Senators approved changes to the law on state regulation of trade and public catering

February 19, MINSK . Senators at the meeting of the 11th session of the Council of the Republic of the seventh convocation approved the draft law “On Amendments to the Law “On State Regulation of Trade and Public Catering”,” BELTA correspondent reports. The draft law

was prepared to improve the legal and organizational foundations of state regulation in the field of trade and public catering and provides for measures aimed at protecting the interests of consumers and producers, unifying requirements for the organization and implementation of trading activities in the Union State.

The draft proposes to consolidate the powers of the government to determine the procedure for payments for the supply of certain types of goods, as well as to introduce restrictions and prohibitions on the provision of suppliers, traders of any type of remuneration. Another innovation is the prohibition on reimbursement by suppliers of costs associated with the disposal (destruction) of unsold goods, as well as on the return by trade subjects of unsold food products, the shelf life of which is no more than 30 days, to their suppliers (manufacturers) .

it is proposed to exclude the obligation of trade and public catering entities to submit a notification to local authorities about the start of wholesale, retail trade, public catering, as well as to coordinate with local authorities the operating hours of retail facilities and public catering facilities at night (with the exception of work at night when selling alcoholic, low-alcohol drinks and beer).

The bill was presented by the Minister of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade Alexey Bogdanov. “The changes are caused by the need to unify the requirements for the organization and implementation of trading activities on the territory of Belarus and the Russian Federation, to create additional conditions for the development of domestic production and saturation of the consumer market with domestic goods, as well as to develop competition in the retail market and improve the legal regulation of relations in the field of Internet trade," said Alexey Bogdanov.

There are three blocks of measures in total. The first is aimed at implementing the measures of the Union program to unify the requirements for the organization and implementation of trade activities on the territory of Belarus and the Russian Federation, based on the most preferential regime that is in effect. The concepts of “large store” and “catering chain” and the requirements for them are excluded, which will level the conditions for the two countries and will not have a negative impact on the work of suppliers of goods and the state of the consumer market.

Another innovation is the abolition of the obligation of business entities to submit a notification to local authorities about the start of an economic activity. Today such requirementsare provided in Belarus, but not in the Russian Federation. This way, legislation will be unified and the administrative burden on business will be reduced . At the same time, the obligation of business entities has been established to submit information for inclusion in the trade register about each trade facility and keep it up to date.

In addition, the obligation to coordinate night operating hours with local authorities is canceled. An exception is facilities where alcoholic, low-alcohol drinks or beer are sold at night . “In our country and the Russian Federation, similar legal regulation in this area will be established. At the same time, control will be maintained over the operation of a significant number of trade and public catering facilities in which alcoholic beverages and beer are sold at night,” added Alexey Bogdanov.
The second block of measures is aimed at providing support to domestic producers and saturating the domestic goods market, the third - at creating conditions for the development of competition and improving the legal regulation of relations in the field of online trading. In particular, so far there is only one term “online store” in the legislation, but more and more sellers are selling goods on online platforms or marketplaces using applications for mobile devices, the requirements for which are not established. “We will introduce all new forms of sales of goods into legal norms,” emphasized Alexey Bogdanov.