CUSTOMS REGULATIONS

International Cooperation

Kazakhstan's international cooperation in the customs domain covers, mainly, its membership in the Commonwealth of Independent States (the CIS) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) which replaced the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC).

Until recently (1 January 2015), the Republic of Belarus, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russian Federation and Republic of Tajikistan had the Agreement on Establishment of the Eurasian Economic Community (signed on 10 October 2000), the main goal of which was to effectively promote the establishment of the Customs Union and Single Economic Area.

The Customs Union united 3 states (i.e. Republic of Belarus, Republic of Kazakhstan and Russian Federation) which ratified the Agreement for Creation of a Single Customs Territory and Establishment of the Customs Union of 6 October 2007.  The Customs Union is a form of trade and economic integration between the EAEU member states within a single customs territory in which mutual trading transactions are exempt from customs duties and other similar duties, taxes and charges, non-tariff regulatory measures, and special safeguard, anti-dumping and compensation measures, but are subject to the EAEU Uniform Customs Tariff and unified regulatory measures in relation to third countries,

On 29 May 2014, the Member States of the Customs Union signed the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU Treaty) which entered into force on 1 January 2015.  On 2 January 2015, the Republic of Armenia acceded to the EAEU and, on 12 August 2015, the Kyrgyz Republic officially acceded to the EAEU.  Besides, on 10 October 2014, the Republic of Belarus, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russian Federation and Republic of Tajikistan signed the Agreement on the Termination of the EurAsEc effective as of 1 January 2015.

The EAEU is an international organisation having international personality and striving for maximum possible regional economic integration.  The EAEU ensures the free movement of goods, services, capital and workforce within its territory, as well as the pursuance of well-coordinated, harmonized and unified policy in relation to the economic sectors determined by the Treaty on the EAEU and other  international treaties applicable to the EAEU.

The EAEU has the following bodies:

– the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council – the supreme body of the EAEU consisting of the heads of the EAEU Member States or the heads of governments of the EAEU Member States, if vested by their national laws with the power to make decisions with regard to the matters reserved to the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council;

– the Eurasian Intergovernmental Economic Council – the body consisting of the heads of the Member States’ governments whose mission is to resolve pressing matters arising in the course of the EAEU activities;

– the Eurasian Economic Commission – the permanent supranational regulatory body of the EAEU comprising the Council and the Board of the Commission.  The main objective of the Commission is to ensure favourable environment for the EAEU operation and development, and to elaborate proposals for economic integration within the EAEU; and

– the Court of the Eurasian Economic Union – the permanent judicial body of the EAEU called to consistently enforce the Treaty on the EAEU and other international treaties applicable to the EAEU, international treaties between EAEU Member States, international treaties between the EAEU and third parties, and resolutions of the EAEU bodies.

The customs union of the EAEU Member States:

-    has an internal commodity market;

-    applies the EAEU Single Customs Tariff and other unified measures for the regulation of external trade with third parties;

-    applies the uniform treatment to commodity trade with third parties;

-    applies unified customs regulations; and

-    ensures the free movement of commodities between the EAEU Member States without customs declaration and public control (transportation, sanitary, veterinary-sanitary, quarantine and phytosanitary), unless otherwise provided for by the Treaty on the EAEU.

The unified customs regulations of the EAEU comply with the Customs Code of the EAEU (effective since 1 January 2018), international treaties, the Treaty on the EAEU and other acts regulating customs issues. 

Since 1 January 2022, the customs territory of the EAEU applies the Unified Commodity Nomenclature of Foreign Economic Activity of the EAEU (CN FEA EAEU) and the Single Customs Tariff of the EAEU (SCT EAEU) adopted by the Resolution of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission of 14 September 2021.

Customs Procedures

As at 1 April 2022, the Customs Code of the EAEU provides for 17 types of customs clearance procedures depending on the purpose of commodity stay and usage in the EAEU customs territory, export from the EAEU customs territory and/or stay and usage outside the EAEU customs territory, in particular:

1)  release for domestic consumption;

2)  export;

3)  customs transit;

4)  bonded warehousing;

5)  inward processing within the customs territory;

6)  outward processing outside the customs territory;

7)  processing for domestic consumption;

8)  free customs zone;

9)  free warehousing;

10)     temporary import (admission);

11)     temporary export;

12)     re-import;

13)     re-export;

14)     duty free trade;

15)     destruction;

16)     abandonment of goods in favour of the State; and

17)     special customs procedure.

Goods moved across the customs border of the EAEU are subject to mandatory customs clearance under one of the aforementioned procedures.  As mentioned above, goods moved within the customs territories of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia are not subject to customs clearance.

Subject to the Treaty on the EAEU, the terms and conditions for setup and operation of free/special economic zones are determined by international treaties applicable to the EAEU.  Since, under the Treaty on the EAEU, the international treaties of the EAEU Member States intended for the formation of the regulatory legal framework of the Customs Union and the Single Economic Space effective on the date of its enactment are included in the EAEU law and are applied to the extent compliant with the Treaty on the EAEU, such customs procedure as “free economic zone” is also regulated by the Agreement Concerning the Free/Special Economic Zones within the Customs Territory of the Customs Union and Customs Procedures of the Free Customs Zone (Saint-Petersburg, 18 June 2010).  Subject to the aforementioned Agreement, the procedure for setup, as well as the terms and conditions for operation of a free economic zone in a Member State of the Customs Union (EAEU) is determined by the national legislation of such Member State.

