Deadline for installation of POS terminals for sole traders postponed until January 1

The Council of Ministers of Belarus supported the proposal of the Ministry of Trade about postponing the deadline for the installation of payment terminals at retail facilities owned by sole traders in Minsk and the Minsk region until January 1, 2016.

Sole traders must install POS terminals by January 1, 2016.

Relevant decision No.516/15 of the Council of Ministers and the National Bank of June 19, 2015, takes force on June 25, BelaPAN news agency learnt from the Ministry of Trade.

The joint decision of the government and the National Bank No.924/16 relating to the use of point-of-sale equipment, payment terminals and automatic electronic devices came into force on July 22, 2014. Under it, sole traders and companies must equip their retail facilities with POS terminals suitable for payments by Visa, MasterCard and Belkart cards.

Under the document, POS terminals must be installed by July 1, 2015 in Minsk and the Minsk region, by January 1, 2016, in district centres and by July 1, 2016, across Belarus. The deadline for Minsk and the Minsk region has been postponed from 1 July 2015 to 1 January 2016.

Anatol Shumchanka, the head of Perspective association, earlier said: “The decision to postpone the deadline for the installation of POS terminals will give much to sole traders in the current economic situation.”

“This is good news for us. Trade is not very active today, so the installation of terminals is not economically reasonable. Small businessmen cannot pay big money for it and pay maintenance fees. This is a heavy burden for sole traders,” the Perspective head noted. According to him, the installation costs up to 9 million rubles plus 3.5% of the turnover as maintenance fees.

Perspective association thinks the installation of terminals should be a recommendation.

“We understand the situation of cash and non-cash payments. The world experience says that the more civilised the country is the more popular non-cash payments are. But it shouldn't be imposed by force. It should be a recommendation. If more than 80% of customers wanted to pay by card, the authorities would have no need to make businessmen install POS terminals. It must be promoted only by economic means and recommendations. Business will come to it,” the association head thinks.