Businesses to be given freedom in importing materials and components
It is necessary to give maximum freedom to Belarusian, Turkish and other businesses in importing foreign materials and components – as noted by the Belarusian State University’s Professor, Mikhail Kovalev, while commenting on the Government's decision to develop a draft law envisaging legalisation of parallel imports of good and the possibility of using software and other objects in the digital sphere without a permission of their copyright holders
“Parallel imports have always existed – in one form or another. The reason is simple. If all these ‘gold’ and ‘silver’ Western dealers have left us, then we should give maximum freedom to Belarusian, Turkish and other businesses in importing materials and components. In this case, maximum freedom is the key. We should enable them to earn money on it,” Mr. Kovalev said.
As explained by the expert, not only a manufacturing plant sells its products – but also intermediaries. “In Soviet times, Finland acted as an intermediary. It bought products as if for itself, and then sold the goods forbidden for [direct] sale further to the Soviet Union. There are actually plenty of examples of parallel imports,” he noted.
As reported, the Council of Ministers’ operational and situational headquarters has made a decision to develop a draft law envisaging legalisation of parallel imports of goods and the possibility of using software and other objects in the digital sphere without a permission of their copyright holders. In this way, it will be possible to import original goods not only by copyright holders or their official distributors, but also by any importer.
According to Belarus’ Government, the introduction of this temporary measure aims to prevent a shortage of imported goods and saturate the consumer market.
