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23 Aug 2024 Meeting between EEC and Kazakh business: focus on improving business environment On August 23 in Almaty, Ernar Bakenov, Director of the Eurasian Economic Commission's Business Development Department, attended a meeting with the business community held at the regional office of the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In his speech, Ernar Bakenov informed the business community representatives about the possibilities of their participation in assessing the impact of regulation within the Eurasian Economic Union on the business environment, including the “new”, introduced this year, procedures for assessing the actual impact of the EEC decisions and regulatory impact assessment of draft international treaties. “In 2023, 747 proposals on the Commission's draft acts were received from the business community during the RIA procedure. More than half of them were taken into account in finalizing the drafts, and the share of positive FIA determinations reached 98%. On the one hand, these figures show a high degree of involvement of the business community in the EEC decision-making, and on the other hand they show the Commission's regulatory “flexibility” and openness,” the speaker noted. Besides, the Commission's representative reported on the measures taken to ensure the efficiency of the Union's internal market functioning, as well as on the positive dynamics of indicators confirming the positive impact of the Eurasian economic integration processes on the business development. Ernar Bakenov presented information on the results of resolving specific issues previously raised by the business community of Kazakhstan, as well as on the progress made in resolving the part of the current issues that are still being worked out. The EEC representatives also answered the questions of Kazakh entrepreneurs and took the concerns raised by them for consideration.
03 Jul 2024 Ernar Bakenov appointed Director of EEC Business Development Department Ernar Bakenov was born in 1974 in Karaganda (Kazakhstan). He is a graduate of Karaganda State University holding a degree in economics. Ernar Bakenov started his career in 1996 in a Halyk Bank branch in the Leninsky District of Karaganda. From 1997 to 2007, he worked for customs authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Kostanay and Karaganda serving as the Head of the Customs Clearance Department of the Customs Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan. From 2008 to 2012, he was Chief Expert, Deputy Department Director and Department Director of the Center for Trade Policy Development, JSC. From June 2012 to April 2017, Ernar Bakenov served as Director of the Department of International Economic Integration of the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan. From April to September 2017, he was Vice-Minister of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan. From June 2018 to January 2023, he served as Assistant Member of the Board on Competition and Antitrust Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Commission. From February 2023 to April 2024, he was Director of the Business Development Department of the Eurasian Economic Commission. On July 1, 2024, he was reappointed to the position of Director of the EEC Business Development Department.
03 Jul 2024 EEC and UN Commission on International Trade Law enhance cooperation Bakhyt Sultanov, Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy of the Eurasian Economic Commission, took part in the session of the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), held from June 24 to July 12 at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The session attendees discussed draft charters of the advisory center for settlement of international investment disputes, as well as guidelines on prevention and mitigation of international investment disputes. During the visit, the EEC Minister held a meeting with Anna Joubin-Bret, Secretary of UNCITRAL, and Jae Sung Lee, Secretary of UNCITRAL Working Group III “Reform of Investor-State Dispute Settlement”. They discussed some issues of reforming the Investor-State dispute settlement system, as well as the establishment of an advisory center for settlement of international investment disputes. “We consider the possibility of joining as a regional economic integration organization to the work of the advisory center in case of its establishment and with the interest of all the EAEU States and UNCITRAL,” Bakhyt Sultanov noted. Furthermore, the EEC Minister and the UNCITRAL Secretary agreed to formalize the existing and emerging relations in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organizations. At the end of the meeting Bakhyt Sultanov and Anna Joubin-Bret confirmed their readiness to further extend cooperation between the EEC and UNCITRAL. The parties have reached an arrangement to hold regular consultations to discuss issues of interest, including those on the agenda of UNCITRAL Working Groups and the EEC advisory bodies.  The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is the principal organ of the UN system in the field of international trade law. UNCITRAL is engaged in preparing statutory instruments in a number of areas such as international contractual practice, shipping documents, insolvency, electronic commerce, and dispute settlement, including Investor-State disputes.
03 Jun 2024 EEC outlined main directions for protecting intellectual property rights During the conference “Intellectual Property: Development Trends, Practice, Challenges and Solutions”, held at the venue of the Association of European Businesses in Russia, Nurzhamal Ilyasova, Deputy Director of the Eurasian Economic Commission's Business Development Department, informed on the key events in the field of intellectual property in the Eurasian Economic Union. “Efficient protection of intellectual property rights is one of the main factors affecting the economic growth, first of all its creative and innovative spheres,” Nurzhamal Ilyasova noted. The EEC representative informed on the work on improving the legislation in the field of intellectual property, noting that the issues of customs control of goods containing intellectual property are a constant topic of discussion at the Commission. According to Nurzhamal Ilyasova, the priority directions include the work on creating business-oriented online search services of industrial properties protected in the EAEU countries, as well as the formation of supranational regulation for protecting intellectual property rights in the Internet, and enactment of the common customs registry of intellectual properties. Furthermore, Nurzhamal Ilyasova informed the conference attendees on the EEC's activities to prepare a plan for implementing the Declaration on further development of economic processes within the Eurasian Economic Union until 2030 and for the period until 2045 “The Eurasian Economic Path”, which involves the inclusion of activities, including in the field of intellectual property. Association of European Businesses (AEB) is the main representative body of foreign investors in the Russian Federation. Founded in 1995, the AEB is an independent non-profit organization of over 380 European and Russian companies. The AEB comprises 65 committees and working groups that lobby on a wide range of issues in various businesses, including intellectual property.
