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WUxfer legislation - Belarus
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Posted by: Eryk

Just in case anyone is considering WU (or any similar service) money transfers to Belarus, be aware that new rules came into force a few weeks ago. Basically the position is this:

Any money recieved by a Belarusian national from abroad must now be paid into a special purpose bank account rather than being issued in cash. From there the money will be subject to taxation and, before it can be spent, a 'plan' must be submitted to and approved by the presidential administration detailing exactly what the money will be spent on. This expenditure may be subject to audit by the authorities later and failure to stick to the authorised plan is an offence (so keep all the reciepts). These rules have not been widely publicised so most people are not aware of them until after they are already entangled.

Eryk

Posted by: Pawel_PL.USA

Nothing like living in a totalitarian, economically socialist state ... but hey ! - Europe and the US are "slowly, but surely" going there too in accordance with the salami method - slice by slice.

Posted by: sunshine

Yep, guys.. That is true..

I just translated the article from the on-line newspaper into English, so here are some more details of how this process looks like:

According to the president`s law # 24 from November, 2003, any money(e.g $, rubles, pounds, etc) sent to a Belarusian citizen from ABROAD are considered to be “Humanitarian Help”!

So, after being sent to Belarus, this money must be put into a “Special Humanitarian” account, then a note must be taken from the Bank by an addressee and within 5 working days an addressee must go to the Department of Humanitarian Activity in MINSK only!

There, an addressee must present an “expenditure plan”, which would show HOW exactly this money gonna be spent by him/her and wait (minimum 2 weeks) for an answer from authorities (there is ONLY ONE officer working on that in the whole department).

The answer can be either negative (addressee will never see the money again) or positive (addressee will receive a document - registration of “Humanitarian Help”, allowing him/her to spend the money (or part of it!) finally).

Posted by: Eryk

Minsk, 14 March. Aleksandr Lukashenko told Aleksandr Kulichkov, presidential property manager, last week to relieve small foreign aid recipients of registration formalities, official sources said.

Under the current regulations, all recipients must open a special bank account and register their aid with the administration's Humanitarian Activity Department. The new regulation would allow recipients of small amounts (up to 720,000 rubels or $335) to withdraw their money from banks without going through these formalities.

Posted by: Jutman

Hi

Can a credit card, be a solution?

The only problem I can identify, if you sit at home and create an account and then this person must go to get it.

So when you meet somebody in person, you can give a visa-elektron card and then 4get the rules.

Posted by: Eryk

Quote:

Originally posted by Jutman
Hi

Can a credit card, be a solution?

The only problem I can identify, if you sit at home and create an account and then this person must go to get it.

So when you meet somebody in person, you can give a visa-elektron card and then 4get the rules.

Sure, that works as does the old dodge of wrapping dollars in carbon paper and then mailing it inside a small paperback book. As with most such legislation, it is merely annoying ...it doesn't actually stop you doing what you need to do.

Eryk

Posted by: Jim_FL

Quote:

Originally posted by Eryk
....... as does the old dodge of wrapping dollars in carbon paper and then mailing it inside a small paperback book.....

Carbon paper, huh?
Interesting, I always wadded it up in a ball of tin foil

Posted by: Pawel_PL.USA

Well, if you decide to mail a book to Belarus and you put money inside it, you have to realize that the authorities will probably opena and search the package first anyway. Some of those guys in Belarus are worst than the communist police in Poland during the 70's and 80's - they would open letters you received from, say the US or Germany, they would read them and then seal them back up and stamp them with a "correspondence damaged during shipping" stamp.

Posted by: Eryk

Quote:

Originally posted by Pawel_PL.USA
Well, if you decide to mail a book to Belarus and you put money inside it, you have to realize that the authorities will probably opena and search the package first anyway.

You give them too much credit. Sure they'd *like* to be able to do that but given the inefficiency, laziness and downright corruption endemic in public sector services they simply don't have the resources to do that. I have never had a package intercepted in that way and I've been sending stuff back and forth for years.

Eryk

Posted by: Eryk

Quote:

Originally posted by Jim_FL
Carbon paper, huh?
Interesting, I always wadded it up in a ball of tin foil

That'll work too ...anything that blocks their X-ray equipment. Always use dollars though since more modern currencies like euros and pounds have embedded metallic security strips that can sometimes still show up even when 'shielded'.

Eryk

Posted by: lechef

Look on the bright side... Scamming money from abroad may drop.

Posted by: BradIL

Eryk: With respect to the interception of in-bound mail to Belarus, how frequently are in-bound gifts heisted by Belarus customs officials?

If one inserts cash into toiletries, small electronic equipment, food gifts; what would you anticipate the success rate would be of finally arriving to the intended party?

Posted by: Jutman

Hi

One time we tried, hide it insude a toy. For the understanding sake, it was a 200 RUBELS, to a present to my niece. They took it, including the toy.

But thats was it. The rest was untouch.

My best idea would be but a small laminator, guess it will cost about 20 dollars in USA and they but candy wrapped in folio, like Ferroro Roche. then open it gentle and replace 1 pcs. of chocolate with the note, make the folie look still look round and smooth. But back inside the plastic and then then into the laminator to seal it.

I have done that, even without a laminator and it works.

The reason it when customs see a tin folie in a a x-ray, they are not that stupid that they can't guess what it is. But 4 small balls in a pack, is just chocolate.

Posted by: lechef

Quote:

Originally posted by Jutman
Hi

One time we tried, hide it insude a toy. For the understanding sake, it was a 200 RUBELS, to a present to my niece. They took it, including the toy. But thats was it. The rest was untouch.

My best idea would be but a small laminator, guess it will cost about 20 dollars in USA and they but candy wrapped in folio, like Ferroro Roche. then open it gentle and replace 1 pcs. of chocolate with the note, make the folie look still look round and smooth. But back inside the plastic and then then into the laminator to seal it.

I have done that, even without a laminator and it works.

The reason it when customs see a tin folie in a a x-ray, they are not that stupid that they can't guess what it is. But 4 small balls in a pack, is just chocolate.

You are the equivalent of the English James bond..

Posted by: Eryk

Quote:

Originally posted by BradIL
Eryk: With respect to the interception of in-bound mail to Belarus, how frequently are in-bound gifts heisted by Belarus customs officials?

If one inserts cash into toiletries, small electronic equipment, food gifts; what would you anticipate the success rate would be of finally arriving to the intended party?

I would rate the success rate at about 80%. This has nothing to do with cash being inserted per se (since with sensible precautions they won't detect that), it is just the standard failure rate for the postal service here. About fifth of the stuff sent to me here never arrives but it has been mundane stuff like letters and postcards that has vanished rather than small parcels.

This is just a question of luck of course and sooner or later something more valuable will disappear, however since WU charges about 15 to 20% commission anyway, losing one parcel in 5 would still be 'cost neutral' overall. I probably should have mentioned that I never sent more than $20 in any one letter. Sending $200 means 10 different letters/parcels.

Eryk