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Brest Region

Winner of 'Best Exporter' award: achievements, products and global recognition

May 31, 2012

Best Exporter of the Year

APPROVED:
Protocol of the meeting
of the Interdepartmental Council
for Export Development
dated 11 February 2011 No. 31/205-226pr

REGULATION
on the republican competition «Best Exporter of the Year»

General provisions
1. These Regulations determine the procedure for conducting the republican competition «Best Exporter of the Year» (hereinafter - the competition).

2. The competition is held annually by the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BelTPP) together with sectoral ministries and concern companies, regional executive committees and the Minsk City Executive Committee, the Union of Non-Profit Organizations "Confederation of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (Employers)", the Republican Public Association "Belarusian Scientific and Industrial Association", the Business Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers named after Professor M.S. Kunyavsky, the Republican Association of Industrial Enterprises "BelAPP", the State Institution "Administration of the High Technologies Park" in accordance with these Regulations.

3. The purpose of the competition is to stimulate the development of export-oriented production, to promote the prestige of goods producers in the world market, to increase volumes, improve quality and competitiveness of exported products, works and services.

4. The competition is held based on the results of the financial and economic activities of legal entities for the elapsed calendar year (hereinafter - the reporting period).

5. The republican competition «Best Exporter of the Year» includes the following nominations:

  • mechanical engineering and metalworking,
  • metallurgy,
  • oil refining, chemical and petrochemical industry (organizations with annual export volumes over 25 million US dollars),
  • oil refining, chemical and petrochemical industry (organizations with annual export volumes up to 25 million US dollars),
  • pharmaceutical and microbiological industry,
  • electronics and instrument engineering,
  • electrotechnical and optical-mechanical industry,
  • light industry,
  • food industry,
  • agriculture,
  • manufacture of household goods for the population,
  • forestry and logging industry,
  • woodworking, furniture and pulp-and-paper industry,
  • construction and production of building materials,
  • small business enterprises,
  • enterprises and organizations engaged in the field of information technologies.

6. The competition is held in two stages:

  • preliminary – selection of enterprises with the best indicators of financial and economic activity at the level of sectoral ministries and concerns, regional executive committees and the Minsk City Executive Committee, the Business Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers named after Professor M.S. Kunyavsky, the State Institution "Administration of the High Technologies Park";
  • final – determination of the competition winners.

Conditions for participation in the competition
7. The competition may be entered by business entities - residents of the Republic of Belarus of any form of ownership that have been supplying for export products (works, services) of their own production for at least three years prior to participation in the competition and have a positive trade balance (hereinafter - enterprises).

8. Commercial organizations registered in the Republic of Belarus with an average number of employees for the calendar year of up to 100 people inclusive are admitted to participate in the nomination "small business enterprises".
Small business enterprises participate in the competition only in the nomination "small business enterprises".

Organizers of the competition:
9. The organization and conduct of the competition are carried out by the republican competition commission.

10. The republican competition commission is established under the BelTPP.
Its composition includes representatives of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Trade, sectoral ministries and concerns, regional executive committees and the Minsk City Executive Committee, the Republican Public Association "Belarusian Scientific and Industrial Association", the Republican Association of Industrial Enterprises "BelAPP", the Union of Non-Profit Organizations "Confederation of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (Employers)", the Business Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers named after Professor M.S. Kunyavsky, the State Institution "Administration of the High Technologies Park".
The Chairman of the competition commission is the Chairman of the BelTPP.

11. The BelTPP is assigned the following functions:

  • informing state bodies and other organizations about the timing of the competition;
  • collection of documents from participants of the final stage of the competition,
  • organization of the meeting of the competition commission to sum up the results of the competition and determine the winners;
  • inviting the winners of the competition to the awards ceremony;
  • organization and conduct of the awards ceremony for the winners in each nomination of the competition;
  • manufacture of diplomas and prizes of the competition;
  • organization of other competition events;
  • informing the public through the media about the results of the competition;
  • advertising support for the winners of the competition.

12. The republican competition commission is assigned the following functions:

  • analysis of documents of participants of the final stage of the competition,
  • determination of the winner in each nomination.

13. Sectoral ministries and concerns, regional executive committees and the Minsk City Executive Committee, the State Institution "Administration of the High Technologies Park", the Business Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers named after Professor M.S. Kunyavsky shall establish departmental (regional) competition commissions.
The following functions are assigned to these departmental (regional) competition commissions:

  • distribution of notices about the competition among subordinate (included) economic entities (executive committees – among enterprises that do not have departmental subordination);
  • collection of competition forms from enterprises participating in the competition;
  • selection on the basis of submitted applications of enterprises that showed the best indicators of economic activity in the reporting period, and verification of the information they provided;
  • transfer to the BelTPP of competition forms of nominee enterprises for participation in the final stage of the competition (regional executive committees and the Minsk City Executive Committee, the Business Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers named after Professor M.S. Kunyavsky - no more than three enterprises in each nomination; sectoral ministries and concerns, the State Institution "Administration of the High Technologies Park" – no more than three enterprises in each profile nomination).

