New business opportunities for Foreign Companies - opening a Branch

On 19.11.2024, the revision of amendments to the Civil Code comes into force, according to which foreign legal entities are allowed to open not only representative offices, but also branches on the territory of Belarus. Previously, foreign organizations had the right to open only representative offices without the right to carry out economic activities.

The Civil Code directly establishes the opportunity of foreign legal entities, including foreign banks, to carry out business activities on the territory of Belarus by opening the branch.  

The National Bank of the Republic of Belarus will regulate the activities of the branches of foreign banks and carry out banking supervision in accordance with the procedure established for Belarusian banks.

The Labour Code is also amended to consolidate the status of the branch of foreign legal entity as an independent employer in employment relations.

Foreign legal entities that carried out economic activities in Belarus on the basis of an agreement (performed work and (or) provided services) and were registered with the tax authorities in this regard, in order to continue their activities, they will be required to open the branch or use another form of business within 6 months (establish a Belarusian company or become part of a current company).

For adoption by the Government of the Republic of Belarus, a draft Regulation has been prepared that regulates the opening and termination of activities of the branches of foreign legal entities (with the exception of foreign media and banks):

• common approaches are established to regulate the opening and termination of activities in relation to the branches and the representative offices,
• the opening period and the package of documents are similar to the current procedure for representative offices,
• Register of the Representative Offices of Foreign Organizations and the Branches of Foreign Legal Entities is created as a subsystem of the USR (Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs),
• branch is considered to be opened and has the right to carry out activities from the date of making an entry about the opening in the Register,
• branch has the right to have a special name that individualizes the branch,
• there is no limit for branches on the number of foreign citizens who are employees of the branch,
• the activity of the branch is terminated by decision of the registration authority in case of repeated failure to submit a report on its activities.