Transparent streams

At the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on 26 December, an agreement on a unified system of customs transit between the Union and third parties was signed. Among them, the CIS states and trade partners of the EAEU clarified in the commission. The document defines the legal basis for concluding separate international agreements of EAEU with other states on the creation of a common transit system, which will allow participants in the transport process to accelerate the delivery of goods and reduce its cost to the consumer. «Thus, the transit potential of the union, which is 1/7 part of the land, will be increased, and it will be easier to create new transport and logistics corridors», - said Minister of Customs Cooperation of the Eurasian Economic Commission Ruslan Davydov.

To increase the volume of transit traffic, it is planned to introduce a single electronic transit declaration, ensure compliance with customs duties and taxes, apply special special simplifications, provided to the authorized economic operators of Union and third party states.

The document will increase the attractiveness of the EAEU for countries, some of which are already expressing interest in the possibility of joining the rail and road freight system with mandatory application of navigation seals, explained Ruslan Davydov.

Navigational seals are another major potential mechanism to increase transit. They are set by the customs service at the border and removed at the destination or crossing of the border (in this case a new navigation seal is applied). In each country of the union, authorized national operators control the transport through software complexes and information systems are linked. In Russia, the operator providing services of filling and tracking transit transport is appointed by JSC «Center for the development of digital platforms» (CDDP)», - reported in the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation. The Ministry of Transport of Russia is the authority responsible for applying navigational seals.

According to Ruslan Davydov, the seals are a source of big data about the carrier, route, place of delivery, goods in the cargo bay. «World practice shows that the more such information, the easier and more effective customs to organize a system of control and risk management, more accurately select objects for observation», he added.

The first electronic seal between Belarus and Russia was tested in 2020. Since April 2020, navigation seals have been used to control transit rail transport towards Europe - China via the Russian Federation when delivering food products subject to the customs transit procedure. «Such transports are carried out by JSC «RZD» in cooperation with the CQAL in transit services of JSC «PTC EPA», - said the head of the International Coordinating Council for Trans-Eurasian Transport (ITCC) project «Preservation and electronic seals», director of JSC «PTC EPA» on the interaction with state authorities and international organizations Larisa Korshunova.

According to her, the issues of practical implementation of the provisions of the agreement on the use of navigation seals for tracking in the Eurasian Economic Union, readiness to implement it in EAEU member states are discussed at the CCTP expert group «Preservation and electronic seals».

Agreement on the use of navigation seals for the tracking of road and rail freight transport in the Eurasian Economic Union was signed on 19 April 2022. Since then, inter-state work has been carried out to harmonize and approve documents. «In 2024 we adopted all the necessary acts that allow carrying out of transport with navigation seals. We hope that in 2025 this mechanism will work and will be a huge step forward to «transparency» of commodity flows», - said Ruslan Davydov.

According to the assessment of trade and logistics company Asia Import Group, many participants in the transport process are not yet aware of how exactly the innovation will work. It is not clear whether the need for such seals will be extended to transport only within the EAEU or also to transport from other countries to the Union. Many people don’t know what the charges for installing, using and removing devices will be.