Import duties

The application of import customs duties on imported goods is one of the main instruments of trade policy for any state.

For goods imported into the Republic of Belarus from third countries, the import duty rates of the Common Customs Tariff of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU CCT), approved by Decision No. 80 of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission dated September 14, 2021, are applied. 

The customs tariff is understood as a list of customs duty rates, arranged in accordance with the commodity nomenclature used for the classification of goods in foreign trade.

The main objectives goals of the EAEU CCT are:

— ensuring conditions for the effective integration of the EAEU into the global economy;

— streamlining the commodity structure of goods imported into the customs territory of the EAEU;

— maintaining a reasonable balance between the export and import of goods on the customs territory of the EAEU;

— enabling conditions for progressive changes in the structure of production and consumption of goods within the EAEU;

— supporting various economic sectors of the EAEU.

In the EAEU member states, as in most other countries of the world, the CCT is structured in accordance with the principles of tariff escalation and effective tariff protection. In practice, this is expressed in setting lower duty rates on raw materials and higher rates on finished goods and highly processed products. 

Thus, incentives are created primarily for the import of necessary raw materials and components. At the same time, tariff protection is increased with respect to finished goods and highly processed products, which creates incentives for the development of the manufacturing industry within the EAEU member states.

The EAEU CCT applies the following types of import customs duty rates:

— ad valorem – calculated as a percentage of the customs value of the imported goods;

— specific – calculated per unit of the imported goods;

— combined – combining both of the above types.

The import duty rates of the EAEU CCT are applied to goods imported into the common customs territory of the EAEU member states and originating from any country (including those of undetermined origin), except in cases where tariff preferences are granted, as well as in cases where the free trade regime applies.

Tariff quotas

In regulating the import of agricultural goods originating from third countries into the common customs territory of the EAEU member states, the provision of tariff quotas for their import is permitted, provided that similar goods are produced (extracted, grown) on the common customs territory in insufficient quantities.

For the said agricultural goods imported into the common customs territory, different import customs duty rates are applied in accordance with the EAEU CCT, depending on whether the import is within the established quantity (quota) or outside such quota.

The conditions and mechanism for the application of tariff quotas are defined in Section III of Annex No. 6 to the Treaty on the EAEU. Information on the distribution of tariff quotas in the EAEU can be found here.

In the Republic of Belarus, the allocation of tariff quotas is carried out based on decisions of the Government of the Republic of Belarus: for poultry and pork, by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food; and for rice from Viet Nam and certain types of goods from Iran and Serbia, by the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade.