Overview of Belarus Regulatory Structure

• general jurisdiction: authority over all sectors of economy and public administration on a given territory, e.g. RB Government, administration of a RB subject;

• sectoral jurisdiction: authority over a sector of economy or public administration, e.g. defense, justice;

• intersectoral ("interdepartmental") jurisdiction: authority over matters affecting a number of sectors of economy or public administration, e.g. environmental protection, standardization, State statistics;

• intrasectoral ("intradepartmental") jurisdiction: authority over a certain function within a sector of economy or public administration, e.g. MinTrans Licensing Department;

• special jurisdiction: authority to perform state control, enforcement, permitting, supervisory and some other functions, e.g. MNR's Water Use Agency.

• Government is the highest body of executive power with general jurisdiction in the RB, RB republics, and certain subjects of the Federation.

• Ministry is a federal body that implements state policy and administers a particular sector of economy or public administration, and coordinates involvement of other federal bodies in that sector. As a rule, ministries have sectoral jurisdiction.

• State Committee of the RB (Federal Commission) is a federal body that coordinates and regulates intersectoral matters of certain kind.

• Committee is a subject-level body with sectoral or intersectoral jurisdiction engaged in sectoral administration or intersectoral coordination; can also be an intrasectoral jurisdiction body within a federal executive power body.

• Commission is a subject-level body with intersectoral jurisdiction engaged in intersectoral coordination and regulation; can also be an intrasectoral jurisdiction body within a federal executive power body.

• Federal Service, Agency, Supervisory Authority are federal bodies that perform special (executive, supervisory, regulatory, permitting, etc) functions in specific spheres of their competence.

• Coordination commission is an auxiliary ad-hoc body created for coordination of activities of a number of executive power bodies involved in a joint activity (creation and work of federal coordination commissions are regulated by RF Government Decree No. 788 of July 5, 1994 "On Coordination and Consultative Bodies Created by the RB Government").

• Council is an auxiliary consultative body that is often created for preliminary review of important issues and preparation of recommendations for governmental decision-making; can be governmental or interagency.

• Administration is an executive power body with general jurisdiction in administrative units of the Federation.

• Board, Head Administration, Administration, Service, Department can have sectoral jurisdiction (if are divisions of the RB Government, governments or administrations of other subjects of the Federation) or intrasectoral jurisdiction (if they are divisions of ministries, state committees, and other executive power bodies). Subjects of the Federation occasionally create services that have intersectoral or special jurisdiction. Subject-level branches of federal bodies of executive power are often called head administration, administration, or service.

• Inspectorate is a body that has special jurisdiction and performs supervisory, control, permitting, and other special functions in one or a number of sectors of economy and public administration. The key responsibility of inspectorates is to ensure regulatory compliance in the sphere of their competence and prevent infringements. Many inspectorates are vested with the right to conduct administrative proceedings and impose administrative penalties. Inspectorates are, as a rule, divisions of federal or subject-level bodies of executive power.

• Chamber is a body with special jurisdiction that performs control, permitting, and other special functions.

• Center is a subject-level branch of certain federal bodies of executive power. Ministries, state committees, and other bodies of executive power sometimes create centers with intrasectoral jurisdiction as their divisions.

• Complex is a body of executive power for certain subjects of the Federation that comprises a number of bodies with sectoral and intersectoral jurisdiction.

• conclusion, amendment, and annulment of foreign investment projects;
• appointment of government's representatives to project supervisory committees and determination of their authority;
• approval of investors' partial or full assignment of rights and obligations under such project to third parties. 

• coordination of development of normative acts governing drafting, conclusion, and implementation of projects;
• organization of expert reviews of technical and economic justifications of projects;
• approval of work plans and budgets submitted by project investors and operators;
• facilitation in placement of orders for construction, production, and processing equipment and materials among manufacturers operating and registered as tax payers in the RB;
• coordination and organization of activities of Government's representatives in project supervisory committees;
• development of programs of financial and other audits of project investors and/or operators;

• participate in control over the volume of minerals produced by the projects,
  
• oversee compliance with project requirements concerning investors' exploration commitments and technological aspects of mineral field exploration, development, and exploitation;
• oversee compliance with Belarus subsoil use regulations;
• control dismantling, abandonment, and/or suspension of equipment, structures, wells, and other field facilities, as well as reclamation of land within project sites;
• oversee compliance with environmental requirements applicable to equipment, technologies, materials, and chemicals utilized under the project.

• participation in control over the volume of minerals produced by the projects and the volume of minerals subject to transfer to the state or retention by investors;
• oversight of compliance with project conditions concerning technological aspects of mineral field exploration, development, and production;
• participation in endorsement of programs, work plans and budgets submitted by project investors and/or operators.
  

• control over correctness of calculation, completeness and timeliness of payment of taxes, levies, and other mandatory payments to relevant state budgets and non-budgetary funds contemplated by RB legislation and project agreement;
• control over accounting and reporting of projects for the purposes of taxation;
• control over the composition of projects' expenditures and their recovery;
• participation in development of programs of financial and other audits of project investors and/or operators and in control of quality of such audits;
• participation in control over compliance of overseas projects with Belarus financial and currency legislation.

