The meeting of the Subcommittee on Customs Cooperation and Trade Facilitation of the Eurasian Economic Commission and the Eurasian Economic Union countries, on the one part, and the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, on the other part, considered relevant matters of interaction.
This entailed the development of digital (intellectual) customs and introduction of promising customs technologies, the "single window" mechanism, improving the "authorized economic operator" concept, electronic customs transit, as well as implementing the "Eurasian Agroexpress" project.
On behalf of the Union and its Member States, the meeting was chaired by Sergei Vladimirov, Director of the EEC Department of Customs Legislation and Law Enforcement Practice.
"Developing a dialogue with the Chinese partners is a relevant area of work within implementing the Main Directions of the Union's international activities," Sergei Vladimirov noted. In his opinion, the exchange of experience with the PRC on various issues of customs administration, including the use of advanced customs technologies, is an important aspect of successful customs cooperation.
The legal basis for organizing interaction between the Union and the PRC Customs Service is the Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation dated May 17, 2018, Chapter 6 of which covers such legal institutions of customs regulation as customs value, classification of goods, risk management, temporary importation of goods and processing in the customs territory, release of goods, single window, coordinated border management, authorized economic operator, as well as issues of customs cooperation, applying information and information technologies, customs infrastructure, preliminary decisions, information exchange, etc.
During the meeting, the parties expressed confidence that the Subcommittee would become a venue for further discussion of relevant matters of customs cooperation between the EAEU and the PRC.
For reference
The Subcommittee on Customs Cooperation and Trade Facilitation is approved in accordance with Article 6.24 of the Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and its Member States, on the one part, and the People's Republic of China, on the other part, dated May 17, 2018. The Subcommittee is entrusted with the following functions: to ensure the proper implementation of Chapter 6 of the Agreement and to resolve all issues arising from its application; to monitor the implementation of Chapter 6 of the Agreement to identify areas relating to that Chapter that could be improved for the purposes of trade facilitation between the parties; to exchange information for the purpose of strengthening cooperation between the parties on the strategic development of each party's customs regulations; and to make recommendations and report to the joint commission.
