate tax rates on w hich such buildings are com m issioned.
for certain categories o f payers, but not more than T h e tax rate for in d ividu als (inclu din g individual
tw ice. entrepreneurs) is 0.1% o f the value o f the owned
R elevant increasing (reducing) coefficie n ts can perm anent stru ctu re, determ ined as o f January 1,
be found on the w ebsite o f the M inistry o f Taxes based on the estim ated cost o f one square m eter
and D ues o f the R epublic o f Belarus. o f a standardized perm anent structu re (building,
T h e re are som e benefits for th is tax applied to stru ctu re) and the total area o f such constructio n
e n titie s engaged in co n stru ctio n at th e ir own object.
expense.

77 Land tax
E n titie s owning land plots under the right of Pursuant to the general rule, the land tax rate
perm anent or tem porary use or as private property, depends on the cadastral value o f a land plot and
as w e ll as ind ividuals owning land p lots in the ranges from 0 .0 2 5 % to 3 % o f it, depending on the
territo ry o f the R epublic o f Belarus under the right fun ctio n al use o f the land plot, w ith the exception
o f tem porary use, as private property, or life-lo ng o f the land tax on ag ricultural land for agricultural
in h eritable possession are recognized as land tax purposes, the rates o f w hich are set depending on
payers. T h e category o f payers also includes the cadastral valuatio n in the Tax code.
in d ividuals w ho have accepted land plots by
inheritance.

78 Offshore tax
O ffsh o re tax is an ad ditional tax lia b ility that is T h e o ffsho re tax rate is 15% o f the amount
applied w hen making paym ents to a non-resident o f the transferred funds.
o f the Republic o f Belarus, registered in one o f the T h e transfer o f funds is not the o nly o b ject of
offsho re zones - cou n tries and regions with o ffsh o re taxation. Such o b jects o f taxation also
e xtre m ely favorable tax regimes. O ffsh o re tax is include:
also payable in cases when a non-resident is not • fu lfillm e n t o f an obligation in non-m onetary form,
registered in an offshore zone, but the m oney is except for cases w hen a non-resident fu lfills a
transferred to such no n -resid en t's bank account counter-obligation by transferring funds to an
opened in the offshore zone. account belonging to a resident o f the R epublic of
T h e list o f o ffsh o re zones is established by B elaru s;
D ecree o f the President o f the R epublic o f Belarus • tran sfer o f p roperty rights and (or) obligations in
No. 353 "O n approval o f the list o f offsh ore zones" co nnectio n w ith the change o f persons in an
dated M ay 25, 2006. obligation to w h ich a no n-resid ent is a party.
 83

7.9 Ecological tax and tax

for extraction (removal)
of natural resources
T h e e n v ir o n m e n ta l ta x d e p e n d s o n th e a m o u n t o f p r o d u c tio n w a s te , e m is s io n s
o f p o llu ta n ts in to th e a tm o s p h e re d u rin g p ro d u c tio n , w a s te w a te r p o llu tio n ,
as w e l l as t h e h a z a r d c l a s s o f t h e c o r r e s p o n d i n g e m i s s i o n s o r w a s t e .

T h e tax for the extractio n (rem oval) o f natural resources is levied depending on the type (ore, sand, clay, salt)
and the am ount o f natural resources being extracted . Fo r o il, the tax rate is set on the basis o f the average
le v e l o f p rices on the w orld m arkets for the tax period w h ich has ended.

7.10 Tax treaties

A s o f J a n u a r y 1, 2 0 2 2 , d o u b l e t a x a tio n t re a tie s w ith 70 c o u n t r i e s are in force in B e la ru s :
I MB

Arm enia H Germ any В Lithuania Q Spain

A u stria = Hungary >
;sMacedonia И Sri Lanka
A zerbaijan в Hong Kong m M alaysia := Sweden
Bahrain India и M oldova в Sw itzerland
Bangladesh H Indonesia n M ongolia в Syria
Belgium в Iran = N etherlands о Tajikistan
Bulgaria 1 Ireland в Oman в Thailand
ІЯ El * J !! i III 4-: i

China m Israel □Pakistan в Turkey

Croatia 11 Italy в Poland т Turkm enistan
Cyprus и Japan m Q atar ы Venezuela
Ch ech republic □ Kazakhstan 11 Romania в Vietnam
Denm ark Ш N orth Korea в Russia в United A rab Em irates
Ecuador K] South Korea в Saudi Arabia га Ukraine
Egypt в Kuw ait m Serbia в G reat Britain
Estonia в Kyrgyzstan га Singapore и USA
Finland D Laos в Slovakia в U zbekistan
France = Latvia в Slovenia
Georgia О Lebanon в South A frica
85

