January 14

On December 20, 2002 by the Law of the Republic of Belarus # 172-Z alterations and amendments were introduced to the Law of the Republic of Belarus On State Secrets. The Law itself was stated in a new edition.

The Law in the new edition defines legal basics of considering information as a state secret, its classifying, declassifying and protection as well as social relations originated from use of the state secrets in order to protect national security of the Republic of Belarus.

On December 20, 2002 the Law of the Republic of Belarus # 174-Z On Declaration of Income, Property and Sources of Funds by Natural Persons was adopted.

Obligatory declaration in order settled by the present Law is required for the income of natural persons obtained during calendar year in the territory of the Republic of Belarus as well as profits of the citizens of the Republic of Belarus, foreign citizens and persons without citizenship being residents of the Republic of Belarus obtained beyond the territory of the Republic of Belarus during the calendar year.

On December 20, 2002 by the Law of the Republic of Belarus # 178-Z as a result of the accession of the Republic of Belarus to The Convention on Refugee Status and to The Protocol concerning Refugees alterations and amendments were introduced to the several legal acts of the Republic of Belarus. The Law On Refugees was stated in a new edition.

The Law defines the fundamentals and procedure of acknowledgement of foreign citizens and persons without citizenship as refugees in the Republic of Belarus, fundamentals of deprivation and forfeit of the refugee status as well as it sets forth legal, economic, and social guarantees for protection of the rights and lawful interests of the foreigners applying for acknowledgement as refugee and acknowledged as refugees under the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus and legislation of the Republic of Belarus, under the generally recognized principles and standards of international law as well as international treaties of the Republic of Belarus.

According to the Law of the Republic of Belarus # 184-Z of January 4, 2003 the General Part of the Tax Code of the Republic of Belarus shall come into force from the 1^st of January 2004 and shall regulate the tax relations which will arise since this date.

On December 31, 2002 the Decision of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus # 1846 On Establishing the Temporary Rates of Customs Duties on Goods Imported to the Customs Territory of the Republic of Belarus was adopted.

According to that Decision the temporary rates of the custom duties on the goods of the light industry originated from the European Union and imported to the territory of the Republic of Belarus were approved on the six-month term. The Decision came into force on the 1^st of January 2003.

According to the Decision of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus of January 8, 2003 # 7 the Agreement Between the Government of the Republic of Belarus and the Government of the Oman Sultanate on Trade and Economic Cooperation was signed.

By the Decision of the Administration of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus # 241 of December 24, 2002 alterations to the Regulations on Retail Trade and Providing Services at the Foreign Currency in the Territory of the Republic of Belarus were introduced. The main innovation is that licenses for selling of the fuel (petrol, diesel fuel, liquefied gas) on service stations at foreign currency are no more issued. The old licenses are valid to their expiration.