CONTEST "BEST EXPORTER OF THE YEAR"

Regulations on the Best Exporter of the Year Republican Contest

APPROVED
Minutes of the meeting of the Interdepartmental Council
on Foreign Trade Policy
No. 31/8пр of April 20, 2017  

General Provisions

1. This Regulation determines the procedure for holding the Best Exporter of the Year Republican Contest (hereinafter referred to as the Contest).

2. The Contest is held annually by the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BelCCI) together with the Ministry of Architecture and Construction of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Industry of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Belarus, State Military-Industrial Committee of the Republic of Belarus, the Belarusian State Food Industry Concern "Belgospischeprom”, Belarusian State Oil and Chemistry Concern, the Belarusian State Concern for Production and Sale of Goods of Light Industry, the Belarusian Production and Trade Concern for Timber, Woodworking and Pulp and Paper Industry, the regional and Minsk City executive committees, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus, Administration of High Technologies Park State Institution, Beleximgarant Belarusian Republican Unitary Enterprise specializing in export and import insurance, Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange Open Joint-Stock Company, Prof. M. S. Kuniavsky Business Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers, Republican Association of Industrial Enterprises "BelAPP", Republican Public Association "Belarusian Scientific and Industrial Association” (hereinafter - the Organizers).

3. The purpose of the Contest is to stimulate the development of export-oriented production, to help to increase the prestige of commodity makers in the world market, increase volumes, improve the quality and competitiveness of exported products, works, services, intellectual property rights.

4. The Contest is based on the financial and economic indicators of participating business entities for the past calendar year (hereinafter referred to as the reporting period)..

5. The Best Exporter of the Year Contest includes the following nominations:

• mechanical engineering and metalworking;;
• metallurgy;
• oil refining, chemical and petrochemical industries (entities with an annual export volume of over 25 million USD);
• oil refining, chemical and petrochemical industries (entities with an annual export volume of up to 25 million USD);
• production of goods intended for medical treatment and rehabilitation;
• electronics, instrument making, electrical and optical-mechanical industry;
• light industry;
• dairy industry;
• meat industry;
• food industry;
• agriculture;
• production of household goods for the population;
• forestry and logging industry;
• woodworking and furniture production;
• pulp and paper industry;
• construction and production of construction materials;
• organization of small and medium-sized businesses in the production sector;
• small and medium-sized businesses in the services sector;
• information technology development;;
• education;;
• services;
• transport and logistic.

6.  The Contest is held in two stages:

• qualifying - selection of business entities with the best financial and economic indicators, at the level of interested ministries, state committees, concerns, regional executive committees and Minsk City Executive Committee, High Technologies Park Administration State Institution, Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange Open Joint Stock Company, Professor M.S. Kunyavsky Business Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers; ● final - election of the Contest winners.
• final - election of the Contest winners.

Conditions for participation in the Contest

7. The Contest is open to all business entities, being residents of the Republic of Belarus and having any form of ownership, who have been exporting products, works, services, intellectual property rights, goods of their own production for at least two years preceding the reporting year.

Separate structural divisions of legal entities and groups, which are not legal entities, cannot participate in the Contest.

If for a certain type of goods (for the export of these particular goods) there is an institution of special exporters or an exclusive right for foreign trade, acting in the territory of the Republic of Belarus, or if there are any other restrictions on exporting entities, then a business entity that manufactures products, but does not export them, has the right to participate in the Contest together with such special exporter (having the exclusive right of foreign trade for these particular goods

8. Business entities registered in the Republic of Belarus and having an average number of employees in the reporting period of up to 250 people, inclusive, are allowed to participate in the Contest in the nominations "organizations of small and medium-sized businesses in the production sector" and "organizations of small and medium-sized businesses in the services sector".

Contest organization

9. BelCCI:

• provides information on the Contest period;
• organizes the collection of documents from participants at the final stage of the Contest;
• provides a preliminary calculation of the scores based on the data indicated in the Contest cards;
• organizes the meetings of the republican Contest commission;
• invites the winners of the Contest to the award ceremony;
• organizes and conducts the award ceremony for the Contest winners;
• coordinates preparation of diplomas and prizes for the Contest;
• organizes other Contest events;
• announces the Contest results in the mass media;
• provides advertising support to the Contest winners.

10. Departmental (regional) contest commissions are set up by the interested ministries, state committees, concerns, regional executive committees and Minsk City Executive Committee, High Technologies Park Administration State Institution, Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange Open Joint Stock Company, Professor M.S. Kunyavsky Business Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers.

11. The analysis of the documents of the participants at the final stage of the Contest and the election of the winner in each nomination is carried out by the Republican Contest Commission, the meetings of which are attended by the representatives of the organizers.

The Chairman of the Republican Contest Commission is the Chairman of the BelCCI.

Contest procedure

12. Interested ministries, state committees, concerns, regional executive committees and Minsk City Executive Committee, High Technologies Park Administration State Institution, Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange Open Joint Stock Company, Professor M.S. Kunyavsky Business Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers notify their subordinate (being its part) business entities about the Contest (executive committees notify business entities that do not have departmental subordination).

13. Business entities wishing to take part in the contest fill out a Contest card according to the established form (Appendix 1) and submit it to the organization that has sent the notification, within the time specified in the notification.

Information sent to the Contest must be signed by the entity's head and its chief accountant. Provision of incorrect or inaccurate information in the Contest card may serve as the basis for its rejection.

