NCE believes that licensing of taxis in one region contradicts to the Constitution of the country

Questions of regulatory impact analysis upon introduction of licensing for the right to engage in activities on the transport of passengers and baggage taxis in the city of Astana was discussed at the Ministry of National Economy at a meeting of the Expert Group on Entrepreneurship.

The initiator of the proposals was the Akimat of Astana, which represents the interests of LLP "Astana LRT” Talgat Ardan.

Algorithm for obtaining the license, according to RIA, is the following: taxi operator enters into a contract for the provision of dispatching services, undergoes training, and car rental with the office of akimat. Then the operator sends taxi drivers for the training to the Center of Transport Qualification. (However, according to a member of the expert group, Director of the Department of legislation and self-regulation of NCE RK "Atameken" Aizhan Bizhanova, given that there is no such center at the moment, and for this purpose is stipulated creation of a subordinate organization under Akimat). After the operator of taxis / SP concludes another contract with the Department of passenger transport for the right to carry out the activities of taxi  and obtains a license for the right to provide taxi services. Then Astana LRT (subordinated company of akimat, which presented the project at a meeting of the expert group) under the license connects the vehicle to the scheduling and ordering system, and provides a car-taxi to the lessee. "Thus, according to the Akimat’s logic, it is supposed to create a state controller (on the basis of LLP Astana LRT), which monopolizes the business, which is today in a competitive environment, will introduce a single tariff for the taxi service. And, most importantly, it will give vehicles for rent, which are purchased by the company from the state budget, and it will make money both from rent and services for the carriage of passengers", - commented Aizhan Bizhanova.

As it was stated by the representative of NCE, "Atameken" is totally against this approach. "Firstly, in accordance with the Constitution, Kazakhstan is a unitary state, respectively, the introduction of licensing of business activity in one region would be contrary to the Basic Law of the country. The special status of the capital allows to consider features of the financing of the city, to provide a more intensive development of the infrastructure, but in any case not to put entrepreneurs in different legal regulations depending on the area of ​​their operations.

Secondly, to provide the entire city with taxi services by purchasing new cars will be difficult, respectively, it will create a serious shortage of services and increase its value significantly.

Thirdly, according to information of akimat, the scale of illegal transportation is estimated at 90%. Deprivation of such number of persons, even illegal (cross-check of information is required), will cause serious social tension.

Fourthly, conscientious market participants, even if they remain on the market, will lose their competitiveness due to unequal financial regulations, with drivers using cars leased from akimat ", - said Aizhan Bizhanova.

At the same time, she said, "NCE fully supports the government agencies concerned about the issue of the quality of services, thus we fully support the introduction of any incentives to improve the quality of taxi services".

But as it was highlighted by the director of the department of NCE, it should be on a voluntary basis. "Let's introduce the requirement for a single appearance of a taxi, as proposed by Akimat. Although, I would like to note for those who do not knows that there is a requirement for a single color in the current law. Let’s provide subsidized insurance, guaranteed access to the objects of EXPO-2017, the guaranteed access to the facilities of public events, the movement along the “BusLane”; access to specialized TAXI parking for cars; more favorable terms of loans for cars  - please, but only as a stimulus to support bona fide market participants. Entrepreneurs, realizing the benefits provided by the akimat, will stand themselves in the queue, and will comply with the proposed increased requirements of akimat", - A.Bizhanova expressed her opinion.

Another question, what should be the requirements for the quality of provided services.

As it was explained by the representative of NCE, in accordance with the rules of passengers and luggage road transportation in the capital, sole proprietors and legal entities that have entered into contracts for the provision of services for passengers and taxi luggage in the capital with the transport control body of the capital are allowed to provide passenger and luggage taxi services.

In this case, as emphasized by NCE, carriers must have a dispatch service to provide services for the reception and transmission of orders or contract with the dispatching service on supervisory support. Dispatching service for receiving orders for the taxi should be registered in the register of metropolitan transport body. Taxis must have: a single color according to the form approved by the metropolitan transport body; equipped with taximeter in good condition and registered in the prescribed manner to the tax authority; equipped with radios and other communication with the dispatching service; a driver must have a permanent record in the office transport police of the Department of Internal Affairs; to undergo quarterly state technical inspection in the order , which is established by the legislation of RK (LEAD #1061 of November 8, 2007).

"All of these requirements are already provided, is there a need to tighten the existing requirements? Personally, I believe that there is none. Another question is why the majority of taxis are not in compliance with these requirements (according to the akimat).

Here, I believe, there is a question to the authorized body in charge of the control in this area - akimat. The true cause of the problems is not in the lack of state regulation, but in the imperfection of the state control, and the total absence of public control on the part of consumers and entrepreneurs themselves in this field", - said Aizhan Bizhanova.

The representative of NCE believes that over time, the culture of entrepreneurial consciousness of participants of the market will lead to proactive proposals on the improvement of transport activities, possibly, the creation of self-regulatory institution.

Aizhan Bizhanova noted that NCE intends to continue to work actively with the Department of business development of MNE on proposals for the akimat, aimed at promoting and supporting honest entrepreneurs in this area, without the introduction of licensing.