WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
WT/ACC/KAZ/58/Rev.3 
3 April 2012 
 (12-1787) 
Working Party on the 
Accession of Kazakhstan Original:   English 
 
 
 
ACCESSION OF KAZAKHSTAN 
 
Memorandum on Foreign Trade Legislation 
 
Revision 
 
 
 The following submission, dated 28 March 2012, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. 
 
 
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  WT/ACC/KAZ/58/Rev.3 
Page 2 1.  Amendments to the Foreign Trade Legislation 
  Hereby Kazakhstan provides the information on work carried out to bring its national legislation on foreign trade into complia nce with the WTO rules 
and principles. 
Table 1 - Foreign Trade Laws Adopted since January 2008 
Name of the Law Relevant WTO Agreements Content of the Law Date of signing by the President of 
the Republic of Kazakhstan 
On Accreditation in the Sphere of Conformity Assessment Agreement on Technical Barriers 
to Trade  
 The Law establishes the legal framework for accreditation 
in the sphere of conformity assessment and provides for 
harmonization of accreditation requirements with 
international standards, including those of the International 
Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International 
Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) in accordance with the principl es of the Agreement on 
Technical Barriers to Trade. 5 July 2008 
Tax Code of the Republic of 
Kazakhstan No. 99-IV General Agreement on Tariffs and 
Trade The new Tax Code was aimed at reducing tax burden for 
processing sector of economy; reduction of administrative barriers; and increasing effectiveness of tax administration. 
As of 1 January 2009 the following changes were 
introduced in the taxation regime:   
- The corporate income tax rate was reduced from 
30 per cent to 20 per cent.   
- The VAT had been reduced from 13 per cent to 
12 per cent. 
- The new Tax Code provided for replacement of 
current regressive social tax scale with rates of 
13-5 per cent by the horizontal tax scale rate of 
11 per cent. 
 
The Code introduced gradual unification of excise taxes by 
1 January 2014 (subsequently amended in 2010 to reduce 
the transition period to 2011 for tobacco products and to 
2012 for spirits and alcohol products) in order to bring the national legislation into conformity with the national 
treatment principle envisaged in Article III of 
the GATT 1994.  10 December 2008  
   WT/ACC/KAZ/58/Rev.3
 Page 3Name of the Law Relevant WTO Agreements Content of the Law Date of signing by the President of 
the Republic of Kazakhstan 
On Ratification of the International 
Agreement on the Creation of an 
Office International des Epizooties in Paris Agreement on Application of 
Sanitary and Phytosanitary 
Measures Ratification of the Agreement enabled Kazakhstan to 
apply OIE international standards and recommendations in 
accordance with Article 3 of the Agreement on 
Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. 24 December 2008 
On Competition  The key objective of the Law is the protection of free 
competition and creation of favorable conditions for 
entrepreneurial and investment activity growth.   
The Law provides for an exhaustive list of types of unfair 
competition.  This allows effective prevention of anti-monopoly activity and(or) identification of 
anti-competitive actions. 
 Also, the Law establishes an exhaustive list of reasons for 
conducting investigations aimed at identification and proof 
of violation of anti-monopoly legislation.  This provides additional guarantee for businesses from unjustified 
actions of regulatory State bodies. 25 December 2008 
On Amendments and Addenda to 
Legislative Acts of the Republic of 
Kazakhstan on Currency Regulation 
and Currency Control  The Law provides for improvement of the currency 
regulation and simplification of the procedures related to 
currency regulation.  
 Coverage of currency operations subject to currency 
regulation and export-import currency control were 
reduced, e.g. commercial loans on export or import, the contracts of which had to be registered in the authorised 
bank, were no longer subject to currency control 
(Article 20-24 of Law No. 57 "On Currency Regulation and Currency Control"). 
 