29 May 2024 EAEU approved single indicative rate of excise duties on tobacco products On May 29, the decision of the Eurasian Economic Commission's Council approved the level of a single indicative rate of excise duties on tobacco products (filtered cigarettes) in the Eurasian Economic Union States for 2029. The indicator is set at 45 euros per 1,000 pieces with an allowable range of deviation from it of actual excise rates by no more than 20% upward or downward. For comparison, the rate for 2024 was set at 35 euros per 1,000 pieces with a similar range of deviation. The harmonized rates are stipulated by the Agreement on the principles of tax policy in the field of excise duties on tobacco products of the EAEU States and are implemented through establishing a five-year period for achieving the level of the single indicative excise duty rate (SIEDR) on tobacco products sold in the territories of the Eurasian “five” countries. According to Bakhyt Sultanov, EEC Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy, the need to increase the SIEDR level in 2029 from 35 to 45 euros per 1,000 pieces is due to the risks of the shadow market growth and the volume of counterfeit products in connection with a significant increase in excise duties on tobacco products in a number of the Union countries and its “spillover” to the territories of the EAEU States with higher tax rates of excise duties. “This indicator serves as a benchmark for public authorities planning excise duties on filtered cigarettes for a five-year period, as well as for tobacco product manufacturers planning their financial and economic activity. In the absence of significant fluctuations in the exchange rates of national currencies against the euro, all the EAEU States will reach the established SIEDR level in 2024", Bakhyt Sultanov commented on the news.  
25 Apr 2024 Bakytzhan Sagintayev: “Strengthening entrepreneurship interaction is major priority of Eurasian integration” Bakytzhan Sagintayev, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, took part in the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE) held in Moscow on April 25.  Welcoming the participants of the event, Bakytzhan Sagintayev noted the important role RUIE plays in the practical implementation of the priority direction of Eurasian integration – establishing a dialogue between the business communities of the Eurasian Economic Union States.  In his speech, the Chairman of the EEC Board focused on approaches to stimulating entrepreneurship within the EAEU. In particular, Bakytzhan Sagintayev reported on the current formats of interaction between the Commission and the business community of the countries participating in the association. To improve the business climate within the EAEU space, the impact of supranational regulation on business conditions is being assessed, the legal framework is constantly being improved, and obstacles to mutual trade are being eliminated. Speaking about the mechanisms to promote the business activity growth within the EAEU space, the Chairman of the EEC Board dwelt in detail on the financing of industrial cooperation projects. This year, about 1.8 billion rubles have been allocated for these purposes. Bakytzhan Sagintayev called on the business community to become more actively involved in this program, emphasizing that establishing close cooperation ties for manufacture of competitive and export-oriented products that meet advanced international standards will contribute to accelerated technological development and strengthening the EAEU position on the world stage. “In general, the Commission’ activities focus on creating conditions for the entrepreneurs from our countries to most efficiently use the EAEU’s integration potential. We are interested in further expanding cooperation with businesses,” Bakytzhan Sagintayev summed up.  
19 Mar 2024 Bakhyt Sultanov, "The share of positive assessments of the impact of draft EEC decisions on the business environment has reached the maximum level" The Eurasian Economic Commission's Board considered the annual report on monitoring the regulatory impact assessment (RIA) with regard to the Commission’s draft decisions in 2023. On average, there are more than 14 business proposals per draft decision. This confirms the real demand for the RIA procedure by the business community of the EAEU countries. "The share of positive opinions on RIA reached 98% – this is the highest level for the period of monitoring since 2015, which confirms the overall focus of the Commission's regulatory activity on improving the business environment," said Bakhyt Sultanov, EEC Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy. The report also provides information on the readiness of the regulatory framework for the implementation of the actual impact assessment (AIA) of the adopted EEC decisions, as well as for the extension of AIA to draft international treaties within the Union. These procedures started to apply in March 2024. The annual RIA monitoring report will be submitted to the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission and subsequently presented to the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council for approval. For reference RIA is the procedure for assessing the impact of draft EEC decisions on the business environment. It takes into account the position of businesses of the EAEU countries. The RIA procedure consists of two stages: current assessment, i.e. public discussion of the EEC's draft decision on the Union's website for at least 30 calendar days and final assessment, i.e. preparation of the RIA statement by a specially created Working Group of the EEC. 
14 Mar 2024 Bakhyt Sultanov: " The EEC activity is aimed at continuous improvement of the EAEU business environment" On March 14 in Moscow, Bakhyt Sultanov, Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy of the Eurasian Economic Commission, spoke at the plenary session of the 10th American Chamber of Commerce Conference on the Eurasian Economic Integration. The Minister informed entrepreneurs and investors about the tools of interaction between the Commission and the business community, improvement of the contractual and legal framework of the Eurasian Economic Union, identification and removal of obstacles in mutual trade, development of investment and cooperation, expanded sectoral coverage of the single market of services, and approaches to establishing the EAEU common financial market. Bakhyt Sultanov made an emphasis on the Commission's new real tool available from this year – financial promotion of industrial cooperation projects. In this regard, the EEC Minister invited entrepreneurs to be more active in initiating projects and applying for support measures. "The Commission aims to create better conditions for doing business through the development of integration processes in the Eurasian space. We are interested in further expansion of dialogue with the business community, and joint elaboration of issues of interest to representatives of business circles," Bakhyt Sultanov noted. Within the discussion part of the conference, Ernar Bakenov, Director of the EEC Business Development Department, answered questions from the representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce regarding doing business in the EAEU

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