site.btaParliament Amends Chemical Weapons Prohibition Act, Socialists Say Revisions Seek to Resolve Impasse with Jet Repair in Belarus

109 POLITICS-LAW REVISIONS-SU-25-REPAIRS

Parliament Amends Chemical Weapons Prohibition Act, Socialists Say Revisions Seek to Resolve Impasse with Jet Repair in Belarus


Sofia, July 31 (BTA) - The legislature adopted conclusively Wednesday revisions to the Act on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and Control over Toxic Chemicals and their Precursors. The reasoning of the revisions' sponsors is that they complement effective regulations concerning the export, import and transfer of chemical substances and their precursors.


After the changes, the Defence Minister will be authorized to issue certificates of licensing for export, import and transfer of chemical substances and their precursors.

According to the effective rules, only the Economy Minister issued such certificates. The Socialists objected the revisions, said they are custom-made for a specific situation - the problematic repair of Bulgarian Su-25 jet aircraft by a Belarusian contractor - and argued that was a wrong thing to do.

In May, it turned out that a contract for repair of Su-25s, worth nearly 100 million leva, cannot start due to an effective European arms embargo on Belarus. MP Nikolai Tsonkov (Socialist) said that the position of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry is that the deal falls within the scope of these regulations.

The Defence Ministry has argued throughout that the repair contract does not involve export but only temporary export of defence equipment which will be repaired and sent back. Tsonkov also said that it is not the first time changes in the transitional and final provisions of one law lead to major changes in another law regulating important activities with dual-use goods. "Why change a procedure which has been working fine for years, only to address one specific situation!" Tsonkov said.

MP Alexander Sabanov (United Patriots) denied rumours of a conflict between the Defence Ministry and the Economy Ministry over the Su-25 repair deal. LY/LN

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