The Law stipulates the cases where it is not required to open bank accounts in an authorised bank of Kazakhstan 
for the purposes of payments (Article 16 of Law No. 57 
"On Currency Regulation and Currency Control"). 4 July 2009   
  WT/ACC/KAZ/58/Rev.3 
Page 4 Name of the Law Relevant WTO Agreements Content of the Law Date of signing by the President of 
the Republic of Kazakhstan 
On Amendments and Addenda to 
Legislative Acts of the Republic of 
Kazakhstan on Intellectual Property  Agreement on Trade Related 
Aspects of Intellectual Property 
Rights The Law "On Copyright and Related Rights" of 
10 June 1996 was amended to bring it into compliance 
with the WIPO's Copyright Treaty and the Performances and Phonograms Treaty.  The amendments introduced the 
term "technological measure" into the Law.  In accordance 
with the amendments, "technological measure" is understood as technology (programme technology) or its 
components that control acce ss to copyright works or 
objects of related rights and prevent or restrict actions prohibited by author, owner of related rights or other 
owner of exclusive copyright or related rights. 10 July 2009 
On Amendments and Addenda to 
Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on 
Phytosanitary Safety Agreement on Application of 
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Plant 
Quarantine" of 11 February 1999 was amended to reduce the term of issuing permitting documents in the field of 
phytosanitary safety in accordance with paragraph 1(a) 
Annex C of the Agreement on Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. 17 July 2009 
On Amendments and Addenda to 
Certain Legislative Acts of the 
Republic of Kazakhstan on Issues of 
Taxation General Agreement on Tariffs and 
Trade  
 The Law reduced the transition period for unification of 
excise tax rates on imported and domestically produced 
tobacco products from 1 January 2014 to 1 January 2011, 
in order ensure compliance of the taxation regime with the 
national treatment principle provided by Article III of the GATT 1994. 26 January 2010 
On Amendments and Addenda to the 
Law On Natural Monopolies and 
Regulated Markets  The Law was aimed at improving tariff (pricing) policy 
with regard to natural monopolies and regulated markets, 
enhancing efficiency of natural monopolies and regulated markets, creating conditions for increasing capital 
investments into assets of natural monopolies and 
increasing their investment attractiveness.  
The Law introduced comparative analysis method for 
regional electric grid companies, which allows evaluating 
efficiency of the regional electric grid companies and 
enhancing operations, technologies, and increasing labour 
productivity.  These factors improve the investment 
attractiveness of the companie s.  The Law provides for 
flexible pricing policy with regard to subjects of regulated 
markets.  15 March 2010  
   WT/ACC/KAZ/58/Rev.3
 Page 5Name of the Law Relevant WTO Agreements Content of the Law Date of signing by the President of 
the Republic of Kazakhstan 
In addition, the Law introduced mechanisms for applying 
differentiated tariffs for water supply services based on 
consumption volumes.  Along with increase of investment attractiveness of the water can als, given mechanisms shall 
provide for saving of energy and consumer budget. 
Decree of the President of the 
Republic of Kazakhstan "On Accession of the Republic of 
Kazakhstan to the In ternational Plant 
Protection Convention" Agreement on Application of 
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures In order to ensure compliance with the requirements of 
paragraph 4, Article 3 of the SPS Agreement, Kazakhstan has joined IPPC.  The Convention provides for 
cooperation and application of the coordinated 
phytosanitary measures on the basis of the international phytosanitary standards, guidelines and recommendations 
accepted by the Convention. 29 April 2010 
On Amendments and Addenda to 
Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Issues of 
Customs Regulation and Taxation General Agreement on Tariffs and 
Trade   The Law reduced the transition period for unifying excise 
tax rates on imported and domestically produced spirits and alcohol beverages from 1 January 2014 to 
1 January 2012 in order to ensure the taxation regime 
compliance with the national treatment principle of Article III of the GATT 1994. 30 June 2010 
Customs Code of the Republic of 
Kazakhstan Agreement on Trade Related 
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights To ensure compliance with Article 58 of the 
TRIPS Agreement, Customs Code authorises customs body to suspend, upon its own initiative, the release of 
goods in respect of which it has acquired prima facie 
evidence that an intellectual property right is being infringed ( ex officio  action) without application of the right 
holder. 
 This provision of the Customs Code provides for 
protection of intellectual property at the customs border. 30 June 2010  
  WT/ACC/KAZ/58/Rev.3 
Page 6 Name of the Law Relevant WTO Agreements Content of the Law Date of signing by the President of 
the Republic of Kazakhstan 
On Amendments and Addenda to 
