At the government session chaired by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov, the issue of implementing approaches to the regulation of entrepreneurial activity "from scratch" was considered. The Minister of National Economy Alibek Kuantyrov and the Acting Chair of the Board of NCE Atameken Nariman Abilshaikov made presentations.

As Minister of National Economy Alibek Kuantyrov noted in his speech, on Dec. 30, 2021, the Head of State signed the Law on the implementation of a new regulatory policy in the field of entrepreneurial activity in the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter referred to as the Law).

“In order to implement the Law on Feb. 1, 2022, draft order of the Prime Minister has been submitted to the Government, providing for the approval of the List of legal acts, the adoption of which is necessary to ensure the operation of the Law. The list includes 164 normative legal acts,” Kuantyrov said.

According to the minister, the reform is based on three key acts:

1) Rules for conducting and using RIA (regulatory impact analysis);

2) Decree of the Government "On determining the areas in which regulatory acts are subject to inclusion in the Register of Mandatory Requirements";

3) Rules for maintaining the Register of mandatory requirements in the field of entrepreneurship. The adoption is planned for April this year.

The acts have been developed, they are in the process of approval.

In this regard, according to the minister, state bodies need to become more active for the timely development and adoption of projects.

“An important novelty of the Law is the Register of Mandatory Requirements in the Sphere of Entrepreneurship,” said Kuantyrov.

According to him, the Register will determine the timing of the analysis of regulatory acts for their compliance with the new regulatory policy. If the regulatory body does not conduct this analysis in time, then such acts are excluded from the Register and canceled.

Also, a feature of the Register is the release of entrepreneurs from administrative liability for violation of requirements excluded from the Register and not canceled on time.

The Register will start working from Jan. 1, 2023. At the same time, work on its formation has already begun today.

“A work schedule has been prepared for the implementation of regulation ‘from scratch’ for 2022-2023. The plan provides for all organizational measures, deadlines and stages of implementation, as well as responsible government agencies,” Kuantyrov reported.

In addition, according to the minister, the ministry has formed a pool of experts to train government agencies in new approaches to business regulation. This training will be held within a month.

Currently, government agencies are completing work on the creation of industry working groups to review regulatory acts for compliance with the new regulatory policy.

The minister also reported that by the end of March this year. government agencies, together with working groups, will form a list of regulatory acts for supervised industries for inclusion in the Register.

“From March 30, 2022, in accordance with the schedule, an analysis of the requirements for compliance with the new regulatory policy will be carried out,” said Kuantyrov.

According to him, after the stage of analysis and discussion of the acts, the state bodies will revise them.

To date, the Ministry, together with the Business Ombudsman and NCE Atameken, has carried out work to examine regulatory acts in these areas.

It should be noted that in 2021, 424 legal acts were preliminary reviewed, about 17.6 thousand requirements were established, of which more than 40% do not comply with new approaches.

Work in this direction is under control. Meanwhile, according to him, in accordance with the Law, the Register is formed and maintained on the basis of the IRS Adilet. The work on the formation and technical support of the Register requires funding.

In November 2021, the Ministry submitted a corresponding application to the Ministry of Finance.

The work of industry experts on the analysis and revision of regulatory acts also requires funding.

In this connection, the Minister asked to instruct the Ministries of Finance and Justice to provide funds within the framework of the next revision of the budget.

“The law also provides for a change in the system of state control and supervision. New forms of state control will include the transition from inspections to preventive measures,” said Kuantyrov.

In addition, according to him, within the framework of the Law, the ministry ensured the legislative consolidation of the norm on automating the state control system, which ensures the formation of schedules for inspections.

This rule will come into force on Jan. 1, 2023.

In the absence of such automation, it is allowed to exercise control over only 5% of the total number of subjects of control.

“This will streamline and focus control and supervision bodies on problematic business entities, while reducing administrative pressure on law-abiding entrepreneurs,” Kuantyrov said.

The Head of State at a meeting with entrepreneurs also instructed to complete the automation of the state control system.

The measures taken will allow the fulfillment of this order.

For the quality implementation of the President’s order, it is necessary, according to the head of the department, that the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry take control of the work of government agencies to ensure the automation of the risk management system until Jan. 1, 2023. The Ministry has formed a working group on this issue and is currently working on the possibility of ensuring the automation of the RMS based on the Unified Register of Subjects and Objects of Inspections together with the KPSiSU.

“In general, further work on the introduction of regulation “from scratch” will be continued within the framework of the schedule and is under constant control,” Kuantyrov assured.

 

In turn, Nariman Abilshaikov, Acting Chair of the Board of NCE Atameken, spoke about the position of the business community on the issue of introducing a new regulatory policy in the field of entrepreneurial activity.

According to him, in pursuance of the instructions of the Head of State to introduce regulation "from scratch" NCE Atameken together with the Ministry of National Economy has been working together in this direction for a year and a half.

Basic approaches have been developed, which are reflected in the Law on New Regulatory Policy adopted on Dec. 30 last year.

In this regard, in order to ensure the implementation of real reforms, together with the Ministry of National Economy, the following tactics are proposed for introducing regulation from a “clean slate”.

“First, in order to use time and resources effectively, it is necessary to define a clear work schedule. We have already developed a network schedule of the Government to revise state regulation,” Abilshaikov said.

In this plan, in his opinion, the tasks of each state body are described in detail with deadlines and forms of completion, as well as the need to study and apply the best world practices.

Second, work is underway to prepare draft legal acts.

“The adoption of these regulatory acts is necessary for the implementation of the Law on the new regulatory policy. Given the tight deadlines, it is necessary to intensify the work of state bodies to coordinate them,” Abilshaikov said.

Third, given the scale of the task, it is necessary to accelerate the work on the creation and maintenance of the Register of Mandatory Requirements, which requires funding from the budget.

Already now, according to acting. Chairman of the Board of NCE Atameken, it is necessary to begin the development of terms of reference together with the Institute of Legislation and Legal Information of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Fourth, Abilshaikov expressed a request to expedite the resolution of the issue of financing work to revise business requirements in 2022.

“Special attention is required to work on the development of the second package of amendments to the legislative acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the further implementation of a new regulatory policy in the field of entrepreneurial activity in the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is necessary to intensify the work of government agencies to bring industry-specific legal acts in line with the basic principles,” Abilshaikov said.