Beltamozhservice, Russia’s Arsenal to set up guaranteeing association

NOVOPOLOTSK, 12 February (BelTA) – An agreement on the establishment of a joint guaranteeing association has been signed by Beltamozhservice and Russian insurance company Arsenal, BelTA has learnt.

The document was signed in Novopolotsk during the 10th session of the joint board of the customs services of the Customs Union member states on 12 February.

“The integration between the customs services has been gaining momentum, which has an impact on their control functions. One of these functions is to monitor the movement of goods and the payment of customs duties. At present, we act as a national guaranteeing agency on the territory of the Customs Union, which is in compliance with the Customs Code of the Customs Union. We boosted our capacities to the level when our guarantees are valid throughout the entire Customs Union. At some moment we decided to consider the establishment of a guaranteeing system that will be alternative to those systems that have been used for many years. The new association will allow creating an absolutely transparent system that will be cost-effective for our road haulers and will meet the requirements of our customs services in terms of risk management,” Director General of Beltamozhservice Yuri Korol said. In his words, the first stage of the project involves integration of technologies, software products, and pricing mechanisms. The second stage provides for the establishment of the single guaranteeing association as such.

Taking part in the joint session were customs chiefs of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. The head of the customs service of Armenia and representatives of the customs services of Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine attended the session as observers.

The participants of the session discussed communication between the customs services, the ways to improve customs procedures for goods purchased by individuals in internet stores and delivered to them by the companies providing expedited shipping service, development of single approaches to the classification of goods using the Customs Union single commodity classification, and other matters.

The decisions adopted at the session will strengthen cooperation between the customs services of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia and improve customs administration in respect of goods crossing the customs border of the Customs Union.

The participants of the session also signed a protocol to invalidate the Belarus-Russia intergovernmental agreement on the transit of goods between the customs services of the two countries as of 29 June 2007. The protocol was drafted by the parties following the inventory of the bilateral international agreements. After the Customs Code of the Customs Union came into force, the provisions of the abovementioned agreement were not applied.