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Frequently asked questions

What should I do, where should I start?

First, you need to read the Laws and understand whether their requirements apply to you and your organization. After that, determine your role in the processes and follow the relevant regulatory legal acts.

Which laws and rules to read and what to follow?

Who is the Copyright Holder of the Monopolist Database software product?

The copyright holder (owner of exclusive property rights) of the computer program "Baza Monopolist" (certificate No. 31801 dated January 16, 2023), by agreement with the author, is the Limited Liability Partnership "Rater", a Kazakhstani IT company, a software manufacturer, whose main activity is the provision of software products, electronic information resources, and mobile devices and web applications.

"Rater" LLP is a VAT payer and uses a generally established taxation procedure.

Who can use the Monopolist Database software product and under what conditions?

The Licensor's licensing policy and terms define the following categories of users and their respective tariff plans:

Why is the software product paid for by monopolists (why doesn't the tariff regulator pay for everyone)?

The acquisition of the right of use for all users of a software product at the expense of a single state customer leads to a significant burden on the Republican budget and exceeding the spending limit determined by the authorized body in the field of budget planning for administrators of budget programs. The tariff regulator, being a government customer, cannot fully budget the amount required for the maintenance and development of the software product.

Due to changes in the law on Informatization from 2023 and subsequent changes in the norms of the Law on State Procurement, the priority right to purchase a service software product from the Copyright Holder has been excluded. The customer of large-scale public procurement is now required to annually conduct a multi-stage competitive procurement procedure.

According to sub-clause 2 of paragraph 3 of Article 16 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan On Public Procurement, Public procurement from a single source by direct conclusion of a contract is carried out in the following cases: 2) the acquisition of goods and services that are objects of intellectual property from a person who has exclusive rights in respect of the acquired goods and services. Such an acquisition is allowed only if there is an opinion of the antimonopoly authority on the absence of private business entities engaged in the production of similar goods and services.;

At the same time, according to paragraph 9 of the rules of the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition approved by Order No. 6 dated June 16, 2025, the antimonopoly authority refuses to provide an opinion if the subject of purchase is software, extension of licenses and technical support, as well as equipment necessary for the operation or use of the software.

Due to the excess of the 20,000-fold MCI lot amount, in accordance with the rules of public procurement, purchases are conducted by a single organizer, the Treasury Committee. This complicates the approval process and significantly increases the procurement time due to the need for interdepartmental interaction between several government agencies.

Due to lengthy procurement procedures, the contract is concluded with the supplier by the middle of the year and the Customer of public procurement is obliged, in accordance with the law, to return a significant part of the budget funds planned for the whole year to the budget as savings due to the impossibility of extending the public procurement contract to the relationship that has arisen with the Supplier since the beginning of the year.

Thus, the state Customer currently does not have the opportunity to promptly purchase both technical support services and the rights to use the software product for all entities. Therefore, it is not possible to fully compensate the Supplier's investment and operating costs for granting the right to use, user support, administration, maintenance and development of the software product for the entire period of operation of the software product at the expense of the Republican budget.

In addition, the state Customer, according to the terms of a standard public procurement contract, has the right not to pay for the services of a Public procurement Supplier if there is no money in the cash control account. This situation occurs annually - the Supplier actually incurs the cost of operating and maintaining the system all year round, the Copyright Holder, in turn, develops the product at its own expense. At the same time, the state Customer eventually pays only a part of the requested financing and only at the end of the year. At the same time, due to lack of funds, the Copyright Holder does not actually receive compensation for the costs of developing the software product. And the high base rate and, consequently, the high cost of borrowed money over time leads to additional costs for the Service Provider for the continuous maintenance of the project team.

The copyright holder is required to bear the costs of carrying out a set of measures to meet numerous regulatory requirements in the field of informatization and information security, to develop a software product in connection with changes in legislation, to participate in inspections of numerous authorized bodies, in lawsuits, etc.

Taking into account all of the above, the Copyright Holder decided to switch to a new organizational and financial model of the project in 2025 and introduce a fee for the right to use the software product for subjects of natural monopolies and socially significant markets.

Are there discounts and preferential terms for the purchase of usage rights?

Preferential conditions for the acquisition of rights to use the Monopolist Database software product are provided for private entities of natural monopolies and/or socially significant markets with low profitability.

The criterion for obtaining preferential terms is the amount of tax revenues to the budget from the Entity for the previous reporting year.

The copyright holder uses the public taxpayer search service on the website of the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan to obtain reliable information on the payment of taxes and other mandatory payments to the budget by subjects of natural monopolies and/or socially significant markets.

To obtain a preferential right to use the software product, you must send a written request to the email address: sales@rater.kz, indicating the BIN, the name of the entity and the corresponding preferential criterion.

Why should the subject of natural monopolies and socially significant markets pay for the right to use a software product?

By acquiring the right to use the software product, you acquire permission to use it, which includes the right to reproduce it in the computer's memory (in the browser). The copyright holder determines how and under what conditions users can use the software product.

The general right of use is granted until the end of the year, and for example, either per calendar year, or per quarter, or per month, or per day?

The right of use is granted until the end of the year for the following reasons:

What happens if a subject of natural monopolies and/or socially significant markets does not acquire the right to use a software product?

The copyright holder, in order to organize the lawful use of the software product, in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan On Copyright and Related Rights, uses a technical means of protecting copyright and related rights (abbreviated as TSAP) - a technical (software-technical) device or its components that control access to works or objects of related rights, preventing or restricting the exercise of copyright and related rights. actions that are not authorized by the author, the holder of related rights, or another holder of exclusive rights in relation to works or objects of related rights.

Thus, the use of the software product by persons who have not acquired the right to use the software product or by persons who have not received individual consent for use from the Copyright Holder is technically not possible.

The use of the TSAP avoids a situation in which users inadvertently violate the rights of the Copyright Holder, which in turn allows users and the Copyright Holder to avoid mutual claims and litigation, in accordance with Article 49 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan On Copyright and Related Rights.

How does the copyright holder determine the cost of services and how much expenses should be planned for subjects of natural monopolies and or socially significant markets?

According to the Copyright Holder's licensing policy, the value of the right of use is related to the value of the Monthly Calculation Index valid during the period of use of the right of use and is subject to adjustment in the event of a change in the value of the Monthly Calculation Index or for other objective reasons determined by the Copyright Holder.

In order to ensure a uniform approach and avoid errors in the budgeting process, the cost of services on the copyright holder's website is indicated without VAT.

For subjects of natural monopolies and (or) socially significant markets, the cost of a service for granting the right to use a Monopolist software product from one to three users is fixed and in 2026 it will amount to 100 MCI excluding VAT.

If the software product is used by more than three users, the cost increases by 100 MCI excluding VAT for each additional registered user account over three.

According to paragraph 4) of Article 7 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On the Republican Budget for 2026-2028", from January 1, 2026, the monthly calculation index is 4,325 tenge. Thus, in 2026, the Right Holder uses the 2026 MCI indicator of 4325 tenge to calculate the cost of services.

As practice shows, the MCI value is adjusted annually, sometimes several times a year. The exact value of the MCI for 2027 will become known after the approval of the next Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan On the Republican Budget, approximately in December 2026.

An analysis of the changes in the MCI indicator over the past few years shows its steady growth from 5% to 12% annually. Therefore, for the purposes of budgeting clients' expenses for using the software product for 2027, the Copyright Holder uses the projected value of the MCI indicator for 2027 in the amount of 4800 tenge.