In December 2020, the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council determined the Strategic Directions for Developing the Eurasian Economic Integration until 2025.

On 3 April 2019, Kazakhstan adopted new Law On Special Economic and Industrial Zones No. 242-VI which regulates the matters related to setup, operation and termination of special economic and industrial zones within the Republic of Kazakhstan.  A decision on establishment of a special economic zone is made by the Kazakhstan Government.[1]  

As at 1 April 2022, the following 13 special economic zones are operating in the Republic of Kazakhstan:

1) Aktau Seaport Special Economic Zone (operates within the territory of the commercial harbour and partially within the administrative boundaries of the city of Aktau and Munaily Region in the Mangistau Oblast) – effective until 1 January 2028;

2) Innovation Technologies Park Special Economic Zone (operates within the territory of the Alatau village of the Medeu District of the city of Almaty and adjacent territories of the Almaty Oblast) – effective until 1 January 2028;

3) Ontustik Special Economic Zone (operates within the territory of the Sairam District of the Turkestan Oblast) – effective until 1 July 2030;

4) New City of Astana Special Economic Zone (operates within the administrative borders of the city of Nur-Sultan, including Industrial Park 1, the urban light rail system and local executive authorities) – effective until 2027;

5) National Industrial Petrochemical Technology Park Special Economic Zone (operates within the territory of the Atyrau Oblast) – effective until 31 December 2032;

6) Pavlodar Special Economic Zone (operates within the territory of the North Industrial District of the city of Pavlodar) – effective until 1 December 2036;

7) Khorgos – Eastern Gate Special Economic Zone (operates within the territory of the Almaty Oblast) – effective until 2035;

8) Saryarka Special Economic Zone (operates within the territory of the Karaganda city and adjacent land of the Bukhar-Zhyrau District of the Karaganda Oblast) – effective until 1 December 2036;

9) Taraz Chemical Park Special Economic Zone (operates in Shuski District, Zhambyl Oblast) – effective until 1 January 2037;

10)      Khorgos International Centre for Boundary Cooperation Special Economic Zone (operates in Panfilov Region of the Almaty Oblast) – effective until 2041;

11) Astana-Technopolis Special Economic Zone (operates in Nur-Sultan City) – effective until 2042;

12) TURKISTAN Special Economic Zone (operates within the boundaries of the Turkestan Oblast) – effective until 2043; and

13) QYZYLJAR Special Economic Zone (operates within the boundaries of the city of Petropavlovsk) – lifetime is not determined – effective until 2044.

Goods are placed and used within the boundaries of a free economic zone free from customs duties and taxes and from non-tariff regulation measures applicable to foreign goods, and free from prohibitions and restrictions applicable to the goods of the EAEU.

In the nearest future the companies incorporated in the Kazakhstan SEZs intend to implement 142 projects for the total value of 3 bln tenge and to create over 10,000 permanent jobs.[2]

Export Control

To ensure national security, to strengthen the regime of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, to promote the formation of stable and safe system of international relations, to strengthen international security and stability, and to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, the Republic of Kazakhstan monitors and controls exports of certain classes of products.

Pursuant to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan On Export Control of 21 July 2007, export control requirements are applied to the following types of products:

1) conventional weapons and military equipment, raw materials, supplies, special equipment and technologies, and works and services related to their production;

2)  nuclear and special non-nuclear materials, equipment, installations, technologies, sources of ionizing radiation, dual purpose (use) equipment and related goods and technologies, and work and services related to their production;

3)  dual purpose (use) chemicals, goods and technologies that may be used in production of chemical weapons included in the lists determined under international export control regimes;

4)  pathogenic agents, their genetically modified forms and fragments of genetic material that may be used in production of bacteriological (biological) and toxin weapons included in the lists determined under international export control regimes;

5)  missilery, engines and components thereof, equipment, materials and technologies used in production of missilery included into the lists determined under international export control regimes;

6)  mass destruction weapons; and

7)  scientific and technical information, services and results of intellectual creative activity related to military products, and dual purpose (use) goods and technologies.

The nomenclature (list) of products subject to export control is determined by the Kazakhstan Government. 

The products subject to export control may be exported or imported subject to a license issued by the competent authority (the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan).

State revenue authorities monitor the movement of products subject to export control across the State Border of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan’s WTO Accession

On 30 November 2015, after almost twenty years of negotiations, the Republic of Kazakhstan was officially accepted as member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).  The deed of accession to the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization of 15 April 1994 was signed in Geneva on 27 July 2015 and ratified by the Kazakhstan Parliament on 12 October 2015.

The WTO is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between its member states.  Its functions include the following:

·      monitoring the members’ compliance with trade agreements incorporated into the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization as annexes which are binding upon the respective WTO members;

·      reviewing trade policies adopted by the WTO members;

·      administering the rules and processes related to dispute settlement;

·      serving as a forum for trade negotiations between the WTO members; and

·      cooperating with the International Monetary Fund and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The WTO was founded on the basis of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) signed on 30 October 1947 and is a legal successor of the latter.  The fundamental GATT/WTO principles and rules include the following:

·      most-favoured-nation (MFN): treating other people equally;

·      national treatment: treating foreigners and locals equally;

·      regulation of trade by tariff means;

·      general elimination of qualitative and other restrictions;

·      predictability: through binding and transparency;

·      transparency of trade policies; and

·      settlement of trade disputes through direct negotiations and consultations.

The Kazakhstan’s accession to the WTO implies better access of Kazakhstan goods and services to global markets.