Minsk has contacted the US Department of Commerce woth a request to revoke the status of a non-market economy, the Belarusian Economy Ministry reports.
The US officials will study the feasibility of holding public hearings on the issue; the final results may be published in November, 2020.
The status of a non-market economy was automatically obtained by Belarus after the collapse of the USSR. According to the Belarusian side, this status allows the US government to apply restrictive customs and tariff measures to certain types of Belarusian products, making their export economically impractical.
Earlier, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania managed to get rid of the status of a non-market economy.
In October 2019, the government decided to turn to the US company Crowell & Moring which has a positive experience in legal support of such procedures to help Belarus get the status of a market economy.
“Granting the status of a market economy would allow to eliminate discriminatory practices of calculating rates of protective duties as well as avoid unjustified overrating in respect of Belarusian products in the US. It will contibute to boosting Belarus’ exports to the United States,” the Economy Ministry stressed.
