The Committee of State Control of the Republic of Belarus
BELARUS

Independence

The Committee of State Control of the Republic of Belarus (further referred to as the Committee of State Control) is the body that exercises state control over implementation of the national budget, the use of public property and implementation of laws and acts of the President of the Republic of Belarus, the Parliament of Republic of Belarus, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, and of other state bodies governing public property relationships and economic, financial and tax relations.

The Committee of State Control shall be formed by the President of the Republic of Belarus. The Committee of State Control and its local bodies are legal entities. They have seals with the coat of arms of the Republic of Belarus and their denomination.

Jurisdiction

The Committee of State Control and its local bodies within their competence exercise state control over:

• the republican budget execution, observance of the legislation in the field of financial and tax relations in the system of local budgets and state special budget and non-budget funds;

• the spending of the republican and local funds on the maintenance of State bodies, the Safety and use of state property;

• the execution of legislation acts on lease, nationalization, privatization and other alienation of object of state property;

• the observance of investment activity legislation acts by state bodies and other legal entities (including residents of free economic zones);

• the legality of the use of state resources by legal entities and individual entrepreneurs;

• the observance of the legislation on the use of credit and currency resources by state bodies and banks;

• the state of audit work in state bodies, the performance of audits of other legal entities and individual entrepreneurs;

• the financial and economic activity of state bodies, representation organizations and institutions of the Republic of Belarus acting abroad and financed by means of the republican budget;

• the observance of the legislation on receiving, expenditure registration and storage of precious metals and precious stones of all forms and kinds, as well as on collecting and passing their scrap and waste of the State Fund of Precious Metals and Precious Stones of the Republic of Belarus;

• the observance of the legislation on ferrous and non-ferrous metals utilization, the observance of the order of collection, registration, storage, utilization, distribution and processing of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, their scrap and waste;

• the execution of the legislation on the relations of state property, economic, financial and tax relations by the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus and other banks, insurance and non-bank financial organizations;

• the observance of the legislation on emission, investment and circulation of securities by stock market members, the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus and other legal entities which exercise regulating activity over stock market;

• the delivery of goods for state needs;

• the observance of the legislation by legal entities and individual entrepreneurs on the following issues:
  the rules of trade and service, the order of fixing prices on goods (works, services) and the stability of prices in distribution of goods (works, services), the quality of goods manufactured and traded (works performed, services provided), their safety to life, health and property of consumers, the protection of consumers' market and their rights;

• the execution of the legislation on the order of foreign trade performance by state bodies. other legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, as well as the legality of state resources use in foreign trade activity;

• the observation of the legislation on the order of currency operations on the territory of the Republic of Belarus;

The Committee of State Control and its local bodies have the right to establish and keep direct contacts with audit institutions of other states and international organizations, to conclude agreements with them. 

Powers

According to the legislation of the Republic of Belarus the Chairman of the Committee of State Control has the following powers:

• supervises the activity of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies, organizes and monitors their work;
• takes decisions within his/her competence on the issues concerning the execution of state control in the republic, planning and performance of audits, appointment of the officials of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies except for the officials specified in part three of Article eight and in Article nine of the present Law;
• organizes the work of the Committee of State Control board and supervises its activity; provides the recruitment of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies with highly qualified experts; informs the President of the Republic of Belarus about the activity of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies; makes propositions on the improvement of the legislation for consideration of the President of the Republic of Belarus, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus and other state institutions;
• passes orders and directions, confirms regulations and instructions obligatory for all the employees of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies;
• represents the Committee of State Control in state and other institutions, international organizations, on behalf of the President of the Republic of Belarus concludes agreements on the issues of financial and economic control, cooperation in the field of currency control with audit institutions of other states and international audit organizations;
• approves within the framework of budget allocations the personnel arrangement of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies, as well as regulations on structural subdivisions of the Committee of State Control.

The chairmen of the local bodies of the Committee of State Control supervise the activity of the bodies which they head, issue orders, give directions corresponding to the demands of the legislation and obligatory for execution by all the subordinate employees.

The Committee of State Control and its local bodies have the right:

