The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Digital Development cannot agree on approaches to electronics labeling

The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Digital Development cannot agree on approaches to labeling electronics. According to Kommersant’s sources, the Ministry of Digital Development insists on introducing labeling for a wide range of devices with the subsequent introduction of an excise tax, which should, according to the ministry’s calculations, give the budget 30 billion rubles. in year. The Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that for now it is worth introducing only lighting equipment markings. Electronics sellers are not enthusiastic about excise tax prospects, but as expected, they are warmly welcomed by Russian manufacturers.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Digital Development and a number of regulators are discussing the possibility of introducing labeling for consumer electronics and commercial computer equipment, as follows from a letter dated September 21 from the head of the defense industry department of the Russian government Nikolai Arkhipov to the Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov (Kommersant has a copy).

The letter says that the Ministry of Digital Development has not agreed on the draft government resolution, which proposes to conduct an experiment on labeling certain types of radio electronics (the current version of the document, not yet approved by the government, involves labeling only lighting equipment). The Ministry of Digital Development, as follows from the correspondence, proposed adding smartphones, laptops, tablets, servers, and storage systems to the list of labeled products. However, this proposal, the document says, is not yet sufficiently substantiated, therefore the experiment on labeling radio electronics should be carried out only for lighting technology, without taking into account the position of the Ministry of Digital Development.

However, the same letter states that Nikolai Arkhipov proposed to instruct the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Digital Development and other departments to “clarify the action plan regarding the introduction of labeling on smartphones, tablets, laptops, data storage systems, computers, server and telecom equipment from January 1, 2024” . A Kommersant source close to the Ministry of Industry and Trade says that the initiative to launch labeling for tablets, laptops and other electronics comes from the Ministry of Digital Development: “The Ministry of Industry and Trade is not yet ready to support it.” The Ministry of Digital Development did not answer Kommersant.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade told Kommersant that they have submitted to the government a draft resolution suggesting an experiment on labeling lighting equipment: “The experiment is planned from November 1, 2023 to February 28, 2025.”

According to Kommersant’s interlocutor in the electronics market, the Ministry of Digital Development is interested in introducing labeling for a wide range of consumer electronics in order to further introduce an excise tax on it. This issue, according to him, was discussed during a series of meetings at the Ministry of Digital Development in the summer: “We are talking about levying an excise tax on consumer electronics that comes to Russia through the parallel import mechanism. With the help of the excise tax, it is possible to raise funds that will later be used to support Russian producers.” A federal official also says that such a mechanism is being discussed; according to him, it will make it possible to annually replenish the budget by about 30 billion rubles.

At Aquarius (which produces servers, computers, etc.), Kommersant was told that they support the introduction of any measures of tariff and non-tariff regulation. “Labelling is a good tool for controlling parallel imports and an effective means of combating manufacturers of counterfeit electronics,” said Aquarius President Vladimir Stepanov. It is necessary to establish an excise tax on the products of unfriendly vendors in the premium segment, agrees the managing partner of F+ tech (produces laptops, smartphones, etc. under its own brand) Alexey Melnikov: “It will not affect demand, since now these are devices mainly for the wealthy public.”

Director of Public Relations of the Association of Trading Companies and Manufacturers of Electrical Household and Computer Equipment RATEK Anton Guskov said that he considers initiatives to introduce labeling of electronics, as well as excise taxes on them, “harmful and counterproductive”: “If we talk about labeling, then introducing it for consumer there is no need for electronics – there are practically no counterfeits on the market.” Supporting Russian manufacturers, he continues, is worthwhile not with the help of excise taxes on foreign equipment, but with the help of other measures, for example, preferential lending, subsidies, etc.

Nikita Korolev