Become a resident of Hi-Tech Park
Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus from 21.12.2017 № 8 “On development of electronic economy” (come into effect from 28.02.2018) is intended to ensure development of the area of IT and creation electronic economy (expiration date is 01.01.2049)
The main point of this process is High Technologies Park (Hi-Tech Park).
If you are interested in the opportunity of joining Hi-Tech Park, we are ready to consult you and prepare for you full package of documents, which are necessary for realization of the planned purpose.
Aforementioned legal act gives unprecedented preferences for residents of Hi-Tech Park and prolong benefits. In particular:
- Cancels permitting procedure on opening of accounts in non-resident banks;
- Makes easier the system of payments using e-money;
- Permits to conduct by notification currency operations, connected with capital flow;
- Gives the right to individual formation of primary recording documents during fulfillment of commercial operations with non-residents;
- Permits to form uniform commercial operations by one primary recording document;
- Allows to use as primary recording document a document coming from non-resident and framed in English;
- Defined that legislation about the procedure of conduction and inspection of foreign trade operations as well as requirements to terms and methods of termination foreign trade operations are not cover foreign trade operations with participation of residents of Hi-Tech Park;
- Non-residents, conclude a labour contract with resident of Hi-Tech Park, has a right to work without any special agreement;
- Permission on recruitment of foreign labour force to residents of the Park is not required;
- Visa-free regime for non-residents employed by residents of Hi-Tech Park as well as for founders of residents of Hi-Tech Park;
- Reduced rate of income tax (9%), payments in Social Protection of Population Fund of the Republic of Belarus, calculated in accordance with average salary in country (not from factual);
- Exemption from taxes on profit and VAT (instead residents of Hi-Tech Park pay only 1% from currency earnings in favor of Hi-Tech Park administration).
Who can be a resident of Hi-Tech Park?
Belarusian companies and individual entrepreneurs can be residents of Hi-Tech Park, if they carry out the following activities:
- Creation, training of neural networks and other algorithms in specialized divisions of artificial intelligence, realization of the results of the activity;
-development, service, exploitation and realization of systems of management of driverless vehicles;
- Development or stages of development of medical technologies, biotechnologies, realization of the results of those inventions;
- realization of software activity
- education activity in the area of information and communicative technology as well as through the Internet using programs approved by the administration of Hi-Tech Park;
- services, connected with creation and allocation of digital characters (tokens), including services on promotion and other collateral services;
- exchange of crypto currency activity;
- activity of crypto currency exchange dealer;
- mining;
- other activity with usage of tokens as well as professional and exchange activity on securities, activity of investment fund, securitizing as well as fulfillment of operations on creation and allocation of own tokens;
- advertising activity, agency (excluding bank transactions) through the Internet using software developed by a resident of Hi-Tech Park;
- cyber sport activity including training of teams, organization of competitions, their broadcasts;
- and ect. (list is not limited, review board of Hi-Tech Park is not entitled to determine other kinds of activities)
How to become a resident of Hi-Tech Park?
Residents of Hi-Tech Park should be only legal bodies and individual entrepreneurs which are residents of the Republic of Belarus, consequently it is necessary to have registration of business in Belarus.
- application in accordance with the form approved by the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus;
- copy of the statute and certificate of the state registration of legal body, certified by the director, or copy of certificate of the state registration of individual entrepreneur with presentation of original ones;
- business project, which assumed to be realized as a resident of Hi-Tech Park.
Decree creates conditions for incorporation in economy of Belarus Blockchain technologies, given frame conditions for usage of tokens, crypto currency.
What is blockchain?
Development of “Blockchain” technology. Firstly, this technology was realized in Bitcoin crypto currency, sometimes called second the most important after Internet.
Simply, Blockchain is decentralized spread data base (‘recording book’) of all approved transactions, committed with respect to an appropriate digital asset, which functioning is based on cryptographic algorithms.
This technology allows:
- To fix authentic data about ownership of existent digital asset without a necessity of outsourcing, whereby this is a strong factor of disintermediation of economy;
- Ensure possibility of direct delivery of such asset to another body. In that way it can put into effect considerable disintermediation (removal of agent) in economy: banks, notaries, and depositaries of data list-register become unnecessary when their work can be replaced by reliable and stable to changes mathematical algorithms.
But more extraordinary changes Blockchain technology can make in contract law. It can be used for creation of so called Smart contracts – fully automated, programmed contracts, i.e. such agreements, which can concluded and fulfilled without any participation of a man.
These smart contracts represent an alternative to the whole legal system. And a lot of efforts are necessary to implement them in present canons of contract law, adopting such definitions as “obligation”, “duty”, “creditor”, “debtor” and others to new reality.
The decree is establishing that legal bodies are entitled to create and place their own tokens in Belarus and abroad through residents of Hi-Tech Park, purchase, dispose tokens and perform other operations using exchange of crypto currency, crypto currency exchange dealers.
Individuals are entitled to own tokens and perform following operations: mining, storage, exchange, purchase, disposal for Belarusian rubles, foreign currency, e-money, as well as present and bequeath tokens.
It is established that mining activity, purchase and disposal of tokens, performed by individuals aren’t business activities.
There are tax and other privileges to participants of relations, related to usage of tokens.
Subjects of economy are exempted from taxation of activity connected with crypto currency and tokens as well as mining, in particular tokens’ (crypto currency) exchange transactions. The exemption is extended on profits tax, VAT, income tax from individuals, simplified tax system.