The Council of the Republic approves the draft law “On Mortgage” On 4 June, 2008 a regular sitting of the tenth session of the Council of the Republic took place. 24 issues were considered, 20 of them being draft laws.
In the beginning of the sitting Mr Gennady Novitsky, Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, presented the Certificate of Honour of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus to Mr P. Shershen, member of the Council of the Republic, for his accomplishments in the developing of the Belarusian legislation and large contribution to the inter-parliamentary relations enhancement.
After that the members of the Council of the Republic proceeded to considering the issues on the agenda of the sitting.
The senators approved the draft Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Mortgage”, which is aimed at systematisation of legal norms in the field. It defines the peculiarities of mortgage of different kinds of property (in particular land, enterprises as property complexes, buildings and installations, houses and apartments) and regulates the value assessment for mortgage, mortgage insurance and claims for indebted property. Mr S. Pisarevich, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic for Economy, Budget and Finances, noted that passing the draft Law “On Mortgage” creates basic legal institutions for developing the legislation in this field. Mortgage is to become one of the instruments for  additional mobilization of funds to finance different fields of economy, in particular industry, agriculture and housing construction. The system of long-term mortgage lending should supplement the current forms of housing construction financing (preferential bank loans, local purpose bonded housing construction loans etc.) with a new component. The draft Law introduces legal regulation of the institution of mortgages being registered security, which certify the rights of the mortgagee in the hypothecation liability. Passing the law will impart an accurate legal shape to the mortgage lending institution. It is also supposed to increase the amount of housing construction and thereafter reduce the number of the people in need of housing conditions improvement.
The approved draft law of the Republic of Belarus “On Amending the Code of Civil Procedure Regarding the Charges for a House or Apartment in Mortgage” is supposed to ensure the implementation of the legal norms of the draft law “On Mortgage”. The draft law amends the Code of Civil Procedure with a provision that gives an opportunity to take claim to the debtor’s house or apartment in case of his non-fulfilment of mortgage obligations.
The senators approved the draft Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Labour Protection”. It gives citizens the rights for healthy and safe labour conditions. It defines the obligations for securing the labour safety of the citizens that work under labour contracts, and the citizens that work under civil law contracts. The draft Law underlines that the basic of the workers’ labour safety is set at the stage of designing and constructing objects, engineering production equipment and manufacturing procedures.
Some amendments to the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Public Health Care” were approved. They make some of the Law’s provisions more accurate with account taken of its practical application. The draft Law contains norms that optimize legal regulation of public health care and guarantee the rights of the citizens of the Republic of Belarus for accessible and high-quality health care.
The draft Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Granting the Refugee Status, Additional and Temporary Protection to Foreign Citizens and Persons Without Citizenship in the Republic of Belarus” is aimed at regulating the procedure for granting the refugee status, additional and temporary protection to foreign citizens and persons without citizenship in the Republic of Belarus, defines their rights and obligations, as well as the powers of the President of the Republic of Belarus and state structures in the field of forced migration.
Amendments to several laws on organisation of work with citizens are aimed at further optimisation of work of state structures and other organizations with citizens.
Amendments to the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Railway Transport” provides for adjusting Article 29 of the current Law in accordance with Article 5 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Security Activities in the Republic of Belarus” and with the Decree by the President of the Republic of Belarus No 534 of 25October, 2007 “On Measures On Improving Security Activities”, that approved the Provisions on Militarised Security.
Amendments to some laws of the Republic of Belarus regulating the activities of public prosecution of the Republic of Belarus were also approved.
Members of the Council of the Republic also took into consideration four Ordinances of the Head of the State. In particular they regulate the conditions of organizing and conducting electronic interactive games and the issues of taxation in this area; provide for further development of the equity market and attracting investments into the county’s economy; stimulate the development of the corporate securities and bonds market by effective taxation of securities incomes.
Parliamentarians ratified a number of international legal acts. These include agreements on peacemaking activities of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, on social and legal guarantees for the personnel of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces in the Commonwealth of the Independent States, on the procedure of financial, equipment and logistic support of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces in the Commonwealth of the Independent States, on harmonization of the customs procedures for transportation of electric power through the customs borders of the member states of the CIS.
The ratification of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Belarus and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania on amending the Temporary Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Belarus and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania on mutual travels of the citizens of November 26, 2002 will simplify mutual travels of the citizens and favour the development of good-neighbourly relations between the two countries.
The Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Belarus and the Government of the Russian Federation on developing cooperation in the field of production and reciprocal deliveries of medication will define the basic directions of cooperation between the two countries in the field of medication turnover.
Members of the Council of the Republic approved the draft Law of the Republic of Belarus “On the Accession of the Republic of Belarus to the Agreement on Establishing the Eurasian Development Bank”. It provides for establishment of the Eurasian Development Bank which will strengthen financial and economic cooperation and extend trade and economic links between the member states of the Agreement by means of investment activities. Mr S. Pisarevich, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic for Economy, Budget and Finances, and Mrs T. Starchenko, Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Belarus, took part in discussion of this draft Law.
The next regular sitting of the Council of the Republic is scheduled on June 20, 2008.
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