OREANDA-NEWS. May 24, 2010. Heads of the governments approved at the meeting of the Intergovernmental Council of the EurAsEc stages and dates of the formation of the Customs Union, according to which the common customs area is created (decision № 9). Heads of states defined at the meeting of the Intergovernmental Council of the EurAsEc on November 27, 2009 the start date for the common customs territory – July 1, 2010 (decision № 24), simultaneously with the coming into effect of the Customs Code of the Customs Union. Single measures of customs and tariff and non-tariff regulation will be taken towards third parties on the common customs territory; import customs duties will not be levied, bans and restrictions will not be lifted, zero value-added tax rate and excise duty exemption as well as uniform legislation on customs affairs will be in effect in the mutual trade between the states-members of the Customs Union.

Representatives of the Russian FCS took active part in the preparation of the customs legislation of the Customs Union – Customs Code of the Customs Union, including the Protocol on the Introduction of Amendments to it, international agreements of the states-members of the Customs Union and Commission of the Customs Union, provided for by the Customs Code of the Customs Union.

The fundamental document regulating customs legal relationships in the Customs Union is the Customs Code of the Customs Union. It contains the uniform conditions and procedure of recognizing people performing customs activity, definition and concretization of forms of customs control, principle requirements for the performing of customs operations by the participants of the foreign economic activity and customs bodies, legal meaning of the customs procedures.

Owing to the necessity of abolition of customs clearance on the internal boundaries of the Customs Union from July 1, 2010, a Protocol on introducing amendments to the Agreement on the Customs Code of the Customs Union has been developed.

With the coming into effect of the Customs Code of the Customs Union on July 1, 2010 new notions will be put into practice, some legal relationships will be regulated in a new way, the principles of control will need reconsideration.

For instant, goods conveyed within the mutual trade between the states-members of the Customs Union will not be placed under the customs import and export procedure, which will lower cost loading on persons performing commercial activity on the territory of the Customs Union.

Procedure of the internal customs transit which was contained in the Customs Code of the Russian Federation is expelled. Now conveyance of goods is open from the outer boundary of the Customs border immediately to the location of the recipient independently of the state, in which he is situated; and the carriers including customs ones, have the right to transport on the whole territory of the Customs Union without undergoing national control on the territory of each of the states-members of the Customs Union. Therewith railway carriers are imperatively contracted out of the security payment as a goods delivery guarantee.

Provisions of the Customs Code of the Customs Union are aimed at the facilitation of the procedure of customs clearance and customs operations for the participants of the foreign economic activity.

For example, an institution of an authorized economic operator has been introduced, for which the following simplifications are stipulated:

• release of goods before declaring with the payment at the declaring. That is a free delay of payment from 10 to 40 days will be provided;
• possibility of temporary storage of goods and performing of customs operations connected with the goods release on the territories of the authorized economic operator;
• possibility to formalize transit of goods without security payment as a guarantee of customs payments.

The activity of the authorized economic operators will be registered and requiring security payment (1 million euro). Therewith the amount of such security payment may be reduced to 150 thousand euro provided that the authorized economic operator produces goods or exports them, and meets the criteria, defined by the Commission of the Customs Union.

To contribute to the export of high-technology goods the shortened and close list of documents for declaring is established, foundation for large-scale implementation of electronic declaring has been laid down.

In comparison with the Customs Code of the Russian Federation the periods of different customs operations performed by the customs authorities have been reduced. For instant, reduced are the terms of:

• release of goods – from 3 to 2 days, especially those exported from the customs territory of the Customs Union and exempt from export customs charges – to 4 hours; therewith a maximum term of release of goods prolongation is fixed – to 10 days starting from the day of customs declaration registration, and conditions of such prolongation are also clearly defined – the necessity of holding or finishing of forms of customs clearance;
• customs authority transit declaration registration – from 2 to 1 hour.

Increased are the terms of:

• submission of goods to the customs authority with the advance declaration – from 15 to 30 days;
• processing of goods on the customs territory – from 2 to 3 years;
• period, allowing to put under the customs re-export procedure goods, formerly put under the customs procedure of release for internal consumption – from 6 months to 1 year.

The terms of the processes which were without time limits before have been fixed. These are the terms of:

• organization by the customs authority of the customs escort (within 24 hours on the decision);
• registration or lack of approval of the customs declaration (no more than 2 hours on the declaration; in the Customs Code of the Russian Federation this term is defined as the day of the receipt of the customs declaration by the customs authority);
• performing by the interested persons of the operations connected with the placement of goods for temporary storage or their customs declaration (3 hours on the submission of goods).
Substantial changes have been made in the activity connected with keeping the registers.

Besides national registers supranational registers have emerged. They will be maintained by the Commission of the Customs Union.

