Entrepreneurs urge Belarusan authorities to leave Customs Union

Starting from July, Belarusan individual entrepreneurs stop their work.

The entrepreneurs are dissatisfied with the authorities’ actions of introducing technical regulations for the Customs Union “On security in the light industry”.

The decision to go on a preventive strike was adopted by 130 individual entrepreneurs unanimously at the Enterprise Forum aimed at discussing the introduction of the technical regulations for the Customs Union “On security in the light industry” on July 1.

Belarusan officials, who claimed that the entrance in force of the new technical regulations will be delayed, didn’t attend the meeting; though three Russian officials from the Eurasian economic committee came specially to visit the Forum.

Let us recall that the new technical regulations oblige every individual entrepreneur to type-approve goods of the light industry and mark them with the label common at the markets of the countries-members of the Customs Union. However, individual entrepreneurs believe that such expensive procedure will ruin small business in Belarus.

Anatol Shumchanka, the chairman of republican public association “Perspective” stated that the strike will have be several demands towards Belarusan authorities:

- The leading one is the introduction of moratorium on the technical regulations’ entry into force, - Anatol Shumchanka reported to the EuroBelarus Information Service. – Besides, individual entrepreneurs will collect signatures calling Belarus to leave the Customs Union. Ordinary businessmen assume that it is this geopolitical structure that threatens the existence of national business in Belarus.

In case the authorities don’t meet the requirements of the small business, Belarusan individual entrepreneurs will stop their work indefinitely, starting from July 1.

- We call upon the government to get down to negotiations with the sole proprietors in order to find the best decision, - the chairman of “Perspective” added.