Prohibited Business

Prohibited Business 

in Soviet law, a type of business (handicraft or artisan) specifically prohibited by law. A list of prohibited businesses is contained in the Rules for the Registration of Noncooperative Handicraftsmen and Artisans (approved by the decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of June 30, 1949) and in the corresponding decrees of the Councils of Ministers of the Union republics, for example, in the decree of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR of Aug. 4, 1965, entitled On Certain Types of Businesses of Handi-craftsmen and Artisans (Collection of Decrees of the RSFSR, 1965, no. 18, p. 110).

The majority of prohibited businesses are associated with the processing of scarce raw materials or with the production of new articles from various valuable materials, for example, the processing of grain, hemp, or raw cotton, either bought or provided by the customer. The use of motor vehicles (for example, in transporting passengers and freight) belonging to citizens by right of personal ownership for purposes of deriving unearned income is also a prohibited business. All businesses employing hired labor are prohibited. Engaging in prohibited business is punished administratively if criminal liability has not been established for this act under the law. The criminal codes of all the Union republics (for example, the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, art. 162) provide that criminal liability for engaging in prohibited business shall ensue only after administrative penalties have been imposed for such an action.