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On the eve of joining the EAEU, the Law on Customs Regulation was urgently adopted in 2014. The experience has shown that there are problematic episodes in this sphere. The new Customs Code of the Customs Union was adopted after that, which revised the scope of issues to be regulated by the national legislation and gave new powers. In order to ensure the realization of all these, a new bill on Customs Regulation was drafted, aimed at improving the environment of participants in foreign economic activity and reducing the resources that they spend on customs. The RA Minister of Finance Arman Poghosyan noted about this, presenting the package of bills on Customs Regulation and the related ones at the NA sitting convened on June 14.

The new regulations propose to make the communication of economic entities and customs bodies implementing export and import electronic in all possible directions. In order to have a more predictable customs environment, it is proposed to reserve the power for the Government to make decisions based on the package of preliminary documents submitted by the economic entity, that which method for determining customs value should be used. According to the Deputy Minister, this is important because the size of the customs duty calculation base often depends on the choice of the method for determining the customs value.

It is proposed to introduce a system of prepayments for the customs payments. This will also create comfortable conditions for customs bodies and economic entities. The latter will manage their accounts with remote effective toolkits. It is suggested to liberalize the system of clearing between the customs payments. The rate of the penalty for late payment of customs duties will be reduced. The penalty calculation period will be extended to 730 days instead of the current 365 days.

According to Arman Poghosyan, the introduction of a system of customs desk studies is an important direction. This will allow the customs body to carry out relevant investigations before the start of the customs check and to offer the declarants to eliminate the violations in case of their detection.

At the request of the deputies Hayk Tsirunyan and Arusyak Julhakyan, the Deputy Minister added some details. He clarified that the institute of the customs representative will be improved. The latter should be more reliable for the customs body, more attractive in terms of providing services to economic entities. Hakob Arshakyan, the NA Vice President, inquired what opportunities will give the new regulations to the exporter and importer. The Deputy Minister noted that the economic entities will be given a tool to support them, as they often bring investment goods, and the investment goods are mainly exempt from the customs payments. According to Arman Poghosyan, the deadlines set by the current legislation are often not enough to solve the logistical problems and to be able to import the whole cargo in parts. The extension of the deadline up to 6 years significantly expands this possibility.

Aleksey Sandikov informed about the endorsement of the NA Standing Committee on Regional and Eurasian Integration.