On 29 December, President Alexander Lukashenko signed Decree No. 685 “On Additional Opportunities for Performing Entrepreneurship Activity”. “To create additional opportunities for individual entrepreneurs to change their legal status for a corporate entity, the Decree prolongs the period available for transition from the status of individual entrepreneur to the status of a private unitary company till 1 March 2008. This step will allow the individual entrepreneurs who have not managed to set up such companies yet to start them through a simplified registration procedure”, BelTA learnt from the presidential press service. The Decree reduces, until 31 December 2007, fines for violations of administrative law committed by private unitary companies. The Decree comes as another step in the work aimed at creating a civilised business environment for individual entrepreneurs and providing them with additional opportunities for changing their legal status and becoming corporate entities. The following measures have already been taken to create an enabling environment for individual entrepreneurs to change their legal status. The registration procedure for setting up private unitary companies has been simplified. The procedure of applying the simplified taxation and accounting schemes has been streamlined; the issue of adequate tax burden with respect to taxes on income gained in retail trade and public catering business has been settled.