On February 26, 1999, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan signed a treaty on the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space setting forth the following stages of integration without specifying particular dates:
• First stage: Initiating free trade in full, including the elimination of tariffs and quantitative restrictions in mutual trade, the introduction of a single system for levying indirect taxes, and the removal of administrative, fiscal and other barriers that hinder the free movement of goods;
• Second stage: Establishing a customs union with a common customs space and common customs tariffs, eliminating customs controls on common borders and standardising economic and trade regulations;
• Third stage: Establishing a common economic space allowing for the implementation of a common economic policy and the creation of a common service, labour and capital market, the unification of national legislation, as well as common social, science and technological policies.
The Treaty on the Formation of the Eurasian Economic Community was signed by the presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan on October 10, 2000, in Astana. The treaty went into effect on May 30, 2001 after being ratified by all member states.
The Eurasian Economic Community, or EurAsEC, comprises the following governing bodies:
The Interstate Council: EurAsEC's supreme body that is made up of the presidents and prime ministers of the member states. The council oversees the Eurasian Economic Community's high-priority issues related to the common interests of its member states, develops the relevant integration strategy, guidelines and prospects, and adopts decisions aimed at achieving the organisation's goals and objectives. The Interstate Council assigns the Integration Committee with tasks, submits requests and recommendations to the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and submits requests to the community's court. The council meets at least once a year at the level of heads of state and at least twice a year at the level of heads of government. The sessions are chaired by a representative of the state currently presiding in the Interstate Council. The country to chair the Interstate Council and the Integration Committee is appointed by each member state following Russian alphabetical order and rotates on an annual basis.
The Integration Committee: a permanent body which facilitates cooperation between EurAsEC agencies, drafts proposals for the agenda of the Interstate Council's meetings, along with various decisions and documents, and oversees the implementation of decisions and the budget of the Eurasian Economic Community. The Integration Committee submits an annual report on the state of the community's affairs and a report on its activities to the Interstate Council. The committee consists of deputy prime ministers of the member states, with the committee chairman participating in the Interstate Council's sessions. The Integration Committee meets at least once every three months. During the committee sessions, activities are overseen by the Commission of Permanent Representatives, appointed by the member states. The work and the informational and technical support for the Interstate Council and the Integration Committee are ensured by the secretariat, headed by the secretary general, who is appointed for a term of three years by the Interstate Council at the level of heads of state. The secretary general, the top administrative official of the Eurasian Economic Community, participates in the Interstate Council's and the Integration Committee's meetings. Kazakhstan's Tair Mansurov has been secretary general since October 6, 2007. The EurAsEC Secretariat is based in Almaty, the Republic of Kazakhstan, and in Moscow, Russian Federation.
The Inter-Parliamentary Assembly: a parliamentary cooperation body of the Eurasian Economic Community which oversees matters of harmonising, unifying and standardising the national legislation of member states and bringing such legislation in conformity with treaties and agreements made by other member states. The assembly is comprised of parliament members designated by the member states' parliaments. The Inter-Parliamentary Assembly drafts fundamental legislation in areas of mutual relations and develops model legislation used for drafting national legislative acts. It also has the right to submit recommendations to the Interstate Council, to submit enquiries and recommendations to the Integration Committee and to the parliaments of the member states, as well as enquiries to the EurAsEC Court. The Inter-Parliamentary Assembly is based in St Petersburg, Russian Federation.
The Eurasian Economic Community Court is called on to facilitate the standard application of treaties and decisions adopted by community bodies. The court is also in place to settle economic disputes arising from community decisions and treaties, and provides explanations and rulings regarding the organisation's documents. The court is constituted of two representatives from each member state, while judges are appointed on the recommendation of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly for six-year terms. Pursuant to the provisions of the November 31, 2004 agreement between EurAsEC and the CIS, the CIS Economic Court, which is located in Minsk, the Republic of Belarus, shall temporarily exercise the functions of the EurAsEC Court, until the latter is fully formed.
The Eurasian Economic Community is open to countries that share its interests and principles and that are ready to assume responsibilities. The member states position themselves not as an organisation in opposition to the Commonwealth of Independent States, but as an entity able to significantly advance partnerships in the economy and other areas within the CIS.
EurAsEC's system of planning the budget and defining the proportion of votes required to adopt decisions in the Integration Committee and the Commission of Permanent Representatives is based on the member states' economic influences. The respective shares of budget contributions and number of votes are divided as follows: Russia contributes 40% (40 votes), and Belarus and Kazakhstan contribute 20% (20 votes) each, and Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan contribute 10% (10 votes) each. The decisions in the Interstate Council are made through consensus.
A number of countries and organisations have observer status in EurAsEC: Armenia, Moldova, Ukraine, as well as the Interstate Aviation Committee and the Eurasian Development Bank.
