About the firm

SMARTLEX is a law firm registered in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The firm specialises in tasks that require a concrete legal result: entry of a foreign business into the Kazakhstan market, preparation and review of import transactions, and execution of transactions in electronic form. The firm’s practice is limited to three lines; work within each is carried out on the basis of the documents provided by the client, with a written deliverable and a fixed price per stage.

The first practice is SmartInvest, investor and foreign business support. Here the firm guides the client from entering Kazakhstan to day-to-day operations. We register an LLP, branch or representative office, open a bank account, arrange the BIN and digital signature and register the company with state authorities; we obtain foreign workforce permits, visas and residence permits for staff, and status for owners and their family members; we conduct due diligence of the target when acquiring a business, structure M&A transactions and obtain antimonopoly clearance; we prepare investment and corporate agreements, register companies with the AIFC and handle legalisation and apostille of documents. Once the business is running, we take on ongoing support — contract work, claims, currency control and representation before state authorities — so that one firm holds the entire legal perimeter.

The second practice is SmartImport, import and customs clearance consulting. It covers the legal perimeter of an import deal at all three of its stages. The Pre-shipment service works before import: we review the contract and supplier documents before payment, determine TN VED codes with written reasoning, calculate customs duties and VAT, build a map of permits and certification, and review delivery terms under Incoterms and the price structure — so the cargo reaches the border with a ready package and a clear cost of clearance. Post-shipment is a review of consignments already imported: we check codes, customs value, origin and payments in past declarations, find the same discrepancies customs would find in post-clearance control, assess the risk of additional assessments and penalties, and draw up a plan to fix errors before the inspection. Post-audit engages when an inspection is already underway: support during customs post-audits, challenging additional assessments, penalties and interest, handling customs-violation cases and appealing decisions before customs authorities and courts.

The third practice is Smadox, electronic signing and digital escrow. The service launches on 1 January 2027 and covers the document workflow of a deal. Contracts, acts and agreements are signed remotely with a digital signature — by several parties, sequentially or in parallel — with verification of signatures and document integrity. Deal documents are deposited with the firm in encrypted form and released to a party only when the conditions are met: payment received, stage closed. And the storage and release procedure — who receives documents, when and under what conditions, and how the parties confirm fulfilment — is legally fixed in the deal protocol, eliminating disputes over the order of transfer.

Work is structured identically and predictably across all practices. First comes the initial review: we accept the inquiry via the consultation form or messenger, request the document set and assess the task — where the risk is, which norms apply, what scope of work is required; the outcome is a written preliminary assessment and scope of work. Then come the proposal and contract: before work begins we state the stage scope, timeline and fixed price, and the terms are fixed by contract. Next is execution: documents, written positions, requests and negotiations, with reporting at every stage. The work concludes with a documented result — an opinion, a position, a document package or a record of representation with legal reasoning.

There are several fundamental limitations worth knowing upfront. We are not customs brokers: we do not file declarations or perform customs operations — your declarant or broker files the declaration, and we review their work. We do not handle the release of consignments detained at the border or disputes at the declaration stage — our focus is pre-import preparation and post-clearance control. The price of each stage is known in advance and fixed by contract: the initial review is always short and fixed-price. We work remotely across all of Kazakhstan; personal representation before state authorities and courts is available by arrangement. And if your matter falls outside the three practices — contract work, disputes, representation — describe the task in the consultation form: we will assess it and name a timeline.