OREANDA-NEWS. On 13 July 2009 was announced, that it is not advisable to introduce marking of bananas and citrus fruit, the Tax Ministry said in its letter addressed to the Minsk union of entrepreneurs and employers, which had initiated marking of imported fruit to address grey imports.

“The conclusions about the significant increase in grey imports of bananas and citrus fruit are not supported by official statistics. An increase in grey imports would mean a reduction in official imports [provided the volume of imports remains unchanged], however, according to the Statistics Committee, banana imports rose 8% on the year in the first four months, and citrus fruit import decreased only 3%. Therefore, there were no serious changes on the citrus fruit market of the country in 2009,” the ministry said.

According to the State Customs Committee, even if they have enough stamps to mark imports, businesses cannot guarantee that they will property use them, or provide customs or statistical declaration and payment of taxes in full.

The committee believes one solution to the problem of grey imports of bananas and citrus fruit would be to create equal conditions for all market players, including through the exclusion of retail sales of bananas and citrus fruit from activities subject to payment of the unified tax by individuals and entrepreneurs.