In December 2003, EurAsEC was granted observer status at the UN General Assembly.
On January 25, 2006, the protocol was signed on Uzbekistan joining the Treaty on the Formation of EurAsEC and introducing appropriate amendments and additions to the treaty to allow Uzbekistan's admission to the community. At this session, EurAsEC merged with the Central Asian Cooperation Organisation (CACO), the latter ceasing to exist.
On May 19, 2006, the EurAsEC Interstate Council held its 15th session at the heads of government level in Minsk. The agenda included the establishment of the community's transport union, with the prime ministers making a number of decisions related to tariffs on the movement of goods.
At the 16th session of the Interstate Council at the heads of state level on June 23, 2006, its members agreed they would complete all intrastate procedures by 2007 to have the documents prepared for signature to set up the legal framework for the Customs Union, with due consideration of the states' readiness to join the union.
From August 15 through August 17, 2006, the EurAsEC member states' presidents came together for an informal meeting in Sochi to discuss the most pressing issues related to the community's development, particularly the establishment of EurAsEC's three-nation Customs Union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. The sides agreed on the necessity of creating a common energy market and developing draft plans for the efficient use of the Central Asian region's water and energy resources with consideration of the experience from international activities and the Central Asian Cooperation Organisation.
In addition, they considered establishing ties with the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), with the participants of the meeting speaking in favor of expanding links between EurAsEC and CSTO.
On April 18, 2007, the EurAsEC member states' presidents met for the 18th session of the Interstate Council in Astana to approve the concept for a single social policy of the member states.
The EurAsEC Interstate Council's session at the heads of state level on October 6, 2007, in Dushanbe, resulted in the adoption of a resolution on the establishment of the legal framework for the Customs Union within EurAsEC, which approved the protocol on introducing amendments to the Treaty on the Formation of the Eurasian Economic Community of October 10, 2000. Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed the Treaty on the Customs Union Commission, the Treaty on the Creation of the Common Customs Space and the Formation of the Customs Union, and the protocol on the procedures for entry into force of international treaties aimed at creating the legal framework of the Customs Union, as well as withdrawing from and joining treaties. They also adopted a list of international treaties which constitute the legal foundation of the EurAsEC Customs Union and a strategy for building the EurAsEC Customs Union. All sides agreed that Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan would join the union as and when they were ready to.
At the 20th Interstate Council session at the heads of government level on January 25, 2008, the prime ministers signed nine international treaties aimed at further developing the legal framework of EurAsEC's three-nation Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. Launching the organisation would provide for the establishment of a common customs territory, implying there are no customs duties or economic restrictions, with the sides using the unified customs tariff and other unified measures of trade with countries outside the union. At the meeting of six states, the sides also adopted the concept for establishing a common transport space and charged the states' transport ministers with the task of cooperating to implement the concept aimed at boosting volumes of goods transported within the EurAsEC countries, as well as transit across their lands.
On October 10, 2008, the EurAsEC Interstate Council met in Bishkek for its 21st session at the heads of state level. The presidents succeeded in making significant steps to promote the establishment of the Customs Union and strengthen ties within the community. Under the amendments made to the Regulations and the Rules of Procedure, the Interstate Council assumed the functions of the supreme body of the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.
At this top-level meeting, the participants thoroughly considered the action plan for 2008 through 2010 and further on to implement the priority segments in the community's development, namely: expanding partnership among the member states in developing a common energy market and market space, as well as boosting ties in the real sector of the economy, developing joint target programmes, primarily in investment and innovation. Particular attention was being paid to creating a common scientific and technological space within the framework of EurAsEC. Due to the global economic downturn, the presidents gave special consideration to cooperation in the financial sector, particularly on the issues of liberalisation of the activities related to capital transfers, pursuing a single policy on the securities market and establishing a common insurance market.
The sides agreed to grant the observer status in EurAsEC to the Eurasian Development Bank, the international financial organisation that has an authorised capital exceeding $1.5 billion and was founded in 2006 by Kazakhstan and Russia. In 2009, Belarus, Tajikistan and Armenia joined the agreement on establishing the bank. Maintaining closer ties with the bank should allow for the efficient financing of the community's multilateral regional projects.
Another important step taken at the meeting was the decision to include the position of deputy secretary general from Russia into the structure of the Integration Committee's allotted positions. Thus, Sergei Glazyev took office after being appointed by the committee on November 26, 2008.
On October 15, 2008, Uzbek President Islam Karimov informed EurAsEC's Integration Committee of the suspension of Uzbekistan's membership in the community, which resulted in the need for a number of decisions to be formulated and signed by the EurAsEC members so that the community would continue its functions as a five-state organisation. The presidents of the member states adopted Resolution No. 414 of December 24, 2008, which officially suspended Tashkent's participation in the EurAsEC governing bodies' activities and restored the distribution of votes between the community members that had existed prior to Uzbekistan's admission to EurAsEC.
