VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
On October 10, 2000 the Presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan met in Astana to sign a treaty establishing the EurAsian Economic Community (EurAsEC) to promote the formation of the Customs Union (CU) and the Common Economic Space. The treaty came into force on May 30, 2001. Thereafter all the work to create the CU was conducted within the framework of EurAsEC.
The meeting of the EurAsEC Interstate Council at the level of heads of state on October 6, 2007 adopted documents that lay down the institutional structure of the Customs Union and determine the mechanism of accession to it of countries other than the initial "troika" of EurAsEC members. In addition, an Action Plan was approved to form the Customs Union within EurAsEC for 2007-2010.
The interstate EurAsEC Council at the level of heads of state held in Bishkek on October 10, 2008 also assumed the functions of the supreme governing body of the newly created Customs Union (VOTS). The EurAsEC summit held in Moscow on December 12, 2008 saw the signing of documents required to launch the Customs Union Commission (CUC). That completed the formation of a package of 37 documents approved by the October 10, 2008 summit which other community states would join when they are ready.
A meeting of the interstate EurAsEC Council - VOTS at the level of heads of government in Moscow agreed upon a Single Customs Tariff.
Considering that the Customs Union started functioning on January 1, 2010 and all the necessary procedures are to be approved before July 1, 2011, proposals have been approved concerning the stages and timeframe of the formation of the common customs territory of the Customs Union of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation:
- preliminary stage: before January 1, 2010,
- first stage: before July 1, 2010,
- second stage: before July 1, 2011.
In addition, the meeting of the interstate EurAsEC - VOTS Council at the level of heads of government on June 9, 2009 decided to notify the WTO of the intention to launch negotiations on the accession of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan to the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a single customs territory, and the CUC has been charged with initiating the process.
In connection with the practical launching on January 1, 2010 of the mechanism of the Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia Customs Union, at the 8th Session of the CUC (September 25, 2009, Alma Ata) the draft Customs Code, the Treaty on the Customs Code of the Customs Union and the Plan of Actions to introduce the Code were basically approved, along with the plan to shift specific types of state control to the external border of the Customs Union with respect to the Belarusian-Russian border.
Furthermore, it was decided that a joint negotiating team of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus would continue negotiations on the accession of the "troika" to the WTO on equal terms. In the period between November 30 and December 10, 2009 the joint delegation attended the seventh session of the WTO Ministerial Conference and held bilateral consultations with the interested WTO member countries.
The ninth CUC session (Moscow, October 21, 2009) approved the draft Treaty on the Customs Code of the Customs Union, the Action Plan to put the Customs Code of the CU into effect, the CUC rules of procedure, the Concept of Creating an Integrated Information System in external and mutual trade of the Customs Union. Draft documents on Customs Tariff and Non-Tariff Regulations were discussed.
The October session also approved the plan to transfer agreed types of state control to the external border of the CU as regards the Kazakh-Russian border.
The meeting of the interstate council of EurAsEC-VOTS at the level of heads of state in Minsk on November 27, 2009 gave the green light to the launching of the Customs Union mechanism on January 1, 2010.
The participants in the Customs Union troika summit signed a Treaty on the CU Customs Code and agreed the action plan to put the Customs Code into force. They also approved the Single Customs Tariff of the CU (came into force on January 1, 2010, with the powers to form it transferred to the supranational body, the Customs Union Commission), the Single Goods Nomenclature in Foreign Trade and other international documents aimed at coordinated customs tariff regulation. It has been decided that the common customs territory of the CU would become effective as of July 1, 2010. At Kazakhstan's suggestion, customs clearance on the Russian-Kazakh border will be transferred to the external border of Kazakhstan as early as July 1, 2010 (instead of the earlier deadline of July 1, 2011). The CU members also approved the Statute on the Expert Council, an advisory body which would administer a quasi-judicial procedure for considering complaints from business entities in connection with their activities within the Customs Union.
A separate item on the agenda was the application by the CU member states of a common system of measures of non-tariff regulation with respect to third countries. A single list of goods covered by bans or restrictions on import or export by CU member states within EurAsEC in trade with third countries and rules on the application of restrictions to the listed goods were agreed.
The Interstate EurAsEC-VOTS Council at the level of heads of state also approved the Concept of Creating an Integrated Information System of External and Mutual CU Trade and appointed three members of the Customs Union Commission at the level of deputy prime ministers (Andrei Kobyakov from Belarus, Umirzak Shukeyev from Kazakhstan and Igor Shuvalov from Russia) to work on a permanent basis. The Commission's chairman is First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Igor Shuvalov.
In addition, a step has been taken towards an integration stage following the CU, i.e. the Common Economic Space. On December 19, 2009 the CU heads of state, meeting informally, decided to approve a plan of action to create a common economic space of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. The three heads of state also adopted a joint statement to mark the start of the functioning of the CU troika on January 1, 2010.
Beginning from that date, a number of supranational functions were transferred to the CU Commission, whose decisions will now be binding for each party without any additional internal procedures.
The working meeting of the CU Commission's members held in Moscow on March 25, 2010 passed a decision on a mechanism for entering and distributing proceeds from import customs duties (and other similar customs duties, taxes and levies). According to the decision, the sums of import customs duties for each Party are distributed as follows:
the Republic of Belarus, 4.70%;
the Republic of Kazakhstan, 7,33%;
the Russian Federation, 87.97%.
