The Legal 500

Following an unusual series of disagreements between the President and the Parliament of Kazakhstan concerning the President’s term of office, the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan1 was amended recently -- fully in accordance with the law - - to allow for early Presidential elections. Specifically, the Parliament proposed a constitutional amendment that would have allowed a referendum on extending the current President’s term of office. However, the President did not support extending his term of office and submitted the proposed amendment to the country’s Constitutional Council, which declared the proposed amendment unconstitutional.

December 1, 2010 -- On 24 June 2010 President of the RK signed new Law of the RK «On Subsurface and Subsurface Use». One of the changes established by this Law was introduction of state ownership for associated gas. In this regard, the question remains as which state policy will our state implement in gas industry and what are the next steps to be taken further

On 16 November 2009, Kazakhstan adopted certain amendments to its Tax Code (the "Tax Amendments"). Most of the Tax Amendments take effect from 1 January 2010. However, some changes are effective retroactively from 1 January 2009. The primary purpose of the Tax Amendments is to keep the current rates of the corporate income tax and the mineral extraction tax until 2012. Another objective is to simplify tax administration and clarify certain provisions of the Tax Code.

Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan will adopt new unified customs tariff and non-tariff regulations from January 1, 2010, and the Customs Union (the “CU”) of the three countries of the Eurasian Economic Community (the “EurAsEC”) will become a reality. The CU Customs Code (the “Customs Code”) is expected to take effect from July 1, 2010 to regulate the resulting integral customs zone.

Doing Business in Kazakhstan 2009 has been prepared as a general guide for companies operating in or considering investment into Kazakhstan. It is intended to present an overview of the key aspects of the Kazakhstani legal system and regulation of business activities in this country.

Kazakhstan has promulgated a new law, the Islamic Finance Law,1 intended to broaden the range of finance options available to Kazakhstani companies and to provide a legal framework for Islamic finance in Kazakhstan.

The draft law combines the principles of the Law of the RK in effect on ”Subsoil and Subsoil use” of January 27, 1996 (further the Law on Subsoil) and the Law of the RK on “Oil” of June 28, 1995 (further the Law on Oil), and involves the provisions and requirements of certain governmental resolutions and other delegated legislation.

At the present time, the government subsoil users tax policy is one of the most important issues for subsoil users. The export duty, discussions as to the severance tax levy and the new draft of transfer pricing demonstrate the urgency and importance of analysis of the government tax policy and the possible consequences of its implementation for subsoil users.

Should foreign companies continue to conduct mergers & acquisitions in Kazakhstan? What are the risks that they face? What are the new laws that the government plans to introduce and how will they affect investors?