• to receive from state bodies, other legal entities and individual entrepreneurs the information necessary for the conduct of audits;
• to receive from the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus and other banks the documents and information necessary for the conduct of audits: reports, accounting and statistical information, information on transactions and the state of accounts, as well as certificates and copies of the documents on transactions of the objects audited:
• to use data bases or slate bodies and other state legal entities free of charge;
• to perform audits of the activity of state bodies, other legal entities, as well as of individual entrepreneurs:
• to inquire the officials of state bodies, other legal entities and individual entrepreneurs about the causes of the infringements elicited through the audits;
• to involve in the conduct of audits the representatives of law-enforcement agencies, audit institutions and experts from other state institutions and other legal entities of the Republic of Belarus regardless of the form of their subordination in the order prescribed by the legislation;
• within the competence to make decisions obligatory for the officials of state bodies and other legal entities, as well as for individual entrepreneurs
• to send the results of audits to state bodies for their examination and for taking the necessary measures: 
• to apply to authoritative bodies under strong reason to institute an action of closing down the legal entities, to suspend the activities of individual entrepreneurs or to cancel the corresponding permits (licenses);
• to monitor the conduct of currency transactions including the receipt of export currency proceeds in the Republic of Belarus, import delivery of commodities (works, services), purchase and sale and use of foreign currency;
• to suspend or prohibit the production (distribution) of commodities, performance of works (provision of services) in cases of violations of the legislation regulations on the safety to life, health or property of consumers or environment;
• to conduct the selection of samples in accordance with the established procedure and send them for examination to research institutions, laboratories of republican administration bodies or of other legal entities in order to estimate the quality of goods;
• in accordance with the established procedure to withdraw samples of low-quality goods, commodities, raw materials, testifying to misuse and violation of the regulations;
• to perform checks of purchases made, place orders on chargeable services in order to check the accuracy of payments;
• to prohibit the use of defective weighing measurement instrumentation, or instrumentation without trade-marks by legal entities and physical persons;
• to participate in consideration and coordination of standards drafts, technical specifications and other reference documentation for consumer goods;
• to keep records of administrative violations of law within the competence of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies;
• to coordinate the appointment and dismissal of the heads of state bodies and other state legal entities;
• to decide upon the adequacy of state bodies officials to the positions they occupy;
• to put forward propositions to administrative authorities of the corresponding legal entities about instituting legal proceedings against the guilty officials in cases of the legislation violations;
• when deficits of money, deliberate destruction of or damage to property, larceny including that of money or other kinds of state property as well as other misuse are elicited in audits to send the materials to law enforcement bodies in order for them to take measures in accordance with the legislation;
• to put forward propositions for the consideration of the corresponding state authorities and the heads of legal entities to make cancellations (alterations) in the acts adopted, which regulate the relations of state property, economic, financial and tax relations, in cases of discrepancy of the acts with the current legislation;
• upon request of the President of the Republic of Belarus or, when needed, to inform the President of the Republic of Belarus about untimely or improper execution of the instructions of decrees, edicts, orders and other decisions of the President of the Republic of Belarus.

The Committee of State Control and its local bodies within their competence have the right to bring legal actions concerning the protection of rights and legal interests of the state and state legal entities.  

Audit Procedures and Functions

According to the legislation of the Republic of Belarus the Committee of State Control and its local bodies within their competence consider the incoming appeals of citizens that include information on the infringement of the legislation on the relations of state property, economic, financial and tax relations.

The Chairman of the Committee of State Control exercises control over the execution of the legislation that regulates the order of considering the appeals of citizens by the Committee of State Control and its local bodies.

According to the legislation of the Republic of Belarus the Chairman of the Committee of State Control has the following powers:

• supervises the activity of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies, organizes and monitors their work;
• takes decisions within his/her competence on the issues concerning the execution of state control in the republic, planning and performance of audits, appointment of the officials of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies except for the officials specified in part three of Article eight and in Article nine of the present Law;
• organizes the work of the Committee of State Control board and supervises its activity; provides the recruitment of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies with highly qualified experts; informs the President of the Republic of Belarus about the activity of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies; makes propositions on the improvement of the legislation for consideration of the President of the Republic of Belarus, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus and other state institutions;
• passes orders and directions, confirms regulations and instructions obligatory for all the employees of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies;
• represents the Committee of State Control in state and other institutions, international organizations, on behalf of the President of the Republic of Belarus concludes agreements on the issues of financial and economic control, cooperation in the field of currency control with audit institutions of other states and international audit organizations;
• approves within the framework of budget allocations the personnel arrangement of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies, as well as regulations on structural subdivisions of the Committee of State Control.

Organisation

The Committee of State Control is formed by the President of the Republic of Belarus, The Committee of State Control and its local bodies are legal entities. They have seals with the coat of arms of the Republic of Belarus and their denomination. 

Administrative Functions and Miscellaneous

The resources of financial support of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies are earmarked from the republican budget. The amount of these financial resources is established annually at the procedure of the budget approval of the Republic of Belarus.

The expenses for the payments to specialists and other persons enlisted to fulfill tasks entailed to them by the officials of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies, as well as the expenses for the payment of salaries of the persons called to the Committee of State Control to give explanations are earmarked from the republican budget.

While performing their official duties the employees of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies are representatives of State authority and are protected by the State. The members of their families and their property are also protected by the State.

No one has the right to interface in the official activity of the employees of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies except for the State bodies and officials empowered for that by the legislation of the Republic of Belarus. Non-performance or obstruction to the execution of legal demands of the employees of the Committee of State Control or its local bodies, offence to their honor or dignity, acts of violence towards them, infringement on their life, health and property or threat of such violence and infringement, as well as other actions that hinder the performance of duties entrusted to them entail amenability according to the legislation of the Republic of Belarus. The employees of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies may not be members of political parties and other voluntary organizations pursuing political aims.

The Committee of State Control forms a board including the Chair of the Committee of State Control (the chair), the first deputy and other deputies (according to their positions) and other employees of the Committee of State Control and its local bodies. The amount of the board members is approved by the President of the Republic of Belarus on the proposal of the Chair of the Committee of State Control.

The local bodies of the Committee of State Control except for district and municipal ones form boards including the chair of the committee (the chair), deputies (according to their positions) and other officials of the local bodies of the Committee of State Control. The amount of the board members is approved by the Chair of the Committee of State Control on the proposal of the heads of the corresponding local bodies of the Committee of State Control.