Klim Stashevsky

On 11 July 2024, a new edition of the Law on Investments (the “Law”) entered into force, which provides for new investment mechanisms. We have described the new edition earlier, but now we would like to focus on the new investment mechanisms.

The Law No. 274-Z dated 30.06.2023 was published amending the Law No. 427-Z dated 17.07.2008 “On Mass Media” (“the Law on Mass Media”). The new version establishes, inter alia, provisions on news aggregators, an expanded list of obligations for owners of Internet resources, grounds for to Internet resources access restriction, and the possibility for countermeasures against foreign mass media outlets.

A draft law "On Amendments to the Laws on Entrepreneurial Activity" was introduced into the Parliament. The document launches a reform of the regulation of entrepreneurial activity.

Arzinger prepared a detailed overview of the changes and their possible consequences.

On April 12, 2023, the President signed the Edict No. 102 "On the Development of the High-Tech Park"

In response to imposition of sanctions on the Republic of Belarus by certain states, on March 19, 2022 an Edict No. 93 “On Additional Measures for Stable Functioning of the Economy” was officially published (entered into force on March 14, 2022).

The investigation on import of cable and wire products to Ukraine lasted for more than a year and finally ended up with the win of cable exporters to Ukraine, including Belarusian industry leaders. On October 13, it was announced that the earlier decision on introducing safeguard measures was canceled.

On 11 June 2021 legislative changes were adopted regulating activities in the Industrial Park “Great Stone” (the Park). New provisions aim to simplify the way residents of the Park carry our activities including in the area of construction. Changes also envisage new possibilities for both small and large businesses. Find out detailed information in our review below.

As a result, aluminum tape from Azerbaijan when imported into the EAEU will only be 16.18% more expensive (originally the applicant demanded to introduce a duty of 61.8%).Such result was achieved despite the fact that the Arzinger team was involved when the investigation was already ongoing.In the article we are explaining why it is crucial to involve lawyers at an early stage.

Chambers Global is a reputable British ranking which assesses the work of the law firms in different countries classifying them by practices. The objectivity of the approach of the London-based authors of the ranking is undisputable. The researchers traditionally base their assessment on three key factors: the complexity of the projects, feedback from clients, and also facts and figures which reflect the direct or indirect effect of the legal work.

We are glad to tell you about the new Arbitration Rules of the Chamber of Arbitrators.

The Regulation on the Supply of Goods in the Republic of Belarus No. 444 ("Regulation No. 444") in accordance with the Decision No. 691 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated December 3, 2020, will expire on June 6, 2021.

The Ministry of Finance of Russia announced a denunciation of the double taxation treaty with Cyprus. It is quite possible that by autumn Russian companies may face an additional tax burden in Russia for payment of dividends, royalty and other types of income of international holdings to Cyprus beneficiaries.

The contract was concluded between JSC “Management Company of the Holding “Belorusskie oboi” and Austrian company Andritz to implement an investment project for the technical reequipment of Dobrush Paper Factory and organize the production of coated and uncoated cardboard on July 29, 2020.

Skanva Production LLC is a FEZ “Minsk” resident since January 31, 2019. The company specializes in manufacturing of wooden windows, doors and double-glazed windows per Scandinavian technology. The production lines are located in Borisov

Our team took part in preparation of Index of Belarus in the rating of countries that ratified the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment of 2001 (Cape Town Convention) prepared by the Aviation Working Group.

Consistent with our mission to keep lawyers and the greater business community informed of legal developments in Belarus, and cognizant of the dramatic spread of the COVID-19 across Europe in recent weeks, we contributed to “CEE Legal Matters COVID-19 Comparative Legal Guide: Contracts”, with a country paper on Belarus.

Ministry of Taxes and Duties reminds that Belarusian companies shall submit information on cash flows through their bank accounts opened abroad for the previous reporting year to their respective tax inspections not later than March 31, 2020. This obligation does not apply to correspondent bank accounts.

The draft amendments to the Civil Code provide for the possibility to conclude an indemnity agreement. This Anglo-Saxon law concept is now available to the residents of the High-Tech Park, but there are plans to provide this opportunity to all businesses in Belarus.