Procedure for conducting the competition:
14. At the preliminary stage, sectoral ministries and concerns, regional executive committees and the Minsk City Executive Committee, the State Institution "Administration of the High Technologies Park", the Business Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers named after Professor M.S. Kunyavsky distribute a notice of the competition among subordinate (included) exporting enterprises (executive committees – among enterprises that do not have departmental subordination).

15. Enterprises wishing to participate in the competition must complete the competition form of the established sample (Appendix 1) based on the results of the year and submit it to the authority that sent the notice within the deadlines specified in the notice.
Information submitted to the competition must be certified by the signature of the head with an indication of his responsibility for the completeness and accuracy of the data. Indication of false or inaccurate information in the competition application may be grounds for its rejection.
In addition to the competition form, enterprises and organizations may send any confirmations of their commercial success (press publications, copies of diplomas received at fairs, exhibitions or other competitions, etc.).

16. Sectoral ministries and concerns, regional executive committees and the Minsk City Executive Committee, the State Institution "Administration of the High Technologies Park", the Business Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers named after Professor M.S. Kunyavsky organize the collection of competition forms of enterprises and, based on the received data, propose for nomination the enterprises that showed the best results of economic activity in the reporting period. Competition forms of nominee enterprises are transferred to the BelTPP for participation in the final stage of the competition.
Competition forms submitted after the specified deadline are not considered by the competition commission.

17. The evaluation of enterprises participating in the competition is carried out on the basis of objective indicators of the contestants' performance for the reporting period according to the following main criteria:
- total export volume at actual prices in thousand US dollars;
- change in export volumes (in dollar equivalent) for the reporting period compared to the previous year, calculated by the formula [(export for the reporting period / export for the previous period) * 100], in percent;
- foreign trade balance (saldo), in thousand US dollars;
- export volume at actual prices per employee, calculated by the formula: [export for the reporting period / average number of employees in the reporting year], in US dollars.
In addition to the main indicators, the following additional indicators are also taken into account:
- the share of export products, works and services in the total production volume, in monetary terms in percent;
- the year from which the enterprise has been exporting its products;
- awarding of export products with medals, diplomas and other awards at international fairs and exhibitions;
- presence of distribution network entities abroad (country, number, effectiveness of operation);
- receipt of claims (complaints) for export products during the reporting period, as a percentage of the total volume of exported products;
- export geography (number of countries);
- availability of international quality and conformity certificates.

Summing up the competition results
18. The results of the competition are summed up by the republican competition commission no later than 2 weeks before the awards ceremony.

19. The republican competition commission reviews the competition forms of nominee enterprises submitted by sectoral ministries and concerns, regional executive committees and the Minsk City Executive Committee, the State Institution "Administration of the High Technologies Park", the Business Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers named after Professor M.S. Kunyavsky for participation in the final stage, and determines the ranking of competition participants in accordance with the list of nominations specified in clause 5.

20. One winner is determined in each nomination.

21. The following procedure is used to determine the winners:
All enterprises are divided into groups according to the list of nominations and evaluated within their group.
The competition form of each nominee enterprise is evaluated and for each item of the list of main indicators the enterprise is assigned a number of points equal to the place occupied by the enterprise (where 1 point – first place for the best result, etc.). The points obtained for each of the indicators are summed up.
In case of equality of the total points on the main evaluation criteria among several competition participants in a nomination, their additional indicators are also evaluated in points and their sum is taken into account when choosing the winner. The evaluation of additional indicators is carried out similarly to the evaluation of the main indicators.
The winner of the competition is understood to be the participant who scored the smallest total number of points in the corresponding nomination.

22. The decision of the competition commission is drawn up in the form of a protocol signed by the chairman, which indicates the following:

  • the list of members of the competition commission present at the meeting, as well as invited persons;
  • a consolidated table of applications;
  • results of the voting;
  • the list of competition winners.

Awarding the competition winners
23. For the winners of the competition in each nomination the following awards are established - a prize and a diploma of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry "Best Exporter ___ of the Year".
To encourage a nominee who scored the number of points closest to the winner and demonstrated outstanding results in individual indicators from the list of main evaluation criteria for the reporting period, the republican competition commission may award such a nominee an encouragement diploma.

24. Awards are presented publicly at a meeting of the Council of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry after the announcement of the competition results.

25. Winners of the competition are granted the right to use the special mark "Best Exporter ___ of the Year" for labeling products, as well as in their advertising and presentation materials.