BarentsNews.com

As of August 22, 2002 new customs regulations are applied for goods exported from Russia to member states of the Customs Union which also includes Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.

Up to that moment, trade between the above-mentioned states had been carried out on a duty-free basis. Under new regulations, Russian exporters trading with Belarus still remain free from paying any duties, unless the consignee in Belarus is not the country’s resident. In this case all applicable customs fees have to be paid.

According to Russia’s State Customs Committee, the new policy is above all aimed at “curbing the unlawful evasion of customs fees” and these steps are not forecasted to increase the tax burden on enterprises of the Union’s member states. It used to be a common practice to ship the goods into one of the countries within the Customs Union and then carry them further abroad. The CIS rates of export duties were lower than in Russia, letting the dealers make huge profits on these operations.