In compliance with the order of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission dated April 5, 2021 No. 7 the state revenue authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan are conducting an experiment (pilot project) in the field of foreign e-commerce, DKNews.kz reports.
The experiment is carried out in accordance with Chapter 45-1 of the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On customs regulation in the Republic of Kazakhstan” and the order of the Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated July 4, 2023 No. 739 “On determining the peculiarities of customs declaration, category of goods, region of implementation of the experiment in the field of foreign e-commerce conducted in the Republic of Kazakhstan and application of the notification procedure for compliance with technical regulations in relation to the goods of foreign e-commerce”.
The purpose of the experiment is to introduce customs declaration of goods purchased by individuals via Internet on foreign internet-sites (online stores) and imported into the Republic of Kazakhstan as international mail or express cargo by
E-commerce Operators (hereinafter referred to as the “Operator”).
As part of the experiment, two ways of purchasing e-commerce goods by individuals and customs declaring of such goods will be tested:
- within the frames of “direct delivery” - when an individual purchases goods abroad via Internet and their delivery is carried out directly from the sender to the recipient by postal parcel or as express cargo (standard way). In this case the customs declaration of such goods is carried out by the Operator.
- within the frames of “delivery of goods from the Operator's warehouse” - when Operators import a commercial batch of e-commerce goods into the customs territory and place them in their own or rented warehouse (storage period - 3 years) on a contractual basis (with an internet (online) site or a manufacturer of goods) under the customs procedure of customs warehouse. When an individual purchases goods through a foreign online store such goods can be sold to him from the Operator’s warehouse. This way allows to speed up the delivery of goods to the recipient and significantly reduce the time of delivery. The Operator, by the 15th day of the next month, closes the customs procedure of customs warehouse by releasing the goods for domestic consumption, with payment of taxes and customs duties at the rates of the EAEU common customs tariff.
Both ways of purchasing e-commerce goods will allow to carry out their customs declaration by the Operator and the individual – buyer of the goods will receive his/her goods already “cleared” in customs terms.
The experiment is planned to be carried out before the amendments to the EAEU Customs Code and the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Customs Regulation in the Republic of Kazakhstan” on the regulation of foreign e-commerce come into force.
The national postal operator - «Kazpost» JSC was identified as the first e-commerce Operator within the frames of the corresponding experiment in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
