Law on SEZ in Crimea should be valid for not less than 25 years - Crimean head
SIMFEROPOL. Aug 25 (Interfax) - Crimea's authorities are expecting that the Russian Federal Assembly will adopt a law on a special economic zone (SEZ) in the region before the end of the year, according to which special conditions for economic activity will last not less than 25 years.
"Now the period of validity for the special economic zone is being determined. There are various opinions: five, ten or 25 years. We are in favor of this status being valid for a minimum of 25 years, and possibly even up to 50 years, so that businesses can see the long-term prospect for themselves," the acting head of the Republic of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said during an interview with Interfax.
He said that under the threat of sanctions on the part the West against companies that are beginning to work in Crimea, the SEZ's parameters should offer businesses tangible advantages.
"The mechanism of the SEZ should give major businesses such tangible advantages, make Crimea so attractive for work, that companies have now already, despite the threat of sanctions, opened businesses here," he said.
He said it is expected that the special regime for conducting business will not concern the production of energy and other subsurface resources. "Here there will be no privileges or benefits. And as concerns the tourist sector, agriculture, industry and construction - benefits for these sectors are expected," Aksyonov said, adding that among the benefits, in particular there will be lower taxes on profit and a lower VAT.
"The VAT on imports could possibly be collected at a zero rate," he said.
He also said that all enterprises of the Republic of Crimea have been reregistered in accordance with Russian legislation and in the region, there are no remaining enterprises that officially pay taxes in Ukraine. "There are no [such enterprises]. All have reregistered in accordance with Russian legislation. Although, someone may be secretly paying [to the Ukrainian budget]," Aksyonov said.
At the same, some Ukrainian companies are continuing to work on the peninsula and export revenue from Crimea. "A few days ago we thwarted an attempt to export about 6 million rubles from Ukraine via New Post [the Ukrainian shipment service] and another 30 million rubles were seized during a search [of New Post]. So, Ukrainian companies tried to export their revenue that was illegally earned in Crimea. But these are isolated incidents," he said.
