Trade union for Russian producers’ sake?



All automobilists already know what they should expect from the Customs union and how much more expensive would it become to renew their “park”. But it appeared that those who’d like to renew their “park of household appliances” with the appliances of world-known brands will only win a game after our country becomes a participant of this union. This became known after the talk of the reporter of www.Euramost.org and the head assistant of Vitebsk customs Evgeny SERGEEV.

Recently in the interview of www.Euramost.org and the well-known Belarusian economist Leonid Zaiko, the expert said that on the territory of the Customs union of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan there will be artificial disturbances created on the way of foreign goods. First, it will consider those goods which are produced at least in one country of the newly-formed union. And first of all it is household appliances: TV sets, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners of well-known brands and so on. The point is that the main part of these manufacture giants have created their assembly-shops in Russia, for example. So it comes that firstly they will be delivered from this area. And what is more interesting, supposedly, foreign appliances will become less expensive. But a proviso that all appliances will be of Russian fitting. The reporter of www.Euramost.org asked the head assistant of Vitebsk customs Evgeny Sergeev on what conditions do trucks with foreign TV sets of Russian fitting, for example, get in Belarus?
-- Do they pay any custom duty or something of the kind?
-- If it’s Russian goods or in this case goods of Russian fitting, they don’t pay any custom duty to the Belarusian side.
-- So in this situation nothing changes with the introduction of the Customs union?
-- Practically, nothing changes. As I see it, the only thing that will change is that there won’t be any custom officers; they won’t register those who cross Belarusian-Russian border. Even if it deals with trucks it means that they will spend less time on crossing the border between our countries. There still will be road service there but there won’t be customs any more – it’s a Customs union after all! And maybe there even won’t be any road service. I don’t know about them for sure.
-- Please, tell us something. Today in Russia not only refrigerator and TV sets are fitted, but also cars. What will be the situation with the cars? I mean the questions of customs clearance – if someone drives a car from Germany, there is a great fee of customs clearance…
-- It’s the same as with TV sets! If they are goods of Russian production, there isn’t any customs clearance. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry gives certificates there. And if there is a certificate given to the producer, so the goods will be considered Russian.
But there can be such fitting which doesn’t change the origin of goods. It means that if almost everything is Chinese, so the production will be considered Chinese.
P.S. So it comes out that if Russia as Leonid Zaiko forecasts provides great means for the support of native producer form the one side and with the help of Customs union artificially creates barriers on the way of foreign goods from Europe we will buy only Russian “Panasonics” and “Philipses”. But supposedly they will be cheaper than Japanese or Taiwanese. But what future do our “Horizont” and “Atlant” have? Not a gaudy lot…
Dmitry KRAMCHUK