Nur-Sultan will not allow Moscow to kill the EEU postal market

On January 30, 202, a regular meeting of the Council of the Eurasian economic Commission was held in Almaty with the participation of Vice-premiers of the EAEU countries.
The Deputy Prime Ministers considered more than 30 issues on the agenda. The meeting lasted more than 12 hours and ended well after midnight. The most heated discussions were held on the further development of the Eurasian economic integration (the strategy for the development of the EAEU until 2025) and the removal of barriers to mutual trade.
According to our negotiators, the current procedure for removing barriers does not ensure transparency and impartiality.
"We have a number of specific facts when we apply to the Commission to recognize certain actions of the parties as a barrier. And our proposal has been under consideration for several years. For example, the illegal use of minimum levels of control prices by the Kyrgyz side, when the Kyrgyz authorities themselves determine the cost of Kazakh goods and impose excessive VAT on them, " Vice - Minister of trade and integration of Kazakhstan zhanel Kushukova said on the sidelines of the Council.
Also, representatives of Kazakhstan pointed to cases of abuse of office by employees of the Eurasian economic Commission.
"According to the current procedures, the decision is made only By a member Of the Board (Minister) of the EEC on the basis of the conclusion of the member States. But the response to our appeal about the illegality of customs control in relation to Kazakh confectionery products was given by the Director of the EEC Department. He independently decided that there were no signs of an obstacle in the actions of the Russian customs authorities. In this case, not only were the decision-making procedures grossly violated, but there was an excess of authority by the Director of the Department, " the Vice-Minister of trade and integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan commented.
The members of the Council of the Eurasian economic Commission instructed the EEC to strictly adhere to the rules of law of the EAEU and once again carefully consider the issue of procedural consideration of requests from countries to remove barriers.
An important issue on the agenda was the recognition of Bank guarantees when participating in mutual public procurement. Currently, Moscow restricts the participation of suppliers from other EEU countries, including Kazakh entrepreneurs, in Russian public procurement: in Kazakhstan, Bank guarantees of all EEU countries are accepted, but in Russia, Bank guarantees of only Russian banks are accepted as a guarantee of participation in public procurement procedures.
"The problem of mutual access to public procurement has been going on for a long time. A draft Agreement on mutual recognition of Bank guarantees has been in progress for several years. Today, we again discussed this issue," commented Janelle Kuchukova on the sidelines of the Council. According to her, an interim solution to this problem may be to make changes to Russian national legislation. "There is an independent financial institution-the Eurasian development Bank, whose members are all the countries of the EAEU. If the Russian side is unwilling or unable for a number of subjective reasons to recognize Bank guarantees of banks of the EAEU member States, the EEC proposed (and our country supported this proposal) that Russia approve the recognition of Bank guarantees issued by the Eurasian development Bank, " Kushukova explained.
One of the most discussed issues on the agenda was Russia's proposal to reduce the duty-free threshold for sending goods in international mail from the current 200 euros to 20 euros, starting in 2022.
First Deputy Minister of economic development of Russia Mikhail Babich persistently urged colleagues to take the side of Moscow, saying that these restrictions apply only to purchases in stores, but will not affect the personal parcels of citizens from abroad to citizens of the EAEU member States. At the same time, he could not explain the principle by which customs authorities will differentiate parcels: "from my grandmother from Germany" came a parcel or from an online store.
Kazakh negotiators have spoken out strongly against the proposal of the Russian Federation. They noted that the experience of foreign countries in reducing the duty-free threshold demonstrates that States have faced administrative problems. "Spending on administration of the levying of this duty is higher than the collected tax," said Kusukawa. As a result, many countries that tried to "earn" on parcels came to the opposite – again raised the threshold."
The Kazakh side noted that the implementation of the Russian proposal could "kill" the market for international mail to the territory of the EAEU and cause serious economic damage to the Kazakh postal operator.
According to the Vice - Minister of trade and integration Janelle Kusukawa, the Russian Federation's proposal "too radical".
"It's no secret that purchases in foreign online stores are in high demand among our population. Accepting the offer from the Russian side would be detrimental to the interests of Kazakh consumers. That's why we spoke out against this idea, " she said on the sidelines of the Council meeting.
This position of the Kazakh side was supported by other States of the Union, which also opposed the reduction of the duty-free threshold for sending goods.
The EEC representatives reminded the Russian delegation that such a rule is not only an economic issue, but also a social one. In particular, thanks to foreign online stores, citizens of the EAEU countries with low incomes are provided with personal goods that are either not produced in the domestic market, or are produced in insufficient quantities to fully meet demand. Especially when it comes to provincial settlements.
At the same time, representatives of all States agreed that it is necessary to create a mechanism that would put a barrier to the shadow market for the flow of goods through Internet trade. That is, situations where goods from online stores are imported into the country under the guise of parcels for individuals for their subsequent sale on the territory of the state without paying the relevant customs duties.
The Council of the Eurasian economic Commission, with the participation of the Vice-premiers of the EEU countries, recommended a more thorough study of the possible consequences of changes in the threshold for duty-free shipment of goods.
"We reminded our Russian colleagues about the possibility for all countries to regulate the duty - free trade threshold independently, setting it by national legislation," Vice-Minister of trade and integration of Kazakhstan zhanel Kushukova summed up.

Press service
Ministry of trade and integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan
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