Certain Legislative Acts of the 
Republic of Kazakhstan on Issues of Trade Regulation Agreement on Import Licensing 
Procedures The Law introduced monitoring of import and export of 
goods by means of issuing permits (automatic licensing) in 
a manner consistent with Article 2 of the WTO Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures  on automatic licensing of 
import.  
In particular, the Law provides for the following: - permits shall be issued without restriction to all 
applicants; 
- only a draft permit shall be submitted to obtain a 
permit, no other documents are required; 
- permits shall be issued within 3 working days from 
the date of the submission of the draft permit. 26 January 2011 
On Amendments and Addenda to 
Certain Legislative Acts of the 
Republic of Kazakhstan on 
Improvement of Regulatory Approval System 
 Agreement on Import Licensing 
Procedures In order to bring the import licensing regime in 
compliance with Article 3 of the WTO Agreement on 
Import Licensing, the Law eliminated, as of 
30 January 2012, the requirement of obtaining an activity licence for importation of ethyl spirits and alcohol 
products used as a pre-condition for obtaining an import 
licence for ethyl spirits and alco hol products.  In order to 
improve the business climat e of Kazakhstan, the Law 
reduced the number of activities and sub-activities subject to activity licensing by 30 per cent. 15 July 2011 
On Amendments and Addenda to 
Certain Legislative Acts of the 
Republic of Kazakhstan on Issues of Currency Regulations and Currency 
Control  In order to eliminate administrative barriers in foreign 
trade, transaction passport wa s replaced with the procedure 
of registration of contracts.  The Law excluded transaction passport from the list of documents necessary for 
import/export operations.   
 Also, under the Law, the amount of cash, which is not 
subject to customs declaratio n in case of importation and 
exportation, was increased from US$3,000 to US$10,000.  The Law simplifies the regime of importation and 
exportation of cash from third countries by increasing the 
amount of cash not subject to customs declaration. 6 January 2012  
   WT/ACC/KAZ/58/Rev.3
 Page 7Name of the Law Relevant WTO Agreements Content of the Law Date of signing by the President of 
the Republic of Kazakhstan 
On Amendments and Addenda to 
Certain Legislative Acts on State Aid 
to Industrial Innovative Activities  The Law introduced new types of investment preferences:  
preferences on land tax and property tax for juridical 
persons implementing strategic investment project; and industrial preferences for ju ridical persons implementing 
strategic investment projects in regions that were socially 
and economically disadvantaged.  The Law was adopted to improve investment climate in Kazakhstan. 9 January 2012 
On Amendments and Addenda to 
Legislative Acts of the Republic of 
Kazakhstan on Intellectual Property  Agreement on Trade Related 
Aspects of Intellectual Property 
Rights The Law brings the terminology used in the Law "On 
Trade Marks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin" 
of 26 July 1999 into compliance with the terminology of the TRIPS Agreement; implements the seniority concept 
between trademarks and geographical indications in 
accordance with Artic le 24(5) and exceptions provided 
under Article 30 of the TRIPS Agreement. 
The Law brings the compulsory licensing provisions of the 
Patent Law of 16 July 1999 in compliance with the requirements of Article 31(l) of the TRIPS Agreement.  
Specifically, Article 11 of the Patent Law is amended to 
ensure that where use of the subject matter of a patent is 
authorised to permit the exploitation of a patent (second 
patent) which cannot be exploited without infringing another patent (first patent), the invention claimed in the 
second patent must involve an important technical advance 
of considerable economic significance in relation to the invention claimed in the first patent. 
Patent Law was also amended to bring it into compliance 
with Article 27.2 of the TRIPS Agreement by replacing the term "public interests, principles of humanity and 
morality" with "ordre public " and "morality" accordingly. 
Articles 12(2) and 12(4) of the Patent Law were amended to bring them into compliance with the requirements of 
Article 30 of the TRIPS Agreement.   12 January 2012  
  WT/ACC/KAZ/58/Rev.3 
Page 8 Name of the Law Relevant WTO Agreements Content of the Law Date of signing by the President of 
the Republic of Kazakhstan 
  Specifically, Article 12(2) of the Patent Law was amended 
to indicate that the following is not an infringement of the 
exclusive rights of a patent holder:  "carrying out scientific research or experiment on means which contain the 
protected object of industrial property when such research 
or experiment does not have a commercial purpose".  
Article 12(4) was amended to indicate that utilization of a 
patent without authorisation of the patent-holder for the 
satisfaction of personal, family, home, or other needs not connected with entrepreneurial activity would be permitted 
if the purpose of such utilization was not a financial gain.  
  
