Kazakh Agriculture Ministry: some legislative amendments and additions given full legal force
Beginning 1-6 January 2020, some additions and amendments to the national legislation envisaged by the law "On Amendments and Additions to Some Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Regulation of the Agricultural Sector" of 28 October 2019 have attained full legal force, the Kazakh agriculture ministry’s press service informs.
At the end of last year, on the initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, the abovementioned law introducing amendments to 42 legislative acts, including the Land, Forest, Budget, Criminal, and Tax Codes, was adopted.
In accordance with the additions and amendments, from 1 January 2020, the country has introduced state subsidies for business expenses for applied research and development work, focused on the demand of agricultural enterprises. It is expected that this will accelerate the introduction of innovations in the agricultural sector.
From 6 January 2020, the norm obliging the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan to transfer the right to formulate the volume of and approve the distribution and placement of the state educational order for training specialists in agricultural specialties with higher and postgraduate education to the Ministry of Agriculture has taken effect. So it is possible to precisely formulate a state order, reasonably determine the amount of financing, conduct a fair selection of universities that train personnel, and, in general, correctly concentrate grants by specialties.
Also on 6 January this year the Law "On Compulsory Insurance in Crop Production" has lost its force. Since that time, a transition has been made from the mandatory form of insurance to voluntary insurance of risks in the field of crop production and animal husbandry.
The new insurance system also provides for specific state support measures for agribusiness entities. For example, instead of the mechanism for subsidizing insurance payments, the Ministry of Agriculture has introduced subsidies for the acquisition of insurance policies, thus reducing farmers' expenses and making insurance procedures and insurance payments transparent.
At the same time, the Ministry established the norm that allows farmers to use the insurance policy as additional security when applying for loans at second-tier banks.
Of note is that the new voluntary insurance system will work on an electronic platform. The conclusion of insurance contracts, subsidies, determination of the occurrence of an insured event and insurance payment will be made through the information system, creating a transparent risk management system.
