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1 SEEL: Soviet and East European Law 1 (1990-1991)

handle is hein.parker/seelviela0001 and id is 1 raw text is: PARKER SCHOOL BULLETIN Columbia University SEEL SOVIET & EAST EUROPEAN LAW Volume 1, No. 1 February 1990 SUPREME SOVIET SLAPS NEW RESTRICTIONS ON COOPERATIVES Amendments to the USSR Law on Cooperatives, Izvestiia, October 21, 1989, p. 1. The USSR Supreme Soviet, bowing to growing public demands for price controls on consumer goods and services in the private sector, has amended the 1988 Law on Cooperatives to authorize republic legislatures to set price ceilings on certain basic con- sumer goods marketed by cooperatives. A companion decree expands this new price-setting competence of the republic su- preme soviets and calls on the USSR Procuracy and other law enforcement officials to sharpen their monitoring of compliance with the Law. For generations, Soviets had been schooled in the necessity of absolute state control over production, and privately owned cooperatives, like all forms of private enterprise, were strictly prohibited. Cooperatives were introduced less than two years ago as a bold economic experiment in reintroducing private ownership to the Soviet centrally planned economy. They were meant to provide an outlet for private initiative and to help fill gaps left by rigid centralized economic decision making in the state-rmn economy. Still alien to the popular mind, the privately owned cooperatives have been embroiled in controversy right from their inception. Public griping about the cooperatives seems to have intensified recently, as the overall ability of the Soviet economy to satisfy consumer demands has declined. With barbed accusations of hoarding of scarce materials, price gouging, and quick profiteer- ing, Soviet consumers have vented their feelings of resentment and contempt towards perestroika's successful new private en- trepreneurs. Given the already distressed economic climate in the Soviet Union, the shoddy quality of many of the consumer goods marketed by the new cooperatives, and the appearance of self-interested dealings by public officials who participate in the cont'd on p. 4 ' Zakon o onesmii izmmnanii i depol'nenii v zakon a kooperaisii v SSSR (amending Vedomosti VerkAhonogo Soorta SMR, 1988, no. 22, itern 355), and Postanovienie Verkhoonogo Soveta SSR, reported in Izvstiia, October 21, 1989, p. 1. LEASING LAW GIVES FOREIGNERS RICGHITOLEASE SOVIET PROPERTY I, Fundamental Principles of the USSR and Union Repub- lics on Leasing; Pravda, December 1, 1989, pp. 1,3. On November23, 1989, the USSR Supreme Soviet enacted leg- islation on leasing that allows, for the first time since the 1920s, the lease of Soviet land and industry. Under this new law, not only Soviet nationals but also foreigners -- including states, in- dividuals, corporations, joint ventures, and international or- ganizations -- have the right to lease Soviet property. The Law views leasing as a qualitatively new form for organ- izing cost-accounting activities of state enterprises, collective cont'd on p. 5 CONTENTS Supreme Soviet Slaps New Restrictions on Cooperatives 1 Leasing Law Gives Foreigners Right to Lease Soviet Property................... . . . ... 1 Soviet Judges Guaranteed independence . . . . . . 2 East Germany Approves New Joint Venture Decree 3 USSR Law Sets Out Conditions for Labor Strikes . . 3 GDR and Poland Negotiating Investment Treaties with USA . . ..................... . . 5 Amendments to Soviet Law on State Crimes Take Effect 6 New Law on Soviet Foreign Trade Representations 6 Two Soviet Scholars Encourage USSR Accession toGATT . . . .................... . . 7 Comments.......... . . . . . . . .. 3,4,5,9,11 1