   WT/ACC/KAZ/58/Rev.3
 Page 92.  Legislative Action Plan 2012  
 
Table 2 – List of Draft Laws elaborated by the Government of  the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2010-2012 as well as their brief sum mary 
 
Name of the draft Law Relevant WTO Agreements Content of the draft Law Date of submission to the 
Parliament of the Republic of 
Kazakhstan 
On State Regulation of 
Genetically-Engineered Activities Agreement on Technical Barriers 
to Trade  
Agreement on Application of 
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures The draft Law is called to regulate the genetically engineered 
activities, including creation, testing, use in closed systems, introduction into the environment, trans border transportation, 
utilization and destruction of live modified organisms (LMO) 
and genetically modified obje cts (GMO) in accordance with 
the principles of the Agreement on Application of Sanitary 
and Phytosanitary Measures.  
 In particular, the draft Law pr ovides for registration of LMO 
for release into the environment, and registration of GMO for 
use in food and feed. Registration is carried out by authorised bodies on the basis of the scientific evaluation of risk upon 
conclusion of the Expert Committee. Submitted to the Parliament in 
September 2010 
On Amendments and Addenda to Certain Legislative Acts of the 
Republic of Kazakhstan on the 
Issues of Technical Regulation and Metrology Agreement on Technical Barriers 
to Trade 
 The draft Law was elaborated to bring the national legislation 
in the field of technical regulation in compliance with 
international agreements, secure safety of products and 
reduce administrative barriers in compliance with the principles of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.  
In particular, the draft Law foresees establishment of the 
national standardization body in  accordance with Article 4 of 
TBT Agreement.  The draft Law provides that national 
standards of the Republic of Kazakhstan shall be elaborated 
on the basis of international standards as stipulated by Article 2.4 of the TBT Agreement.  Submitted to the Parliament in 
September 2011 
 
 
On Amendments and Addenda to 
Certain Legislative Acts of the 
Republic of Kazakhstan on Issues of Application of Non-tariff 
Regulation Measures in the 
Customs Union General Agreement On Trade and 
Tariffs The draft Law is called to amend the laws regulating 
non-tariff regulation in order to bring them in compliance 
with the Common List of Goods Subject to Bans and Restrictions on Importation and Exportation by Parties of the 
Customs Union of Eurasian Economic Community in Trade 
with Third Countries approved Decision No. 19 of 27 November 2009 of the EurAsEC Interstate Council.  Planned to submit to the Parliament 
in November 2012 
  
  WT/ACC/KAZ/58/Rev.3 
Page 10 Name of the draft Law Relevant WTO Agreements Content of the draft Law Date of submission to the 
Parliament of the Republic of 
Kazakhstan 
The draft Law is aimed at bringing import licensing regime in compliance with Article IX of the GATT 1994 and reducing 
administrative barriers to trade.  In particular, the draft Law 
provides for elimination of import licensing of ethyl spirits and alcohol (from the date of accession of any CU Party to 
the WTO). 
Protocol "On Amendments and 
Addenda to the Agreement on the Determination of Customs Value of 
Goods, Transferring Across 
Customs Border of the Customs 
Union of 25 January 2008" WTO Agreement on the 
Implementation of Article VII of the GATT 1994 The Protocol is aimed at bringing the Agreement on 
Determination of Customs Value of Goods, Transferring Across Customs Border of the Customs Union of 
25 January 2008 (hereinafter – the CU Agreement) into 
compliance with the WTO Agreement on the Implementation 
of Article VII of the GATT 1994 (hereinafter – the WTO 
Agreement).  
The following WTO Agreem ent provisions are being 
implemented by the draft Protocol: 
- Article 22, stating that the CU Agreement is based 
on the rules and provisions of the WTO Agreement; 
- The Interpretative Note to Article 1.2(a) and (b), 
providing related parties with an opportunity to demonstrate by any of the two options provided by 
the Interpretative Note, that transaction value is 
acceptable for the purposes of customs valuation.  In particular, under Article 1.2(a), circumstances 
surrounding the sale sha ll be examined by the 
customs body, and the value of the imported goods shall be accepted if the relationship between the 
parties did not influence the price.  Alternatively, 
importer could demonstrate to the customs body that the value of the imported goods closely 
approximates to one of the three test values provided 
by Article 1.2(b); 
- The Interpretative Note to Article 2, paragraph 4 
establishing that transaction value of identical goods shall be accepted if it was previously adopted by the 
customs body under transaction value method; Planned to submit to the Parliament 
in 2012   
   WT/ACC/KAZ/58/Rev.3
 Page 11Name of the draft Law Relevant WTO Agreements Content of the draft Law Date of submission to the 
Parliament of the Republic of 
Kazakhstan 
- The requirements of Article 6.2 of the WTO 
Agreement stipulating that customs body shall give 
sufficient advance notice to the importing country 
provided that the latter does not object to verification of the information presen ted by the declarant.   
In addition, the draft Protocol authorises the CU Commission 
to adopt acts on customs valuation matters in order to fully implement the rest of the provisions of the Interpretative 
Notes within the framework of the Customs Union. 
 
 
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