WRITTEN QUESTION E-2301/98

by Marjo Matikainen-Kallström (PPE) to the Commission

(22 July 1998)

Subject: Russian customs legislation

The development of transport and travel in Russia is still hampered by the fact that it has not been possible to harmonize the country's customs legislation with EU regulations.

What does the Commission propose to do to put pressure on the Russian authorities to speed up the work of harmonization and arrive at a decision as soon as possible?

Answer given by Mr Van den Broek on behalf of the Commission

(18 September 1998)

Customs co-operation in an important element of the relations of the Community with Russia. During a wide-ranging meeting between the President of the Commission and the Russian Prime Minister in July 1997, a joint statement on Customs co-operation was agreed. More recently, on 15 July 1998, the first sub-committee to meet, in the framework of the partnership and co-operation agreement with Russia, was dedicated to customs issues.

A few examples of practical achievements of this co-operation are:

- the Russian customs code approximates the Community model;

- close co-operation, including joint controls at selected border crossings, between Finland and Russia at their common borders has been the direct result of a Tacis twinning programme between Lappeenranta and Vyborg customs administrations;

- red and green channelling at Moscow's international airport, and other less visible improvements, to assist the speedy clearance of passenger traffic, as a result of the Tacis customs twinning programme with London airports;

- improvements in the rate of fraud detection through support to the central customs laboratory; etc.

Furthermore, the Commission has put considerable pressure on Russian customs to withdraw measures intended to suspend the use of international carriage of goods by road (TIR) carnets for certain categories of goods in its territory, which if introduced would hamper Community-Russian trade enormously.

Approximation of customs legislation to standards required by the World trade organisation (WTO) agreement comprises an important element in the process of Russia's accession to the WTO. The Commission is cooperating with the Russian administration to ensure the earliest possible alignment to WTO norms.

While there remains much work in preparation of secondary legislation in the customs field, many of the difficulties in the development of transport and travel in Russia, which relate to customs issues, are more linked to the effective application of existing legislation, and in particular the application of risk analysis techniques, rather than blanket controls. Several activities are under way or scheduled, ranging from work at specific border crossings, to support to the training of staff, which has increased spectacularly from some 2 000 for the whole of the Soviet Union in the late 1980's to approximately 55 000 for the Russian Federation today.

The Commission will maintain its support to the customs services in Russia, with a primary objective to facilitate trade, which of course includes tourism. It recognises, however, that, since the Russian customs committee is a major contributor to the national revenue (over 30 %) the Russian government is reluctant to make changes without considering their impact carefully.