Russia and Belarus will unite the practice of customs clearance

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The integration of Russia and Belarus in the customs sphere implies, in fact, the unification of customs administration. In particular, the countries plan to build a common risk management system – to establish uniform risk indicators for the main parameters of goods and approaches to their use, Deputy Head of the Federal Customs Service (FCS) Ruslan Davydov said in an interview with Vedomosti. “The most important thing is to increase the transparency of commodity flows, to deepen the exchange of information. We have been coordinating risk indicators with Belarus since 2009 and we want to speed up this work so that most goods have the same risk profiles, primarily flowers, shoes, clothing, and consumer goods. So that there is no overflow of customs clearance, aggressive optimization schemes, ”explained Davydov.

The FCS proposes to introduce the same tax and customs conditions for the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). “In the future, uniform rules should be extended to all five EAEU countries, so that it is impossible to import goods into the common market with violations through some of the countries,” Davydov said.

Differences create space for optimization schemes, unreasonable flows of customs clearance of goods, when, taking advantage of the difference in tax conditions, importers import goods from third countries through the territories of their neighbors in the EAEU to save money. “Equal conditions are necessary so that not artificially created economic benefits compete, but foreign economic activity participants due to the quality of their services,” emphasizes the deputy head of the FCS.

Vedomosti sent inquiries to the Customs Committee of Belarus and the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC).

There is no customs, sanitary or veterinary control in mutual trade on the Russian-Belarusian border. But within the framework of post-control, the FCS mobile groups on Russian territory in the border regions can stop transport with a carrying capacity of more than 3.5 tons and check the legality of the import of goods. “This is absolutely fair and necessary in order to suppress the gray supply of goods to the Russian market,” explained Davydov.

Equalize Bets

Russia and Belarus are already guided by the unified Customs Code of the EAEU.

Therefore, we are talking about the convergence of tax legislation, said Davydov.

The countries, in particular, have agreed on general principles of taxation for indirect taxes (VAT, excise taxes) and the introduction of an integrated system for the administration of such taxes.

The basic VAT rate in Belarus is 20%, for some categories of goods there are zero and 10% rates, as in Russia. However, an increased VAT of 25% applies to telecommunication services in Belarus.

From the point of view of customs control, first of all, it is necessary to equalize the rates of excise taxes on tobacco, emphasizes Davydov. Due to the strong gap in rates, cigarettes in Belarus are much cheaper. “It’s no secret that the lion’s share of the illegally imported cigarettes detected by our mobile groups is made up of Belarusian-made cigarettes,” he said. Therefore, one of the areas of cooperation is joint control over the supply of goods for which different rates of taxes and excise duties are established.

In August, Belarus canceled zero VAT on goods imported for further re-export. The privilege, which had been in effect for 10 years, created real advantages, allowing Russian entrepreneurs not to pay VAT when importing goods through Belarus. “Unfortunately, Kazakhstan introduced similar preferences this year,” said Davydov.

Zero VAT allowed Russian entrepreneurs to save money by importing goods from third countries through the territory of Belarus. But even with the abandonment of the “Belarusian scheme”, it is still more profitable to process goods from abroad at the border of Belarus than in Russia, said Vitaly Survillo, Advisor to Delovaya Rossiya on customs issues. Although Russia and Belarus are guided by the same customs legislation, the law enforcement practice is very different, the expert argues. “FCS is ahead of others in terms of digitalization. At the same time, the customs authorities of other countries are more friendly to entrepreneurs, focused on passing goods faster, but probably sometimes turn a blind eye to violations, ”Survillo notes.

By advocating the unification of customs administration, Russia seeks to protect national interests. “At the same time, a fiscal approach is pursued rather than the goal of creating a more favorable climate for foreign trade participants,” Survillo believes.

Belarusian customs “instantly” let perishable food through. “When registering the import of goods through Belarus, there are no endless adjustments to the customs value, problems with revising the classification of goods after release,” the expert lists. According to him, it is inexpedient for Belarus to tighten control on its part, because the transit of goods, developed near-customs, logistics business bring more revenues to the country’s budget.

Integration will help reduce unfair competition in the interests of bona fide participants in foreign economic activity and domestic producers, says Georgy Petrov, chairman of the Council of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for customs policy. According to him, this is not a toughening of the rules, but a strengthening of control over compliance with legislation in order to reduce the import of goods from third countries through the territory of Belarus and the flows of sanctioned goods. “If the customs administration in all EAEU countries is the same, it will no longer make sense to import goods from third countries through the territory of neighbors,” Petrov added.

The EEC “fully supports” the countries’ initiatives to unify customs administration, its representative told Vedomosti. Unified standards for customs operations, customs control, information exchange, unification of risk management systems are included in the Strategic Directions for the Development of Eurasian Economic Integration until 2025.

At the same time, risk management is regulated by national legislation. Therefore, countries have differences, despite efforts to converge approaches, explained the representative of ECE.

A unified standard of customs operations, he said, will “create a space of trust between participants in the supply chain of goods.” “In addition, uniform and maximally unified rules of customs administration minimize the occurrence of problem situations when moving goods, including later within the Union, which is a positive signal for business,” the EEC emphasizes.

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