Kazakhstan's Majilis approves amendments to subsoil legislation
MOSCOW. Nov 5 (Interfax) - The Majilis, the lower chamber of the Kazakh parliament, has adopted amendments to laws on mineral resource management in the first reading, an Interfax correspondent reported.
The amendments are aimed at easing the license issuance procedure, reducing administrative barriers and making the decision-making process more transparent.
In total, the government proposed 200 amendments to the subsoil legislation. According to the amendments, the expertise requirements for license contracts will be reduced to 60%; the terms and conditions of the model contract optimized; the companies extracting solid mineral resources - excluding uranium - will now not be required to receive approval to change in the production volumes (if not above 20% of the projected targets).
The amendments also propose a new mechanism for awarding license contracts on a first come, first served basis. In this case, the subsoil use fee will increase annually.
The bill also provides free access to geological information and excludes the feasibility study requirement from the mandatory project documentation.
The draft law provided amendments to the Land Code, regarding land allotment to the trustee for management of the license area under the agreement between the competent authorities and the national mineral resource company.
The bill abolished an ineffective incentive mechanism introduced in 2011 in the Environmental Code regarding the processing of mineral waste. The mechanism had provided lower rates for the disposal of mineral waste subject to conclusion of mineral processing contracts.
Conflicting provisions in the tax laws and the law on subsoil use regarding the taxation of the associated minerals extracted along with main minerals were removed form the Tax Code. The ambiguous interpretation of paragraphs 6 and 7 of Article 495 of the Tax Code was eliminated, while waste disposal rates in the mining and energy industries have been made more specific.
The bill also amended the rules regulating the manner of exercising the priority right of the state with the participation of a national management holding or national company and creating a unified record keeping system for production and turnover of oil and gas in the country.
Over 800 notes and proposals were reviewed and discussed that were submitted by deputies, regular committees and the Majilis' legislative division.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev instructed the parliament to give priority to the subsoil bill.
