Sole Traders To Hold Street Rally in Minsk

Sole traders have applied for holding a street rally on February 15 to demand abolition of Decree №222.

Sole traders want to hold a street rally in Bangalore Square in Minsk on February 15. It was announced on the Forum of Sole Traders that took place in Pekin Hotel on February 1, informs Euroradio.

Head of the Republican public association Perspectiva Anatol Shumchanka said that the sole traders were forced to take such actions because the authorities “don’t hear them”. Shumchanka was against such protest rallies in the past. Spontaneous meetings of businessmen took place in different cities of the country recently. Vitsebsk based sole traders were going to Minsk to hold protest rallies.

We remind that since January 1, 2016 Belarusian sole traders stopped trade massively. Since this date, under Lukashenka’s Decree №222, sole traders would not be able to sell consumer goods imported without certificates from the countries of the Customs Union. Sole traders have been given an opportunity to sell the shelf stock imported to Belarus before July 1, 2014 without accompanying documents, according to inventory files registered by tax authorities. Russian suppliers, from whom most Belarusian sole traders buy goods, usually refuse to issue documents confirming the origin of products or give out dummy certificates. This becomes the basis for fines and confiscation of property of Belarusian sole traders. In order not to be charged with penalties, a lot of sole traders have paused their work.