81 Custom s Union
T h e C usto m s U n io n operates as part o f the T h e E A E U has adopted a Com m on C usto m s T ariff
Eurasian Eco n o m ic Union (E A E U ). T h e Union has and unified N on-Tariff Regulatory M easures.
its own internal market o f goods, provides for free T h e C ustom s Code o f the E A E U regulates the
m ovem ent o f th ese goods between the territories custom s procedures im plem ented throughout the
o f the E A E U m em ber states (w ith o ut the use of custom s territo ry o f the E A E U in relation to goods
custom s declaration and state co n tro l), and being transported across the custom s border o f the
m aintains uniform custom s regulation. W ith in the E A E U . A ls o , the Custom s Code is used as a basis
fram ework o f the internal m arket, free m ovem ent o f for custom s contro l. W h en being handled in
goods, persons, s ervices and capital is ensured, accordance w ith a relevant custom s procedure, the
w hereas im port and export duties and other custom s declaration o f goods, including the
m easures are not applied. determ ination o f th e ir custom s valu e , is carried out
U nified custom s regulation is based on the pursuant to the requirem ents o f the C ustom s Code
C ustom s Code o f the E A E U , as w e ll as international o f the E A E U , and in ternation al treaties and acts
treaties and acts that are concluded w ithin the co nstitu tin g the law o f the E A E U .
fram ework o f the E A E U and co n stitu te its law.

82 T e c h n ic a l regulations
T h e E A E U has a unified tech n ical regulation, T h e obligatory confo rm ity assessm ent in the E A E U
w hich is expressed as enforcem ent o f uniform is carried out in accordance w ith uniform rules and
m andatory requirem ents established in the procedures. T h e re fo re , after passing such
tech n ical regulations o f the E A E U and applied to assessm ent, the circu la tio n o f such products in the
products and processes w ithin its territory. Release territo ry o f all E A E U m em ber states is carried out
o f products so as to provide for circu latio n o f the w itho ut any additional requirem ents and w ithout
above products w ithin the territo ry o f the E A E U is additional procedures, and the docum ent
po ssible o n ly after passing the necessary confirm ing the co nfo rm ity o f these products is
procedures for assessing com pliance o f such valid throughout the E A E U . T h e exceptio n is
products w ith the requirem ents o f th is techn ical sanitary, veterinary-san itary and quarantine
regulation, provided such products are subject to phytosanitary m easures, for w h ich , in addition to
the relevant tech n ical regulation in force. the uniform requirem ents o f the E A E U , it is also
possible to tem p o rarily introduce such measures
by each m em ber state o f the E A E U separately.

8.3 E A E U bodi es
T h e E A E U has an independent system o f Union
bodies:
• Suprem e Eurasian Eco n o m ic C o u n cil;
• Eurasian Intergovernm ental C o u n cil;
• Eurasian Eco n o m ic C o m m issio n;
• C ourt o f the Eurasian Econo m ic U nion.

T h e powers o f th ese bodies are specified by the

Treaty on the Eurasian Eco no m ic U nion, signed on
M ay 29, 2014 in A stana (h ereinafter referred to as
the E A E U Treaty), and o th er international
agreem ents w ithin the fram ework o f the E A E U .
 86

84 Court of the
Eurasian Econom ic Union
T h e perm anent ju d ic ia l body o f the E A E U is the W hen applying to the E A E U C o urt, it is mandatory
Court o f the Eurasian Eco no m ic Union (hereinafter to fo llo w the p re-trial procedure executed in the
referred to as the E A E U C ourt), w hich is located in form o f the ap plican t's p relim inary ap plication to
M insk, the R epublic o f Belarus. T h e E A E U C ourt is the M em ber State or the E E C . If the M em ber State
authorized to co nsid er ap plication s from both or the E E C fails to take m easures to reso lve the
E A E U M em ber S tates and eco nom ic entities. issue w ithin 3 m onths, an applicant may apply to
A t the sam e tim e, econom ic e n titie s have the the E A E U Court.
right to file ap p licatio n s in co nnectio n w ith the A n ap plication to the E A E U C ourt requires
violation paying a fee, but the fee is returned if the E A E U
o f th eir rights and legitim ate in terests on the C ourt satisfies the requirem ents o f the business
fo llow ing two grounds: entity. T h e rest o f litigation co sts is borne
• concerning com pliance o f a decisio n o f the ind ependently by each party to a dispute. During
Eurasian Eco nom ic C om m ission (h ereinafter the the consideration o f a case by the E A E U C ourt at
E E C ) or its in d ividual provisions w ith the E A E U any stage, it is po ssible to se ttle out o f court.
Treaty and internatio nal treaties w ithin the T h e ap plication subm itted by an eco nom ic entity
fram ework o f the E A E U ; is considered at a session o f the Ju d icial bench o f
• concerning challenging an E E C action (inaction). the E A E U C ourt w ith the participation o f the
M oreover, the right to file an ap plication w ith the parties to the dispute and/or th eir representatives.
E A E U Court can be eq u ally e xercised by legal D ecisio n s o f the Ju d icial bench o f the E A E U Court
en titie s and in d ividual entrepreneurs o f both the may be appealed to the A p p e lla te Cham ber o f the
M em ber S tates and third countries. E A E U Court.

