SEC IN ALMATY ARE OBLIGED TO DEMOUNT SIGNBOARDS AT FACADES
A group of entrepreneurs in Almaty suffered from illegal actions of employees of the Office of Architecture and Urban Planning and Almatygenplan LLP.
“On August 15, 2018, we received a letter from the Architecture Department with a request to dismantle outdoor visual advertising on the facade of our shopping center. These are signboards of our tenants, for which they paid an amount of about 1 million tenge each. But the law on advertising clearly states that “signs indicating the names of companies may be placed on the facades and roofs of buildings within rented buildings and are not considered advertising. Therefore, we are ready for legal proceedings with the Department, but to clarify all the circumstances, we turned to the Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Almaty,” - Alexander Yagodkin, head of the legal department of the GRAND PARK shopping center, explained.
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To date, eight signs of large companies and banks are under the threat of dismantling in the GRAND PARK shopping center.
Similar appeals were received by the Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Almaty from more than 20 business entities. “Earlier, Atameken initiated changes in legislation, but despite this, the authorized body (the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of Almaty and its 100% subsidiary, Almatygenplan LLP) continues to send letters to businessmen demanding the dismantling of signs. Moreover, the process of reclamation itself occurs with violations of the law. First, the authorized body must carry out preventive control, give time for execution. In fact, the employees of Almatygenplan LLP determine what is a sign and what is an advertisement on a subjective view. Then they send information to the SRD of Almaty, and the Department sends notifications to entrepreneurs with an indication of the tax amount and the accrual of interest. The minimum tax rate on advertising is 4 MCI, the amount depends on the size of the advertising banner,” - the Deputy Director for Legal Affairs of the Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Almaty, Aituar Koshmambetov explained.
In accordance with paragraph 7-1 of Article 3 of the Law “On Advertising”, a sign is information about the type of activity of individuals and legal entities, including the means of their individualization, placed within the building’s entrance according to the number of entrances to it and (or) at the entrance fencing of the occupied territory, as well as on the roofs and facades within their own (rented) buildings, extensions to them and temporary structures of individuals and legal entities in the places of sale of goods, performance of works and provision of services. Thus, the experts of the Chamber believe that the use of the concept of “signs” by the employees of the Directorate does not correspond to the meaning of the Law.
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The subjective opinion of the employees of the Department was the basis for presenting unreasonable demands to entrepreneurs, which, in turn, is an excess of their official powers. Following the results of the Council, it was recommended that the Department of the Agency for Civil Service and Anti-Corruption, on the basis of a letter from the Chamber, verify these facts and, in the event of violations by the Department, bring the perpetrators to the responsibility in accordance with the law.
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