On December 12, 2008, the EurAsEC Interstate Council met in Moscow for its 22nd session at the heads of government level, where prime ministers signed 23 international treaties. The sides completed the set of regulations for the Customs Union and agreed to facilitate the work of the Customs Union's Commission, the union's governing body. They also agreed to allow other states to join the union as and when they were ready to. At the commission's first meeting on February 4, 2009, Sergei Glazyev was appointed as executive secretary.
At this meeting, the prime ministers approved an important programmatic document, the concept for EurAsEC's common energy market. The sides agreed to continue working on the draft plan for the efficient use of water and energy resources of the Central Asian region through joint efforts of the member states' governments and the EurAsEC Integration Committee, with assistance from international experts.
At the extraordinary meeting of the EurAsEC Interstate Council on February 4, 2009, in Moscow, the member states' presidents agreed to establish the Anti-Crisis Fund as part of joint efforts to minimise the negative effects of the global economic crisis on the member states.
The Anti-Crisis Fund manages assets in freely convertible currencies equivalent to $10 billion. The shares of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus stand at $7.5 billion, $1 billion, and $10 million, respectively, while Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Armenia contribute $1 million each. The Anti-Crisis Fund's allocations are available on the condition of timely repayment. The funds are used to provide member states with sovereign loans for anti-recession programmes, as well as stabilisation loans for low-income member states and for support of inter-state investment projects.
Under Article 5 of the agreement on the establishment of EurAsEC's Anti-Crisis Fund of June 5, 2009, the fund is open to other states and international organisations.
EurAsEC members also approved a decision to open the High-Tech Centre, in a move to introduce innovations into the community's economy. The centre is expected to function in the form of an international venture fund. The centre already operates by utilising available instruments and institutions, including state and non-governmental resources.
After Kyrgyzstan brought up the initiative to participate in developing the Customs Union's legal framework, the Customs Union Commission adopted the decision to launch a working group for Kyrgyzstan's entrance into the union at its fifth meeting on May 29, 2009. And at its sixth meeting on June 25, 2009, in Moscow, the commission appointed the group's chairman and defined its structure.
A significant step toward establishing the three-nation Customs Union was made on June 9, 2009, in Moscow, at the meeting of the EurAsEC Interstate Council at the heads of government level. The participants of the meeting finalised the agreement of a common customs tariff, which was submitted for approval to the Interstate Council at its meeting at the heads of state level on November 27, 2009, in Minsk; this entailed that the tariff would come into effect on January 1, 2010.
Based on a launch of the union scheduled for January 1, 2010 and the goal of completing all essential procedures by July 1, 2011, the sides approved stages and a timeframe for establishing the common customs territory of the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, namely:
- the preliminary stage, scheduled to run until January 1, 2010;
- the first stage, scheduled to run until July 1, 2010;
- the second stage, scheduled to run until July 1, 2011.
At its seventh session in Moscow on August 12, 2009, the commission approved the plan of action for the preliminary stage of the common customs territory and updated the measures of the plan for establishing the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia within EurAsEC for 2009 through 2010, aiming to promptly implement the preliminary stage and prepare for the first stage.
At the summit of the EurAsEC Interstate Council on June 9, 2009, in Moscow, a decision was made to notify the World Trade Organisation of the countries' intention to launch talks on their entrance into the WTO as a common customs territory. The Customs Union Commission was assigned the task of initiating the process.
On November 27, 2009, in Minsk, the EurAsEC Interstate Council held its meeting at the heads of state level, which was presided by Belarus. The three countries' leaders met to discuss important decisions which completed the preliminary period and provided the conditions necessary for the Customs Union to become operational as of January 1, 2010.
At this meeting, the leaders of the three countries signed a treaty on the Customs Code of the Customs Union and agreed a plan of action for enforcing the Customs Code. They approved the common customs tariff of the Customs Union to become effective on January 1, 2010, with the authority to define its details and structure granted to the Customs Union Commission as a supranational body. They also adopted the Foreign Economic Activity Commodity Nomenclature and other international documents necessary for common customs tariff regulation. The heads of state also agreed on launching the common customs territory of the Customs Union on July 1, 2010. Upon the proposal of Kazakhstan, the procedures of customs controls on the Russian-Kazakh border will be transferred to the external border of Kazakhstan on July 1, 2010, one year ahead of the planned deadline of July 1, 2011. The members of the Customs Union also approved regulations for the Export Council, an advisory body that will consider the economic entities' appeals related to their activities in the Customs Union through a quasi-judicial procedure.
Regarding the common tariff regulations of relations with third party countries, those at the meeting agreed a common list of goods to which import and export prohibitions and restrictions may be applied with regard to trade between EurAsEC and outside countries; they also considered how such limitations on the goods making up this list would be regulated.