85 Tax
treatment
jp ?
In m utual trade in goods betw een the E A E U Inform ation necessary to ensure the
m em ber states, in d irect taxes (V A T and excises) co m p leteness o f paym ent o f ind irect taxes is
are co llecte d pursuant to the p rin cip le o f the exchanged between tax au tho rities in the E A E U
country o f destinatio n. A s a re su lt, when exporting m em ber states e le c tro n ica lly, including the
goods from the territo ry o f one m em ber state o f application for the im port o f goods and payment
the E A E U , a zero V A T rate and/or exem ption from o f ind irect taxes being subm itted by payers as an
paym ent o f e xcise s is applied, w hereas im position e le ctro n ic docum ent.
o f in d irect taxes o ccurs when these goods are Taxation o f incom e o f an in d ividual w ho is a tax
im ported into the territo ry o f another m em ber resident o f one E A E U m em ber state, em ployed in
state o f the E A E U . another E A E U m em ber state, is carried out in the
D uring perform ance o f w ork or the during latter from the first day o f his w ork there.
provision o f services, ind irect taxes are collected
in an E A E U m em ber state, the territo ry o f which
is recognized as the place w h ere w ork or services
are im plem ented.
87

8.6 Labour
specifics
In the E A E U , both em ployers and custom ers who Education-related docum ents issued by
o rder w orks (services) have the right to hire workers ed ucational in stitu tio n s o f an E A E U m em ber state
from o ther E A E U m em ber states w itho u t any are recognized in other E A E U m em ber states and
re strictio n s ap plicable to the protection o f the do not require any ad ditio nal recognition
n ational labour market. A t the same tim e, w orkers procedures, except for pedagogical, legal, m edical
o f the E A E U m em ber states do not need to obtain and pharm aceutical activitie s.
a perm it to w ork in ano ther E A E U m em ber state. In W o rkers o f a m em ber state o f the E A E U and th eir
addition, w orkers and m em bers o f th e ir fam ilies are fam ily mem bers are also granted the right to
exem pted from the obligation to register unhindered transfer o f funds in com pliance with
(registration) w ithin 30 days from the date o f entry the established procedure; also, th eir ch ildren are
into the territo ry o f an E A E U m em ber state to carry granted the right to attend pre-schoo l institu tio ns
out labour activitie s. and receive education in accordance w ith the
legislation o f the state o f em ploym ent.

D IS C LA IM ER :

T h is d o c u m e n t d o e s n o t c o n s titu te an o ffe r o r in v ita tio n to

s u b s c rib e fo r o r p u r c h a s e a n y s e c u ritie s . N e i t h e r th is d o c u m e n t
n o r a n y t h i n g c o n t a i n e d t h e r e in s h a ll f o r m t h e basis o f a n y
a g r e e m e n t o r o b l i g a t i o n . T h i s d o c u m e n t is p r o v i d e d t o y o u
fo r in fo rm a tio n a l p u rp o s e s o n ly a n d m a y n o t be re p ro d u c e d
o r tra n s fe rre d to a n o th e r p e rs o n . A n y in v e s tm e n t d e c is io n
in r e s p e c t o f t h e s e c u r i t i e s o f t h e r e l e v a n t e n t i t y m u s t b e
m a d e o n t h e b asis o f a c ir c u la r o r is s u e p r o s p e c t u s a p p r o v e d
b y s u c h e n t it y , a n d n o t b e c a u s e o f th is d o c u m e n t .
op NATIONAL AGENCY OF
D O
INVGSTMGNTAND PRIVATIZATION
REPUBLIC OF BELARUS
□О
THE NATIONAL AGENCY FOR INVESTMENT AND PRIVATIZATION WILL BE PLEASED TO GIVE A HELPING HAND
TO FOREIGN INVESTORS THAT HAVE INTEREST IN DOING BUSINESS IN BELARUS. WE CAN:

Provide information about O ffer facilities for negotiations and provide

in vestm ent opportunities, support in the course of negotiations
preferential regimes and
incentives, industries and Arrange visits to the R e p u b lic of Belarus
legal framework (draw up a visit programme and assist in
obtaining a visa)
Provide u p -t o -d a t e information
on investm ent projects R epresent you r interests in negotiations
with national and lo ca l authorities regarding
Search and se le c t options of the im plem en ta tion of in vestm ent projects
plots of land and prem ises as w ell as p o ssib le im provem en ts in the
c o n d itio n s for doing b usiness in Belarus
Find potential partners to
im plem en t an in vestm ent project Provide support during the
and arrange meetings and p o st -in v e st m e n t phase
negotiations with potential
partners to establish cooperation

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