In general, novelties for persons performing activity within the customs affairs are as follows:

1. Considerable opportunities are established for the development of cooperation of the customs bodies with the persons, performing activity in the field of customs affairs by means of informational technologies (e.g. a customs representative may have access to the informational systems of customs authorities, used for the automated information processing and electronic data transfer necessary for customs purposes).

2. Presence of civil liability insurance is now not a prerequisite for enrolling persons on the register of customs carriers. 

Therewith necessary conditions for enrolling on the register of customs carriers are supplemented by the requirements to have no unpaid customs charges and fines as well as facts of imposition of administrative sanctions for delinquency in the field of customs affairs within 1 year from the date of application to the customs authority on the date of application.

3. A person being under the process of liquidation or reorganization is now to be expelled from the appropriate register of persons performing activity in the field of customs authority.

4. The amount of security payment has been reduced:

for customs representative – from 50 million rubles to 1 million euro (about 40 million rubes);
for customs carrier – from 20 million rubles to 200 thousand euro (about 8 million rubles).

Under the conditions of shifting to novel requirements for doing business transition period is provided for in regard to persons performing activity in the field of customs affairs. Customs brokers, carriers, owners of warehouses of temporary storage, customs storages and duty free shops, formed before coming into effect of the Customs Code of the Customs Union, have the right to perform activity in the field of customs affairs within 6 months from the Code’s coming into effect.

For the development of the Customs Code of the Customs Union the Implementation Plan on the Enactment of the Customs Code of the Customs Union prescribes to elaborate 16 international agreements of the states-members of the Customs Union (the Russian Federation is responsible for the development of 11 ones) and 17 decisions of the Commission of the Customs Union (the Russian FCS is responsible for the development of 10). In the Russian Federation the Russian FCS is the federal authority of executive power, responsible for providing implementation of the Plan (Commission of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 31.12.2009 № ИШ–П2– 7824).

The Customs Code of the Customs Union shifts to the international agreements regulation of the questions connected with free economic zones and free customs warehouses, conveyance across the customs border of goods for personal use as well as goods conveyed by pipelines and by transmission facilities, procedure of assessment of import and export customs duties, peculiarities of using vehicles of international transportation for internal conveyance, enrollment of items of intellectual property to the single register of the Customs Union etc.

Decisions of the Commission of the Customs Union besides questions of register activity, forms of customs documents and customs value will regulate procedure of customs expertise, procedure of introducing amendments and additions to the customs declaration, peculiarities of sending goods in the international mailing, several questions of applying customs procedures etc.

In the course of work on the preparation for the coming into effect of the Customs Code of the Customs Union questions have been elicited for the regulation of which it is indispensable to approve additional international agreements and decisions of the Commission of the Customs Union, which were not prescribed by the Implementation Plan on the Enactment of the Customs Code of the Customs Union. The examples are the regulation of the conveyance of goods and vehicles between Kalinigradskaya region and the rest of the customs territory of the Customs Union, as well as questions of changing terms of customs duties payments.

Consequently, projects of 18 international agreements and 25 decisions of the Commission of the Customs Union are developed.

Of all the developed international legal acts 8 international agreements of the states-members of the Customs Union were approved at the meeting of the Commission of the Customs Union on April 16, 2010 (decision of the Commission of the Customs Union dated April 16, 2010 №214). The other agreements and decisions of the Commission of the Customs Union are being finalized. Their consideration is planned for the next meeting of the Commission of the Customs Union on May 20, 2010.

Besides the development of the international normative legal base for the Customs Union active work is being held on the harmonization of the national legislation with the international agreements.

Project of the Federal Law On the Customs Regulation in the Russian Federation has been prepared and have passed the procedure of interdepartmental coordination. It is intended to replace the current Customs Code of the Russian Federation. In this draft there are regulations whose implementation is immediately shifted to the national legislation of the states-members of the Customs Union or not implied in the Code of the Three. 

Thus, the bill regulates questions concerning:

• system of customs authorities of the Russian Federation, their duties, competence and responsibility;
• procedure of appeal against the actions of the customs officers;
• informing and consulting;
• procedure of maintaining registers of persons performing activity in the field of customs affairs;
• computation, paying and recovery of customs duties;
• peculiarities of performing certain forms of customs control;
• disposal of goods, converted into federal property;
• peculiarities of customs declaration, customs procedures and conveyance of certain types of goods.

Besides the revising of the Customs Code of the Russian Federation work on matching the contractual legal framework of the Customs Union and the subordinate legislation and acts issued by the Russian FCS is being performed.

Thus, by July 1, 2010 the new system of normative legal regulation of customs legal relationships in the Russian Federation will have formed. It will consist of 6 stages: the Customs Code of the Customs Union, international agreements of the states-members of the Customs Union approved according to it and the decisions of the Commission of the Customs Union, the Federal Law On the Customs Regulation in the Russian Federation, subordinate normative legal acts of the Russian Federation and Federal Customs Service passed according to it.