Regional Trade Agreements in the ECE

KAZAKHSTAN RATIFIES EURASEC CUSTOMS UNION AGREEMENT

The Kazakh parliament has ratified an agreement on establishing a customs union within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Community (Eurasec), a spokesman for the upper house of parliament said on Tuesday.
The agreement on establishing the customs union was signed by the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan in Dushanbe, Tajikistan in October 2007.
"At a plenary meeting, the members of the Senate adopted the law 'On the ratification of the agreement on establishing a joint customs zone and forming a customs union'," the spokesman said.
The document is to be later signed by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
The three other members of Eurasec - Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan - will also be able to join the customs union.

THE 34th BOARD MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE HEADS OF CUSTOMS SERVICES ATTACHED TO THE INTEGRATION COMMITTEE OF THE EURASEC

On 14 May 2008, in Moscow, Andrei Belyaninov, the Chairman of the Board of the Heads of Customs Services, attached to the Integration Committee of the EurAsEC, conducted the 34th board meeting of the Council of the Heads of Customs Services, attached to the Integration Committee of the EurAsEC.
The participants of the meeting placed special emphasis on the two problems – approximation of customs law regulations and development of information and engineering systems, enabling customs administrations to maintain data exchange.
The participants gave special attention to discussion of implementation of priority directions of the development of the EurAsEC and the Customs Union, including the necessity of simultaneous development of the Customs Code of the Customs Union and the Outline of Customs Law of the EurAsEC.

EURASEC DEVELOPS 30 NEW DOCUMENTS ON BELARUS-RUSSIA-KAZAKHSTAN-CUSTOM UNION

The EurAsEC experts have been developing 30 new documents on setting up the Customs Union of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan, Yevgeny Vorsin, the Deputy General Secretary of the Eurasian Economic Community, told reporters after a session of the EurAsEC Integration Committee in Moscow on 23 April. According to him, these documents will help complete the formation of the Customs Union by 2010. The session considered nearly 30 issues of economic cooperation. The participants discussed draft agreements on the common approaches to apply IT in the EurAsEC customs surveillance, on common principles of information interaction between the EurAsEC customs services.

THE SUMMIT OF HEADS OF GOVERNMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES OF EURASEC TOOK PLACE IN MOSCON

The Intergovernmental Council of the EurAsian Economic Community (ЕurАsEС) took place in Moscow on 25 January 2008. The Prime Ministers of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia have signed 9 agreements during this meeting. Among the accepted documents, there are agreements about common customs-tariff regulation, about definition of customs duty of the goods, about carrying out of the coordinated policy in the field of technical regulation, sanitary and phytosanitory measures.

KYRGYZ PREMIER DISCUSSES NEW REGIONAL CUSTOMS UNION IN MOSCOW

Prime Minister Igor Chudinov on 26 January 2008 concluded an official two-day visit to Russia, after participating in a Moscow summit meeting of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC), AKIpress reported. Chudinov joined his counterparts from Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus on 25 January to discuss the terms of a draft agreement to create a new customs union agreement. The customs agreement, which follows a series of negotiations between the presidents of the EurAsEC Member states in 2006, is to "abolish artificial obstacles" to the movement of "people and goods" and seeks to foster eased transit and migration. Following an initial agreement among Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia to sign the agreement, the organization now plans on launching talks with the three remaining EurAsEC members - Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan - for their subsequent ratification.

PUTIN SIGNS LAW RATIFYING AGREEMENT ON EURASEC EXPORT CONTROL

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the federal law ratifying the agreement on the uniform procedure of export control of member states of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC). The law was passed by the State Duma, the lower house of parliament on 7 November and approved by the Federation Council, the upper house on 16 November. The law ratifies the EurAsEC agreement on export control signed in Moscow on 28 October 2003, which introduces the uniform order of export control in foreign economic activities in the territory of the EurAsEC states.