The full declarative principle of state registration of business entities has been introduced in Belarus since February 1

February 2, Minsk /BELTA/. Belarus has introduced a full declarative principle for the state registration of all economic entities, with the exception of banks and non-bank credit and financial organizations, as of February 1, 2009, reports a BELTA correspondent. The corresponding Decree No. 1 was signed by the President of Belarus on January 16. According to the decree, registration will be carried out on the day of submission of documents necessary for its implementation. At the same time, the list of documents submitted to the registering authority is minimal. For state registration of a legal entity, it will be necessary to submit only an application, charter, and a document confirming the payment of the state fee. For state registration of an individual entrepreneur, an application, a photograph, and a document confirming the payment of the state fee will be required. Upon submission of the necessary package of documents, refusal of state registration is not allowed. State registration of a legal entity will be carried out by stamping its charter on the day of application and entering a record into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, and for individual entrepreneurs, by entering a record into such a register. The state registration certificate must be issued on the next business day. A legal entity, having received a charter with a stamp indicating state registration, and an individual entrepreneur, having received a state registration certificate, will be able to apply for the production of seals (stamps), for the performance of other legally significant actions, including opening bank accounts, i.e., to start business activities literally the day after applying to the registering authority. By introducing the declarative principle of registration, the state counts on honesty and integrity from the founders of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs. The applicant bears full responsibility both for the compliance of the documents submitted for registration with the legislation and for the accuracy of the information indicated therein. The activities of economic entities, whose state registration was carried out based on knowingly false information submitted to the registering authorities, are illegal and prohibited, and their state registration is declared invalid. All income received from such activities, without a statute of limitations, for the entire period of the economic entity's activity, is subject to recovery into the local budget. The persons themselves may be held liable, up to criminal liability, and are entitled to reapply for state registration only after one year from the date of invalidation of state registration. The decree significantly simplifies the requirements for the constituent documents of economic entities. The need to indicate in the constituent documents (notification of registering and tax authorities) the types of activities intended to be carried out, as well as to make changes to such documents when changing the location of the organization (it is only necessary to notify the registering authority of such a change), creation (liquidation) of separate divisions (representative offices, branches) has been canceled. Additionally, requirements for the minimum size of the charter capital of commercial organizations, except for joint-stock companies, banks, and insurance organizations, have been excluded. The size of the charter capital will be determined by legal entities independently. At the same time, a minimal exhaustive list of documents required for opening a current (settlement) account in a bank is fixed, which is significantly reduced compared to the current one. To open a current (settlement) account, it is necessary to submit only an application, a card with sample signatures, a seal imprint, and a copy of the charter for a legal entity (a state registration certificate for an individual entrepreneur). In this case, the certification of the authenticity of signatures and seal imprints on the cards is entrusted to authorized bank employees. The decree also simplifies the procedure for the liquidation of economic entities, consolidating the "one-stop shop" principle in the interaction of state bodies during the liquidation procedure. All information necessary for the liquidation procedure will be sent to the registering authority by state bodies, not by the economic entity. At the same time, a strict 30-day period is established for authorized bodies to provide information on the debts of economic entities to the budget, the existence of which prevents the completion of the liquidation procedure. If information is not provided within this period, the economic entity is liquidated regardless of whether it has such debts. The list of grounds for the liquidation of legal entities and the termination of activities of individual entrepreneurs is maximally reduced. An economic entity can be liquidated only at its own request, by a decision of the economic court (for violations of legislative acts, in case of bankruptcy, reduction of net assets below the size of the charter capital), and by the registering authority (in case of recognition of the entity's debt as a hopeless debt, non-commencement of entrepreneurial activity for 12 consecutive months). The issuance of the decree is another significant step towards the liberalization of the economy, the removal of bureaucratic barriers hindering the start of business, and demonstrates the state's trust in economic entities and the readiness of state bodies to build partnership relations with legal entities and individual entrepreneurs.-0-