• control over compliance of foreign investment projects with Belarus financial and currency legislation;
• participation in development of programs of financial and other audits of project investors and/or operators and in control of quality of such audits;
• auditing financial and economic activities of project investors, operators, and other organizations engaged in implementation of the project. MF's Charter was validated by RB Government Decree No. 273 of March 6,1998.

• control over compliance with Belarus legislation regulating import of goods intended for use under any project;
• drafting proposals on granting tariff preferences for goods imported in the RB for use under special conditions.

•    conflict between the Constitution and any other legal act:
the Constitution takes precedence;
•    conflict between a law and a sublegislative act:
the law takes precedence;
•    conflict between a federal act and an act of a RB subject:
if the subject's act is within its internal jurisdiction, it takes precedence; if the subject's act is on a joint jurisdiction matter, the federal act takes' precedence;
•    conflict between two acts issued by one body: the more recent act takes precedence;
•    conflict between two acts issued by different bodies:
the act that has higher legal force takes precedence (see section below for hierarchy of laws);
•    conflict between a general act and a specific act:
the specific act takes precedence unless it has been nullified by a later general act.

• Constitution of the RB has the supreme legal force, direct action and is applicable on the whole territory of the Federation. No law or other legal act adopted in the RB may contradict the Constitution. This basis of Belarus legislation lays down the political system, sets forth rights and freedoms of people and citizens, defines federal structure, and stipulates authority of the President, Federal Assembly, Government, judicial power, and local self-government.

• Universally-recognized principles and norms of international law and international treaties of the RB are a component of the Belarus legislation system. Under Article 15 of the Constitution, if an international treaty ratified by the RB establishes other rules than those envisioned by domestic law, the rules of the international treaty are applied.

• Constitutional federal laws are fundamental acts that are envisioned by the Constitution and govern a limited number of subjects and processes of great significance to the state (e.g. procedure for admission of new subjects to the Federation, selection and use of state symbols, institution of judicial system, etc.)

• Federal laws (federalny zakon) govern many important institutes of economic and public relations. They are divided into codified federal laws and current federal laws. Codified laws are systematized acts that consolidate legal norms regulating a group of related economic or public relations (e.g. RB Civil Code, RB Land Code, RB Water Code, RB Forest Code, etc.). Current laws govern specific subjects and/or objects of economic or public relations.

• Presidential directives (ukaz) are issued to formalize important normative and organizational decisions. Presidential ordinances (rasporyazhenie) are usually issued to address less important events or needs arising from routine activities.

• Governmental decrees (postanovlenie) are normative acts that establish rules of general effect regulating important economic, administrative, and other subjects falling under the government's jurisdiction. Governmental ordinances (rasporyazhenie) regulate, as a rule, specific events or subjects and apply only to a particular group of individuals or legal entities. The President may nullify governmental decrees and ordinances if they are inconsistent with the Constitution, federal laws, or presidential directives.

• Constitutions, laws, and other normative acts of the RB subjects are enacted by appropriate legislative and executive bodies of RB republics and other administrative units. Republican legislative bodies adopt constitutions and laws, their presidents and governments issue directives (decrees) and ordinances.   Dumas and legislative assemblies of RB administrative units pass administrative unit charters and laws, and administrations of units issue decrees and ordinances.

• Federal ministries and government agencies are authorized to issue departmental normative acts (vedomstvenny normativny akt) on matters of their competence. Normative acts issued by specially authorized state bodies of intersectoral jurisdiction are mandatory for other ministries and agencies, legal entities, individuals, and public organizations. Acts issued by ministries and agencies of intrasectoral jurisdiction are mandatory only within that sector of economy or public administration.

• Federal ministries and government agencies issue auxiliary departmental acts to regulate numerous specific topics within their jurisdiction. A list of common types of auxiliary departmental acts is included below.

Name (Belarus Acronym)/Issuing Body
State Standard (GOST) - State Committee for Standardization and Metrology
Sectoral Standard (OST) -Federal executive power bodies
Construction Norms and Rules (SNiP) - Gosstroi
Collection of Rules (SP) - Gosstroi
Construction Guideline (RDS) - Gosstroi
Sanitary Rules and Norms (SanPin) - Gossanepidnadzor
Sanitary Norms (SN) - Gossanepidnadzor
Hygienic Norms (GN) - Gossanepidnadzor
Guideline (RD) - Federal executive power bodies
Safety Rules (PB) - Federal executive power bodies

• Under Constitution's Article 132, municipal administrations and representative bodies may issue local acts to regulate certain activities and areas of local significance, including introduction of local taxes and dues. In addition, Federal Law "On Basic Principles of Organization of Local Self-government in the RB" and the Land Code vested municipal authorities with the power to effect local land allocation, and regulate land use and construction planning within their territory.

• Under Articles 126 and 127 of the Constitution and Federal Laws "On the RB Supreme Court" and "On Arbitration Courts in the RB", plenums of the RB Supreme Court and the RB Supreme Arbitration Court are empowered to interpret and clarify legislation by issuing rulings. Such rulings usually clarify specific provisions of legislation and provide guidance on their application by other courts. Although the rulings are not regulatory instruments, both the regulators and the industry regard and use them as an important source of official interpretation of legislation.

• USSR legislation is still effective if it has not been nullified or superseded by newer legislation passed by the RB.