In 2016, we were addressed by the French origin company, which was one of the largest global manufacturers of milk products. The client wanted to acquire the controlling shareholding of a Belarusian milk factory. We supported the entire process on the Client’s behalf.

The Corporate Law practice and the M&A practice team performed the Due Diligence of the target company, structured the entire process of the deal, developed the package of agreements (the sale and purchase agreement, the guarantee agreement, the escrow account agreement, the non-competition agreement, etc.) to complete the deal, negotiated with sellers of shares, received the required permits from antitrust authorities.

The deal was finished in January 2017.  Today, we are supporting the process of redemption of shares from minor shareholders.

We advised a major global payment agent on actual issues of activities in the Republic of Belarus, including the personal data protection issues. We took into consideration both current GDPR requirements and local regulations regarding the personal data collection, storage and processing regulations.

An investment research jointly with the German Economic Team “Improving the Business Climate – Boosting Private Investment” aimed at supporting the Belarusian government in its efforts to further improvement of the local business environment and attraction of foreign direct investments.

Advising on the issue of raising the EBRD financing for implementation of an investment project in Grodno region, development of the articles of association of the Belarusian company with consideration of the EBRD requirements.

Representation of the client’s interests in the course of raising direct financing from Polish Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego in the amount of €55 million for construction of an office and shopping center with the floor area of 68 thousand sq.m in Grodno, Belarus.

Advising the American retailer on the legal issues of performing e-commerce in Belarus.

Representation of interests of a multi-brand clothing retailer from Spain on the issues of expansion into Belarus and opening of 11 stores in Minsk.

Advising an international payment system on the issue of launching a payments tokenization platform using mobile devices for compliance with the Belarusian antitrust law.

Advising a San Francisco startup, which acts in the field of urban mobility, on compliance issues in Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, as well as in the course of a $ 3.7 billion merger with a Russian IT giant.

We render legal support to the client in the scope of the investment project for construction of a plant for manufacturing medical products of human blood plasma in the Republic of Belarus. The expected volume of direct foreign investments is $ 20 million. We advised the client on the issue of the procedure of performing construction works, obtaining the required permits, the issues of the general construction contract agreement. We also advised on specific requirements to manufacturing of medical products.

The project was started in June 2017 and is still ongoing.

Advising a San Francisco company that created a mobile advertising revenue optimization service on compliance issues in Belarus.

Legal support of construction and implementation of a huge investment project in the territory of the Great Stone China-Belarus Industrial Park. The project for development of the territory is implemented by our customer, the total amount of investments will be about $ 500 million. The State Development Bank of China granted a long-term loan to our client in the amount of over $ 100 million for the project implementation.

As part of the legal support rendered, we performed the legal audit of the borrower’s activities followed by drawing up the legal opinion for the State Development Bank of China, and provided the independent opinion on meeting the prerequisites for granting the loan by the borrower.

Advising on the issues of concluding the investment agreement with the Republic of Belarus regarding construction of a yeast plant with the annual capacity of 20.000 tons of yeast products jointly with German company Interferm.

Advising a social network on the issues of requirements of the Belarusian law for servers and user data protection.

Representation of interests of a company in the course of implementation of the project for supply and installation of cogeneration thermal and electrical power plant with the capacity of 1.5 MW and 1.2 MW, respectively, within the scope of the World Bank financing program.

Representation of interests of a group of investors from Switzerland and the Middle East in the course of negotiating and concluding the investment agreement with the Republic of Belarus regarding construction of a dairy farm on 10,000 hectares of land allocated for permanent use with the cost of $7 million.

Representation of interests in the course of conclusion of a $1 million loan agreement for manufacturing of pipes, branches and fittings for centralized heating systems and wastewater treatment facilities with Danish company Salling Plast AS.

Representation of interests of a startup unicorn from Silicon Valley, which manufactures wearable devices and fitness trackers, in the course of acquisition of a Belarusian development center and admission to the High-Tech Park.

Support of the project for development of the High-Tech Park territory within the scope of the investment agreement for the amount of EUR 200 million, which became the third investment agreement in the sovereign history of the Republic of Belarus.

Representation of interests on the issues of performance of functions of the logistic operator of the Ice Hockey World Championship.