79Acquisition International | June 2014 |

SECTOR SPOTLIGHT:The attractiveness of the Republic of Belarus for the foreign manufacturers: technical regulation issues

The attractiveness of the Republic of Belarus for the foreign manufacturers: Technical regulation issues

By Maxim Shapelevich, Senior Associate at law firm “Stepanovski, Papakul & partners” andNadya Hadanovich, Advocate Assistant at law firm “Stepanovski, Papakul & partners”--------------------------------------------------------------Technical regulation in Belarus is based on the legislation of the Single Economic Space (SES) and on the national legislation. Regulation is constructed upon principle “on which goods there is no regulation at the level of SES, are regulated by national technical legal acts”. Such dual regulation exists, because the harmonization process is not finished yet.

Establishment of single regulation can be assessed twofold. Uniform requirements to a wide range of goods were developed, which greatly simplified the turnover within the territory of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan. But, on the other hand the list of goods that can not be imported and put into the turnover without a certificate or declaration of conformity has expanded.

Change in the balance in number of types of goods subject to declaration and certification occurred in the direction of obligatory declaration of conformity. This change is largely caused by the expansion of the practice of declaring goods, which were previously not subject to conformity assessment; thus, this tendency can hardly be called liberalization.

Recognition of foreign certificates is possible if Belarus is a member of certain certification system, and there is an agreement between Belarus and third state on the issue of recognition of works in the field of certification. There is only agreement of that kind concluded with Ukraine. Belarus is a member – state of IEC System for Conformity testing and Certification of Electrotechnical Equipment and Components, and the certificates, issued in this system, may be recognized in Belarus.

Thus, a step forward in the field of technical regulations can be noted concerning Belarus and as a consequence its attractiveness to foreign manufacturers. At the same time the barriers in the field of technical regulation to some extent continue to preclude the import of foreign goods.

Company: Stepanovski, Papakul & partnersE-mail: info@spplaw.by Web: http://spplaw.by/en/Name: Maxim Shapelevich Name: Nadya HadanovichAddress: 16 Kuibyshev Street, 4th Floor220029 Minsk, BelarusPhone: +375 17 209 44 83Liubov Terletska / Shutterstock.com