House of Representatives Adopts Amendments to the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On State Armament Programme and State Defence Order”

On 10 December 2015, MPs adopted the Bill “On Making Amendments and Additions to the
Law of the Republic of Belarus “On State Armament Programme and State Defence Order.”
Armament Programme over 10 years has shown that there are a number of issues that must be
solved in order to optimise the implementation of the programme,” said Acting Chairman of
Goscomvoyenprom Igor Bykov, presenting the bill at a regular session of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the fi fth convocation.
According to Igor Bykov, the State Armament Programme is a fl exible entity, the activities of which require permanent amendments in terms of adjustment of the list (nomenclature), time limits and amount of fi nancing for measures stipulated in the programme for the relevant year, as well as adjustment of volumes of purchased goods (works, services).
In addition, it is necessary to make amendments to the programme under annual budget cuts, insufficient fi nancing, reduction of the amount of purchased property, as well as postponement of the execution of contracts. All uniformed departments involved in the State Armament Programme and State Defence Order face these problems every year.
The proposed amendments and additions will allow optimising the implementation of the State
Armament Programme in order to ensure defence and security of the state.
In particular, Part 6 of Article 5 of the Law states that the execution of the State Armament Programme is accomplished by consistent implementation of the annual state defence orders. If necessary, adjustments are made to the list (nomenclature), time limits and amount of fi nancing for measures stipulated in the State Armament Programme for the relevant year, aswell as volumes of purchased goods (works, services).
However, the Article does not defi ne a procedure for this adjustment. An addition “through annual state defence orders” will allow for the adjustment of the State Armament Programme by including the adjusted measures of the programme directly to the state defence order of the relevant year.
MPs believe that the adoption of amendments to the current legislation will provide for the further implementation of the State Armament Programme and more fl exible adjustment of its
measures. This does not involve increased costs for fi nancing the State Armament Programme, as well as amendments to the existing laws and adoption of new laws.