Court rejects action for RIA with regard to utilization fee on agricultural machinery

The third court hearing was held today in relation to the claims of the Independent Business Union of Kazakhstan and the Union of Builders of Kazakhstan to the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Ecology to carry out a regulatory impact analysis (RIA) on the existing utilization fee on vehicles, including agricultural machinery and review of the rates, reports World of NAN.

In court, plaintiff lawyer Shyngys Temir, who acted on behalf of the Independent Business Union of Kazakhstan, said that regulatory impact analysis was not conducted on cars at all, and on agricultural machinery, buses and trucks - was conducted in 2019. Therefore, it is time to review the rates.

He recalled that under Article 83 of the Commercial Code, the RIA - regulatory impact analysis is conducted before and after the introduction of a regulatory tool, i.e., a requirement. According to him, the utilization fee is a requirement subject to periodic review.

A participant in the process, speaking for the Union of Potato Growers, T. Bekbasarov recalled that the utilization fee on grain harvesters, forage harvesters and tractors was introduced by order of the acting Minister of Environment, Geology and Natural Resources on December 5, 2019. The utilization fee on agricultural machinery was first introduced with an exception for a number of Western brands of machinery, with an immediate imposition of tax on the subjects of the agro-industrial complex. In June 2020, these exemptions were removed, also with instant taxation of agribusinesses.

At the same time, the goals and conditions laid down in the RIA, according to him, have not been achieved. In particular, the expert believes that the provisions of the RIA stipulated that the prices for agricultural machinery of domestic production will not change. However, this condition has not been met, because immediately after the introduction and to this day there has been a rapid rise in prices for machinery of domestic assembly plants, which affects the financial situation of Kazakh farmers.

In court, the expert reminded that it is the results of the RIA, depending on the effectiveness of its application, in case of failure to achieve the objectives of state regulation, declared at its introduction, can be canceled or otherwise revised.

Meanwhile, it is surprising that at the last court hearing, the representatives of both ministries - Ecology and Industry and Infrastructure Development - were unable to determine whose competence it is to conduct the RIA. Moreover, the state bodies did not even have a plan for conducting the RIA.

According to Maksat Kayreshov, the representative of the Ministry of Economy, no authority really approved the RIA plan. Everything was unplanned. At the same time, the Ministry considers the conducting of the RIA as the responsibility of state bodies. As M. Kaireshov told the court, the ministry sent letters to state agencies back in October asking them to approve the plan for revising the RIAs.  The RIA itself and the plans for revision in this case are submitted to the Interdepartmental Commission under the Government. According to M. Kayreshov, despite repeated appeals, the issue was not considered at the Interdepartmental Commission.

Then the judge of the specialized interdistrict administrative court of Astana Aibek Amangeldin directly asked those present at the meeting why the disputed case was brought to court, and not solved at the level of the Government, if it concerns the work of several state bodies. In his speech, the judge acknowledged the inaction of the ministries that did not conduct the RIA on time.

However, at the end of the hearing, the judge felt that the issue was not subject to administrative proceedings. In turn, the plaintiff's side intends to appeal as soon as the court's ruling comes out.

Смотрите больше интересных агроновостей Казахстана на нашем канале telegram, узнавайте о важных событиях в facebook и подписывайтесь на youtube канал и instagram.