Kyrgyzstan Transitions Excise Stamps and Export Permits to Digital Format

Kyrgyzstan's Cabinet of Ministers on October 26 launched two new reforms as part of the 100-day 'Government Accelerators' program. The chair of the Cabinet of Ministers, Adylbek Kasymaliiev, reported on the outcomes of completed reforms and the launch of new ones at a departmental meeting.

The first of the new reforms transitions the submission of applications and receipt of decisions on excise stamp issuance to electronic format. Currently, entrepreneurs visit tax authorities three to four times and submit paper documents; the process takes three to five business days. The country receives approximately 1,200 applications monthly. As a result, the review period for applications and issuance of decisions should be reduced to one business day; entrepreneurs will be able to receive decisions online without repeated visits to tax authorities.

The second new reform aims to digitize the issuance of permits for goods included on the national control list. Currently, expert assessments and permits are issued primarily on paper. In 2024, 165 permit documents were issued, including 84 export and import licenses and 34 end-user certificates. Under the current procedure, expert review takes up to 10 business days, and permit document processing takes up to 14 business days. Following implementation of the system, these timeframes should be reduced: entrepreneurs will only need to submit documents once, after which the system will automatically transmit them between the Ministry of Economy, expert bodies, the Customs Service, and the 'Single Window' Center.

In parallel, the Cabinet summarized the outcomes of two completed reforms. The first concerns the extension of pensions and survivor benefits for students aged 16 to 23: the procedure now takes one to two minutes, and the reform covered approximately 18,500 people. The second reform simplified the removal of collateral after full loan repayment — previously, citizens had to visit the bank and Land Agency with paper documents, and the procedure took one to two business days.