In addition to the Contest card, business entities can send any confirmation of their commercial success (publications in the press, copies of diplomas received at exhibitions, fairs or other contests, etc.).

Business entities, in accordance with paragraph 7 of this Regulation, participating in the Contest together with the special exporter (having the exclusive right of foreign trade (exporting goods), provide a joint Contest card indicating the details of the manufacturing business entity and the exporting business entity related to the products made by the manufacturing business entity.

14. Interested ministries, state committees, concerns, regional executive committees and Minsk City Executive Committee, High Technologies Park Administration State Institution, Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange Open Joint Stock Company, Professor M.S. Kunyavsky Business Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers organize collection of Contest cards of business entities and on the basis of the data from these cards propose to nominate business entities that have shown the best economic indicators within the reporting period. Contest cards of nominees are then submitted to the BelCCI for their participation in the final stage of the Contest.

Each business entity can be registered by the departmental (regional) contest commission for participation in only one nomination of the final stage of the Contest. The choice of the nomination for participation in the final stage of the Contest is made by the departmental (regional) contest commission, which does that in consultation with the nominee and based on the main type of exported products. At the same time, it is taken into account that business entities operating in the field of transportation of goods and passengers, cargo handling, provision of forwarding and logistics services; dairy industry; meat industry can participate in the Contest only in such nominations as "transport and logistics", "dairy industry", "meat industry" (respectively).

The nomination "forestry and logging industry" is for business entities that mainly export products (services, works) received (rendered) as a result of the "Forestry and logging" activities in accordance with the National Classifier of the Republic of Belarus OKRB 005-2011 "Types of economic activities".

Contest cards submitted later than the specified deadline are not considered by the Contest Commission.я.

15. The assessment of business entities participating in the Contest is carried out according to the following main criteria:

• total volume of exports of goods, works, services, intellectual property rights in monetary terms, in thousand USD ;
• the growth rate of exports of goods, works, services, intellectual property rights in monetary terms against the previous year, calculated by the following formula [(exports for the reporting period / exports for the previous period) * 100], in percent;
• ● balance of foreign trade in thousand USD ;
• the volume of exports of goods, works, services, intellectual property rights in monetary terms per employee, calculated by the following formula: [exports for the reporting period / average number of employees in the reporting period], in USD .

In case a joint Contest card is submitted in accordance with Clause 13 of this Regulation, the main criteria for evaluating joint export activities are, respectively:

• total exports of participants;
• growth rate of total exports;
• total balance of foreign trade activities of the participants;
• ratio of the total volume of exports to the total number of employees.

In case several business entities in one nomination have equal sums of points on the main evaluation criteria, additional evaluation criteria are used:

• the share of exported goods, works, services, intellectual property rights in the total volume of production in monetary terms, expressed as a percentage;
• the ratio of overdue external receivables as of January 1 of the year following the reporting year and the volume of exports of products, works, services, intellectual property rights;
• the year from which the business entity started exporting its goods, works, services, intellectual property rights;
• rewards granted to export goods, works, services, intellectual property rights in the form of medals, diplomas and other awards of international fairs and exhibitions;
• availability of a distribution network abroad (country, quantity, performance);
• existence of complaints (claims) on export goods, works, services, intellectual property rights for the reporting period, expressed as a percentage of the total export volume;
• export geography (number of countries) with a separate indication of the list of countries, which the participating business entity just entered during the reporting year;
• availability of international certificates of quality and conformity.

Summing up the Contest results

16. The Contest results are summed up by the Republican Contest Commission no later than 2 weeks before the awarding of the winners.

The meeting of the Republican Contest Commission is considered duly constituted with more than half of the commission members present.

The decisions of the Republican Contest Commission are made by open voting by a simple majority of votes of the representatives of the organizers present at the meeting, and in the case of an absentee meeting - by the method of polling, i.e. by a simple majority of those who sent the voting forms. In case of equality of votes, the Chairman of the Republican Contest Commission has a casting vote.

17. In each nomination one winner is elected, with the exception of business entities carrying out joint export activities in accordance with the requirements of the legislation of the Republic of Belarus and having submitted a joint contest card in accordance with paragraph 13 of this Regulation.

18. The following procedure is used to determine the winners.

All business entities are divided into groups according to the list of nominations and are evaluated in their group.

The contest card of each business entity is evaluated, and for each item of the key indicators list the business entity is assigned a number of points equal to the place occupied by the business entity (where 1 point is the first place for the best result etc.). The scores obtained for each indicator are summed up. The evaluation of additional criteria is carried out in the same way as the evaluation of the main criteria.

The winner of the Contest is understood as the participant who scored the lowest total number of points in the corresponding nomination.

19. The decision of the Contest Commission is formalized in the form of a protocol signed by the Chairman, which includes the following:

• a list of members of the Contest Commission present at the meeting, as well as those invited;
• summary table of applications;
• voting results;
• list of the Contest Winners.

Awarding the Contest Winners

20. The following awards are established for the Contest Winners in each nomination: a prize and a diploma of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry The Best Exporter of the Year.

To reward a business entity that has scored number of points very close to the Winner, and (or) has shown outstanding results for certain indicators from the list of main evaluation criteria during the reporting period, the Republican Contest Commission may award such a business entity with an incentive diploma.

21. The awards are granted publicly after the announcement of the Contest results.

22. The winners of the Contest receive the right to use the special sign "The Best Exporter of the Year" at their products labels, as well as in their advertising and presentation materials.

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