Commentary to Decree No. 399 and Decree No. 400 of 5 September 2013

    On 5 September President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko signed Decree No. 399 “Concerning the improvement of export of potash fertilizers” and Decree No. 400 “On establishing customs duties on exported potash fertilizers and on amending presidential decrees No. 442 of 3 October 2011 and No. 37 of 17 January 2012”.

    Potash fertilizers will be exempt from export duties from 1 September 2013 till 31 December 2013 for the sake of ensuring stable operation of OAO Belaruskali. The company has also been granted a respite till 31 December 2014 for the one-time payment for the right to use the Petrikovskoye deposit.

    While ZAO Belarusian Potash Company operates as a private joint-stock company, the new company will have the same name – Belarusian Potash Company — but a different legal form, namely an open joint-stock company (OAO).

    The new company has been granted an exclusive right to export mineral or chemical fertilizers. Provisions of Decree No. 398 of 25 August 2005, which regulates the export of potash fertilizers, as well as provisions of other legal acts that regulate the operation of the private joint-stock company ZAO Belarusian Potash Company, now apply to the new company, too.

    Therefore, OAO Belarusian Potash Company will take care of coordinating the entire export of Belarusian potash fertilizers.

    This will allow the Republic of Belarus to keep the well-recognized international brand, saving time and resources that would have been spent otherwise on setting up its own trading company. It will also allow fully utilizing achievements of ZAO Belarusian Potash Company, in particular, contacts with customers and established sales outlets. Belarusian specialists of ZAO Belarusian Potash Company will be the skeleton of the new company’s personnel.

    As an exception the director general of the new company will do two jobs simultaneously in OAO and ZAO.