The law ratifies the Agreement between Russia and Belarus Concerning Property Ownership in the Union State, signed in St Petersburg on 24 January 2006 and designed to implement the Treaty on the Creation of the Union State agreed to on 8 December 1999.
The agreement defines the grounds for the acquisition and the termination of property rights in the Union State, the assets that can be owned by the State, and the principal conditions regarding the organisation and management of property in the Union State. It also regulates property-related issues between the Union State and its member states.
The agreement provides for the expansion of the Council of Ministers of the Union State: its decisions are to be binding on partner states, their agencies, and their legal and physical entities. It also provides that Russia will transfer to the Council of Ministers of the Union State some of its sovereign powers to determine the authority of the Russian agencies in the government. However, in accordance with the Treaty on the Creation of the Union State, the Council of Ministers of the Union State will not be entitled to such powers.