In addition, the Interstate Council adopted a concept for creating an integrated information system for trade between the Customs Union members and outside countries.
The council appointed three members to work on a permanent basis in the Customs Union Commission - namely, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Umirzak Shukeyev and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov. Igor Shuvalov was appointed as chairman of the commission. The council approved the procedural framework for the commission, the expenditures for 2010, and introduced changes to the commission's structure by raising the number of personnel and employing a new distribution system of the positions allotted. The commission's website is now the official source for the release of the Customs Union's treaties and materials. The functions of a depositary for international treaties on the formation of the Customs Union were transferred from the EurAsEC Integration Committee to the Customs Union Commission.
At the Interstate Council's meeting of the five member states, EurAsEC Secretary General Tair Mansurov reported on the work being done to carry out the decisions made at the 21st Interstate Council meeting of October 10, 2008, and the extraordinary meeting of February 4, 2009. He particularly reported on the progress in implementing the decisions to establish the Anti-Crisis Fund, whose constituent documents were ratified by all participating countries, and on the creation of EurAsEC's High-Tech Centre, as well as the plan for international activities and the first cultural festival of the EurAsEC member countries.
The leaders of the participating countries also heard a report by the chairman of the EurAsEC Financial and Economic Policy Council, Russia's Alexei Kudrin, on joint actions to manage the consequences of the global economic downturn. There was also a report by the EurAsEC Border Committee chairman, Kazakhstan's major general Bulat Kirgizbayev, on the priorities and expansion of the community's activities in its border policy.
At this meeting, the leaders of the five member states signed a protocol establishing a common insurance market for the EurAsEC member countries, and adopted the Fundamentals on purposes, objectives, guidelines, and mechanisms for implementation of the border policy of the EurAsEC member states.
In addition, a decision was made to raise the status of the EurAsEC Integration Committee's Council of Ministers of Justice from a branch commission to the Community's subsidiary body, and to endow the EurAsEC Court with the right to handle disputes arising in the Customs Union.
Ahead of the 10-year anniversary of the foundation of EurAsEC, which will be marked on October 10, 2010, the leaders of the member states agreed a plan of events to celebrate the date.
At the session, the participants approved the 2008 budget performance report, the Interstate Council's budget message and the community's draft budget for 2010, with account taken of the decision to bring compensation for EurAsEC's Inter-Parliamentary Assembly personnel in line with the amounts of compensation paid to the employees of the EurAsEC Integration Committee Secretariat.
Under the rotational basis as set forth by the Treaty on the Formation of the Eurasian Economic Community of October 10, 2000, Kazakhstan will take over the chairmanship from Belarus for the next one-year period, with the next session to be held in June 2010 in Astana.
On December 11, 2009, the Interstate Council held its session at the heads of government level in St Petersburg, where the prime ministers of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia met to discuss and adopt the resolution to launch the three-state Customs Union within EurAsEC beginning from January 1, 2010.
In order to provide the conditions for the free movement of goods within the union's customs territory, the prime ministers signed a number of international documents: some documents related to regulating the procedures for charging indirect taxes on exports and imports, technical regulations, the application of sanitary, veterinary and phytosanitary controls in the union, as well as the system of submitting information on domestic and foreign trade to the Customs Union Commission's Statistics Centre.
The prime ministers of the five member states also considered the creation of the Eurasian innovation system and approved the corresponding plan, which will facilitate the development of national innovative systems through the integration of scientific, technical, industrial and technological opportunities. This will encourage partnership in innovation and the utilisation of achievements in technology within the organisation.
Belarus initiated the decision to implement the innovative biotechnologies interstate target programme, which was adopted. The program will become a tool in the achievement of the member states' strategic goals of scientific, technological and technical development. It will also allow for the coordination of interstate and inter-industry links in developing biotechnologies and manufacturing bioproducts, which will result in the sustainable growth of economic efficiency, living standards and the overall welfare of the people in the member states.
The prime ministers also discussed partnership in education and signed an agreement to that effect, establishing the legal framework for the participating countries' cooperation in the educational sector.
During the session, participants agreed and adopted a plan for EurAsEC's food security and a plan for establishing an interstate database on migrant workers. They also adopted a plan for the interstate target programme for reclamation of the member states' territories affected by uranium mining and a programme for launching a system of informational and methodological support for the unified export control system of the EurAsEC member states.
In addition, the participating countries moved further toward the next stage of integration following the Customs Union - namely, the establishment of the Common Economic Space. Acting on the initiative of Belarus, the Customs Union member states adopted the plan of action for establishing the Common Economic Space between Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia at an informal meeting on December 19, 2009 in Astana. The countries' presidents also signed a joint agreement in relation to the launch of the three-nation Customs Union on January 1, 2010.
The latest session of the EurAsEC Interstate Council at the heads of government level was held on May 21, 2010 in St Petersburg.