Nursultan Nazarbaev has signed a law amending tax legislation introducing an export tax on oil, the presidential press service reported. The Kazakh Parliament adopted the law on 27 November. The sections concerning oil exports will come into force on 1 January 2004. From that date, the taxes are to be paid by all oil exporters except those working under production-sharing agreements and those whose contracts predate the new law. The tax rate will be based on the current market price of oil, up to 33 percent on a price of $40 or more per barrel. Previously oil exports were untaxed, to the annoyance of many parliamentarians who felt the country\'s oil wealth was almost being given away. (Interfax)