Changes have been made to licensing

From March 1, 2016, the main provisions of the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus of November 26, 2015, No. 475, enter into force, including those affecting changes in the licensing of activities for ensuring fire and industrial safety.

The main objective of preparing amendments (additions) to the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus of September 1, 2010, No. 450 "On Licensing of Certain Types of Activities" was to ensure the practical implementation of measures aimed at further improving licensing legislation, including by reducing the number of works and services comprising fire safety activities, optimising and simplifying licensing procedures, and practically implementing the requirements of the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus of December 31, 2010, No. 4 "On the Development of Entrepreneurial Initiative and Stimulation of Business Activity in the Republic of Belarus".

Objective reasons for the refusal of licensing were both the elimination of duplication of functions of other state bodies issuing permissive documents, and the possibility of controlling the activities of economic entities in the field of security within the department as part of state fire supervision, carrying out certification work, and supervision in the field of protection of the population and territories from natural and man-made emergencies.

The cancellation of licensing for the operation of fire and explosion hazardous production facilities and facilities with mass gathering of people is envisaged.

The testing of substances, materials, products, equipment, and building structures for fire hazard and fire resistance will not be subject to licensing, as the procedure for obtaining a license is identical to the accreditation procedure carried out by RUP "Belarusian State Accreditation Center".

The licensing of production, capital repair of fire-fighting equipment (machinery and equipment), gear, rescue devices, fire extinguishers, extinguishing agents, and other fire protection means (with the exception of capital repair of fire extinguishers) is being cancelled. This is due to the fact that fire protection means are subject to mandatory conformity assessment with the requirements of technical normative legal acts (certification, declaration), and their quality is checked and confirmed during the procedures carried out within the framework of certification and declaration (production process analyses, annual inspection controls, tests). Furthermore, obtaining a license will not be required for the sale of fire protection means by a legal entity (individual entrepreneur) engaged in their production within the territory of the Republic of Belarus.

Since, in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Belarus of May 5, 1998, "On the Protection of the Population and Territories from Natural and Man-made Emergencies," the responsibilities for preventing emergencies are assigned to republican state administration bodies, local executive and administrative bodies, and other organisations, the licensed service for the creation and operation of units engaged in the prevention and liquidation of emergencies is being amended. It will henceforth only encompass the creation and operation of units engaged in firefighting.

The cancellation of licensing for scientific, technical, and consulting activities in the field of fire safety is also envisaged. This exception is due to the fact that fire safety is regulated by fire safety norms and rules, which are already mandatory for all legal entities and citizens to comply with.

An adjustment to expert activities for ensuring fire safety is foreseen. With the entry into force of the amendments to the Decree, this service will be formulated as: "expert activities for the development of fire safety passports, and the performance of calculations for ensuring (assessing) fire safety."

Due to the changes, a license for industrial safety activities during the operation of hazardous production facilities classified as Type III hazardous according to legislation will no longer be required. According to forecasts, the number of licensees will decrease from 3200 to 1800.

The powers and functions of the State Industrial Supervision Authority (Gosgortekhnadzor) have also been defined, including the acceptance of documents, consideration of the issue of license termination in the established manner, issuance of duly executed licenses; formation and maintenance of the register of licenses, and others.

The licensing requirements for license applicants and licensees regarding the qualifications of employees have been clarified, and amendments and clarifications have been made regarding gross violations in the field of industrial safety.

The procedure for submitting documents has been changed: in addition to submitting documents to the licensing authority in person by a representative of the license applicant (licensee), the option of sending such documents by mail or in the form of an electronic document is provided.

The procedure for license termination has also been changed. The issue of license termination on the grounds provided for shall be considered by the licensing authority in the presence of the licensee or their authorized representative.

In case of non-appearance of the licensee or their authorized representative, the issue of license termination shall be considered in their absence. If the licensee or their authorized representative cannot attend the consideration of the issue specified in the first part of this clause for valid reasons, the licensee has the right to submit their opinion on license termination in writing to the licensing authority no later than 2 working days before the consideration of this issue.

The licensing requirements in the field of atomic energy use have been strengthened. The Decree significantly expands the list of licensing requirements and conditions for carrying out activities in the field of atomic energy use. A list of special licensing requirements and conditions, the violation of which will be grounds for suspending the license, is introduced.

The list of works and services constituting activities in the field of atomic energy use has been adjusted. The licensing will cover the performance of works and the provision of services to operating organizations that affect safety, including the construction of facilities. In particular, licensing of construction and installation organizations carrying out work on the construction of the Belarusian NPP is introduced.