According to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan 'On Licensing' dated 11 January 2007 No.214-III (hereafter referred to as 'Licensing Law'), the license and/or application to the license of the legal entities is to be reissued under the following cases (hereafter referred to as 'Cases'):

  • the legal entity undergoes a reorganisation in the form of merger, consolidation, dividing or reorganisation;
  • the legal entity has changed its name and/or its legal address.

Please note that when the address of the production facility has been changed, the license does not have to be reissued. Such requirement was highlighted in paper-based license, but in the present time is no longer in effect.

Moreover, if the name of type or subtype activity has been changed, the licensee (the entity which obtained the license) is entitled to apply for reissuing the license with attached documents confirming payment of the license fee. Under Article 471 of the Tax Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Tax fee), the license fee for reissuing of the license and/or application to the license is 10% of the amount paid when the license was issued, but no more than 4 MCI.

Time period of reissuing the license and/or application to the license and liability for the violation of such time frame

Under the Licensing Law, the application for reissuing the license must be submitted within thirty (30) calendar days from the date cases took place. If the licensee (the entity which obtained the license) did not applied for reissuing the license, the licensor (the state authority) must bring the licensee to the administrative liability under current Kazakh law.

Under Article 357-2 of the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated 30 January 2001 No. 155 'On Administrative Offences' (Violation of the rules of licensing) failure to apply for reissuing the license within the period indicated in the Licensing Law, entails a fine for entrepreneurs, legal entities of small or medium-sized business or non-profit organizations - in the amount of 50 to 100, on legal entities of a large enterprise - in the amount of 100 to 200 MCI with suspension of the license for a particular activity or not. In practice, in order to avoid corruption concern, the licensor applies maximum fine for violation of the licensing rules. Therefore, compliance with Licensing Law is very important and requires a professional approach.

Moreover, the only ground the licensor refuses to reissue the license and/or application to the license is failure to pay a license fee. Please note that the fact that the licensee was brought to the administrative liability is not a ground for refusing the reissue of the license and cannot delay or complicate the process of reissuing the license. There are two separate processes: reissuing the license and/or application to the license and bringing the licensee to the administrative liability if the latter is in breach.

The Licensing Law does not directly indicate the definite time for considering the application for reissuing the license and/or application to the license and, consequently, the state authorities refer to the general time period of fifteen (15) working days. However, the Standard of providing the state services, approved by the Regulation of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan (depends on the type of activity) clearly indicates ten (10) working days from the submission date of application for reissuing the license and/or application to the license as time period for considering the applications of such.

The Procedure of reissuing the license and/or application to the license

As practice shows, the process of reissuing the license and/or application to the license is defined neither in the Licensing Law, nor in the Regulation of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The general requirements are indicated in the Licensing Law: the licensee must submit the application for reissuing the license and/or the application to the license with attached documents, confirming the payment of license fee. Furthermore, the detailed process of reissuing the license and/or application to the license will be clearly defined in the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan On Permits and Notifications which will be adopted in 2014.

As practice shows, in order to reissue the license and/or the application to the license, the list of required documents depends on what cases has happened. However, such list of documents is not defined in any legal acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and, consequently, the licensee often address to the state authorities for the clarification on this matter.

For instance, if the legal address of the legal entity is changed one of the attached documents to the application must be the certificate from the justice authorities confirming the fact the legal address has been changed. Additionally, if the production facility is located in the same address as the legal entity is, the licensee must submit the full list of documents required for obtaining the license for such type of activity.

Under the Licensing Law, the reissued licenses and/or applications to the licenses as well as the issued licenses and/or application to the license, are published in electronic form in official web-site of the electronic Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan (elicense.kz) (hereafter referred to as 'Database').

In this case, please note that official publication of the reissued license and/or application to the license in Database may be delayed within several days/weeks. Moreover, any technical problems (reference number, refreshment of the Database, downloading of kazakh version of the reissued license) may also become a barrier to reissue the license and/or the application to the license.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.