On 24 September, the President of the Republic of Belarus issued Ordinance No 11 which introduced amendments and additions to Ordinance No 28 of 17 December 2002 ‘On State Regulation of the Production, Turnover and Consumption of Tobacco Raw Materials and Tobacco Goods’.

With a view to making certain legislative acts more effective and harmonising the legislation of the Republic of Belarus and the legislation of the Russian Federation, the Ordinance gives definitions of certain terms.

The term ‘tobacco goods’ has been given an expanded and more detailed definition (the notions of ‘for-smoking tobacco goods’ and ‘not-for-smoking tobacco goods’ have been introduced). This move is taken in order to help identify the businesses that purchase and sell or have plans to purchase and sell this type of products, and in order to prevent law violations in turnover of the tobacco goods which types have not been clearly specified in the legislation.