Sole traders given reprieve until November

The government decided to give sole traders a four-month respite after yesterday's strike.

Monitoring of the implementation of the Customs Union's technical regulations on light industry goods will not be carried out until November 1, 2013, first deputy head of the State Standartisation Committee of Belarus Valery Hurevich told journalists today.

“We'll begin to monitor of what sole traders sell at markets on November 1. No measures of rapid response will be taken. It will be just collecting information for ministries to decide whether the earlier adopted regulations should be improved or additional actions should be taken,” Valery Hurevich said.

He noted those measures would be active until July 1, 2014, the end of the transition period provided for by the technical regulations on light industry of the Customs Union.

“After that period, sole trades will have to do their best to sell the goods meeting all safety requirements,” the first deputy head of the Standartisation Committee said.

The Committee plans to organise in August unscheduled safety checks of Belarusian importers specialising in wholesale trade in light industry goods falling under the Customs Union's technical regulations. These actions will be taken to find violations relating to mandatory conformity assessment and safety of goods.

“Taking into account the tension among sole traders and unsold goods in stock, the State Standartisation Committee, the Ministry of Healthcare, the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food adopted a joint ruling to regulate the possibilities of deliveries and the instruments that can be used by sole traders to confirm compliance of their goods with safety requirements,” Valery Hurevich said.

“It's obvious that the step was made to curb a wave protests and solidarity that could rise after yesterday's strike. Sole traders were just given a respite for four months. Their words sound silly: the technical regulations in fact come into force, but the monitoring will start only in four months and penalties for failure to observe them will be imposed even later,” Aliaksandr Makayeu told charter97.org.

Belarusian sole traders held a national strike yesterday. Many markets in Minsk, regional centres and dozens of other towns across the country didn't work. The decision to hold a strike was taken by the Forum of Sole Traders devoted to the entry into force of the technical regulations of the Customs Union “On safety of light industry”. The forum took place in Minsk on June 24.