Ignorance is no longer an excuse – Newspaper Kommersant No. 52 (7497) of 03/28/2023

Kazakhstan, following Turkey, has begun to tighten control over trade turnover with Russia – from April 1, it will become mandatory to issue accompanying invoices for goods when deliveries to and from the EAEU countries. The electronic system will make it possible to record and control the movement of goods, which will partly replace the customs control removed during the creation of the EAEU, experts believe. At the same time, experts still find it difficult to assess the impact on mutual trade, including transit deliveries – Russian business plans to bring this issue up for discussion within the EEC. However, Kazakhstani officials have repeatedly stated that they will not violate the sanctions of developed countries against the Russian Federation, and the new system will at least provide them with full information about such attempts.

From April 1, 2023, Kazakhstan is introducing the mandatory issuance of accompanying invoices for goods (CNT) in trade with the EAEU countries to reduce shadow turnover and eliminate tax losses (VAT), the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance of the country reported. It is assumed that the system, which has been implemented in a pilot mode since December 2020 on a voluntary basis, will automate the process of controlling the movement of goods across the border. Currently, there is no customs clearance of goods on the EAEU domestic market. At the same time, the agency’s message says that the registration of SNT in electronic form must occur before crossing the border (and be certified with an EDS), which “excludes the possibility of processing documents for nominees, fictitious recipients and senders of goods, bankrupts, liquidated persons.”

Kommersant’s interlocutors in the market note that so far the effect of the measures being introduced is not fully understood, despite the “pilot” to launch the system. Formally, the measure does not apply to barriers in the EAEU market, but the interlocutor of Kommersant in the RSPP noted the readiness to “raise this issue in the commission, including within the framework of the EAEU Business Council.” “Any introduction of new requirements unilaterally without the approval of the EAEU and EEC bodies in accordance with the law of the EAEU can potentially be considered as a barrier,” he adds. The Ministry of Economy of the Russian Federation told Kommersant that the agency will continue monitoring the implementation of the SNT mechanism to respond in case of obstacles to the free circulation of goods on the union market.

It should be noted that the tightening of the terms of supplies to the Russian Federation occurs after the announcement of the G7 countries about plans to strengthen supervision over the implementation of sanctions restrictions (primarily they relate to the supply of dual-use products). The EU countries have stopped the transit of such goods through Russia, and Turkey has tightened the conditions for its implementation (see Kommersant on March 21), Kazakh officials have been openly saying since the summer that the country will not impose its own sanctions against the Russian Federation, but it will not violate the bans imposed by developed countries due to the military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, and electronic control when goods cross the border will not allow referring to the lack of data on the transportation of sanctioned goods.

Recall that the discussion itself about the need to control the movement of goods in the EAEU began back in 2015 – then Kazakhstan became a member of the WTO with a wide list of exemptions from the common customs tariffs of the union. The main supporter of strengthening the control of trade (in particular, through the introduction of a traceability system at the EAEU level) was then the Russian side (including due to the introduction of a food embargo and its bypasses through other countries of the Union). However, now, within the framework of this system, the union is conducting a pilot project on the traceability of household refrigerators and freezers, within its framework, information exchange between the national traceability systems of the EAEU countries is being tested, the Federal Customs Service told Kommersant. In Russia, in turn, strengthening control over imports is planned as part of customs monitoring, but the experiment on its implementation will only begin on April 3 (see Kommersant of February 21). Last year, control over customs clearance was eased by reconfiguring the risk management system – the volume of control operations for priority imports was halved, and the volume of support through reduced duties is estimated at 108 billion rubles, the service reported.

Market participants note that any additional procedures complicate the import of goods into the Russian Federation and conflict with the principle of free movement of goods in the union. Alexander Kirilchenko, Head of Customs Law and International Trade Practice at BGP Litigation, notes that the Kazakhstani system operates in an electronic format and allows recording and controlling the movement of goods. For some commodity groups, it began to work in a mandatory mode from February 10 this year, and from April 1, accompanying invoices must be issued for all goods imported into Kazakhstan from the EAEU countries and exported from Kazakhstan to the EAEU countries, including the Russian Federation. The system can also replace the lack of customs control over the movement of goods – companies are required to issue SNT and report the delivery of goods even before export, which allows the regulatory authorities of Kazakhstan to filter such deliveries. The lack of such control also made it difficult to comply with sanctions restrictions. In the Russian Federation, the exchange of goods with the EAEU countries is recorded using the so-called statistical declarations, but they are submitted after the departure or receipt of goods from the EAEU country, Alexander Kirilchenko explains, and cannot restrict import or export.

Anastasia Chursina, an adviser to the legal company Nortia GKS, agrees: the introduction of waybills will allow the government agencies of Kazakhstan to track the movement of goods to the Russian Federation at the time of shipment. This will not affect the movement of sanctioned goods in any way, but will allow Kazakhstan to track the flow to the Russian Federation in real time as part of the announced monitoring, the expert believes.

Since this is an official statement from Kazakhstan, there is no doubt that the system will be implemented, Yulia Shlenskaya, president of customs broker KBT, said. Kazakhstan has not previously supported parallel imports and transit of sanctioned goods through its territory, said Dmitry Arzhanykh, co-founder of the SLK group. According to him, after April 1, the situation will become tougher. However, in his opinion, the situation is facilitated by the fact that many Russian companies have representative offices or branches in Kazakhstan, which, most likely, will be able to import European goods.

Tatiana Edovina, Diana Galieva, Natalia Skorlygina