Law On introduction of amendments and additions to the Law of Turkmenistan “On Free Economic Zones”, signed by the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on October 5, was published in the Official newspaper of Turkmenistan on Thursday and entered into force.
According to the new law, an article was added to the Law adopted in 2017 that defines the features of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan (UIET) in the free economic zones.
The new article states that in order to achieve the goals of creating free economic zones, the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan, with the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, may be granted the authority to establish an enterprise that administers a specific free economic zone. The established company will be granted the following rights:
- create all the necessary conditions for attracting the contributions of local and foreign investors and other funds for the development of infrastructure of free economic zones;
- act as the customer of the work, the implementation of which is necessary to create the engineering, transport and social infrastructures of free economic zones;
- conclude an agreement with a participant in a free economic zones;
- to monitor compliance with the special law of free economic zones, make proposals to amend it;
- to monitor the quality of construction, reconstruction, repair of infrastructure of free economic zones and its maintenance;
- publish information in the in the media, in state and foreign languages, about the land and state property not leased out in the free economic zones;
- upon the request of the participant of the free economic zone, issue invitations for the entry into Turkmenistan of foreign citizens and stateless persons for the purpose of labor activity, as well as for the delivery of their vehicles.
Part three of Article 11 of the Law, which has been in force for two years, was supplemented with a following paragraph: “The supply of gas, electricity, water, sewage, communications and roads to the borders of free economic zones is carried out at the expense of the State Budget of Turkmenistan and the relevant sectors, as well as from borrowed funds.”
The new amendments indicated the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan as an authorized body implementing state policy in the field of free economic zones. The authorized body was also granted the right to exercise general management of the free economic zones.
A free economic zone is a specially designated territory with clearly defined administrative boundaries, within which a special legal regime is established for its participants.
