NCE has helped the investor company to overcome bureaucracy of customs authorities
NCE has helped the investor company to overcome bureaucracy of customs authorities
Management of LLP “Mir krup” sent the letter of gratitude to the Chairman of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs Ablay Myrzakhmetov. Thanks to the support of the Chamber’s experts, the company managed to win the litigation with the customs department of the Special Economic Zone "Astana - new city".
This is how the story began. LLP "Mir krup" was registered at the SEZ "Astana - new city", as a member of the Special Economic Zone (with all entitlements, privileges and preferences). The project of food production, worth 2 billion tenge, was launched.
The company has attracted investors, and has already started the construction of production facilities on the territory of SEZ, when the customs authorities on trumped-up grounds refused to provide incentives for the import of construction equipment. They referred to the fact that the list of priority activities of the SEZ doesn’t include "construction of production facilities, warehouses and other premises”, they forced the company to pay customs duties and taxes on the common grounds, which increased the cost of the project several times.
After long and unsuccessful negotiations, the company has addressed to the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs "Atameken" for assistance in the solution of the problem. The Chamber has discussed the problem of LLP "Mir krup" with representatives of the Investment Committee MID RK, the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance of RK, the Office of Administration of SEZ "Astana - New City" and the business community.
It is noteworthy that the representative of the authorized body, carrying out state regulation of SEZ - Ministry for Investment and Development of Kazakhstan - agreed that the granting of exemptions should apply to the entire production cycle - from the construction to pre-production. Otherwise, the establishment of SEZ simply makes no sense. Moreover, the agreement between the management company and a participant of SEZ stipulates the obligation of the investor (SEZ participant) to construct the production facilities and infrastructure at the land plot, transferred for the use.
To eliminate any doubts of the customs officers, the Committee on Investments MID RK even made changes to the Treaty. The new standard provides for the establishment of the list of goods, required for SEZ participants to execute priority activities in respect of which will be applied the customs procedure "customs-free zone”. However, even this addition did not result in resolution of the conflict with customs officials, they continued to insist on their own.
Having exhausted other interventions, the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan "Atameken" has applied for the solution of this problem to the Chairman of the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan of the Ministry of Finance Daulet Yergozhin. In parallel, the company's management has submitted to the court a claim to the Customs Office of SEZ "Astana - new city".
Experts of NCE supported the company in a lawsuit. And, of course, the company won the process in the first instance ...
"Thanks to the support and professional actions of the Department of Customs Administration of the National Chamber, which held a series of meetings with interested state bodies, as well as took part in the court session, we were able to defend their interests – The specialized interdistrict economic court of Astana issued a decision in our favor", - says Director General of the metropolitan LLP "Mir Krup" Nurzhamal Turanova.
Head of the company is satisfied with the court decision, but ... she doesn’t believe that story will have a happy ending.
“Unfortunately, the current vicious practice of fiscal authorities to bring lawsuits against entrepreneurs to the last instance - the Supreme Court, in fact, is a legal mechanism to put pressure on business”, - says the businessman bitterly. – “The court hearing may last up to two years. And all this time, entrepreneurs are left alone with the mighty state machine represented by customs, tax and prosecutors. Entrepreneurs are forced to spend their time and money in the courts, instead of development of their business. However, the guilty officials and their supervisors are not liable, even if they lose the case in the court”.
The head of the metropolitan company proposes to create in the structure of NCE a “pool of professional litigation lawyers, who would not only defend businessmen, but will also prosecute officials, who hinder business development in our country, in judicial order”.
Please, join our Telegram channel to stay up to date on the latest news.
Leave comment:
Comments: