Entrepreneurs return to markets (photo)

On Sunday, March 8, Zhdanovichy market is quite crowded. Especially when compared to March 1 when Decree 222 came into power. According to the Decree, the entrepreneurs must have quality certificates for each unit of the goods - clothing and shoes. However, two days before the Decree entered into force, Deputy Economy Minister Dzmitry Kruty said that "everyone can work in a relaxed atmosphere ... In the draft of the new decree, we will try to answer the most pressing questions ... and develop a mechanism to legalize the remains of the goods". He also promised not to penalize employers before the new decree enters into force. It was a generous promise - the size of a fine is 9 million.

This is how Zhdanovichy looked on Sunday, March 1

And in a week

As a result, on March 8, Zhdanovichy market has a lot of open shops. The difference between the empty rows and the closed boxes, which were seen here on March 1, is drastic. It is true that there are not many buyers. "Nobody buys anything, it is an unusual day off. But it's been this way for a few months already, we're used to it now," says one of the sellers.

Significant discounts are not helping sell goods. Jeans can be purchased for 200-300 thousand rubles. "This is well below the price that we paid, buying the goods," sellers said trying to be convincing. They explain the reason for the sale in the desire to at least earn something during the crisis.

March 1

March 8

No checks yet

The leader of the public association of entrepreneurs Perspektyva, Anatol Shumchanka, says that a week after the Decree 222 came into power, there has been not a single penalty. "We have no such information. There are really no inspections and penalties. There were only a few cases of confiscation of the goods, which were neing transfered from Russia to Belarus. I recently received this information from the Mahiliou region. But there are really no checks on the markets," says Shumchanka.

It is still unknown when the new decree will be signed

Initially, the authorities, in particular Deputy Economy Minister Dzmitry Krutoy, promised to prepare the text of the new document in the first days of March. However, this did not happen. And there was a paradoxical situation when the ban on the Decree of Lukashenka was put by Deputy Minister of Economy's statement in the media.

The date when the new decree, which will replace Decree 222, will be signed remains unknown. So does its contents.