News

09.09.2022

EEC improves work on removing obstacles

New approaches to removing obstacles in the Eurasian Economic Union’s internal market were considered by members of the Committee on settling differences and disputes and ensuring free movement of goods in the EAEU. The meeting chaired by Mikhail Myasnikovich, Head of the EEC Board, was held on September 9 at the EEC's headquarters.
As Mikhail Myasnikovich has noted, the Commission explored some possibilities, at the instruction of the Heads of the EAEU States, to improve approaches to removing obstacles.

"Last year, the Member States ensured record mutual trade - 73.1 bln US dollars, it increased by 32.8% compared to 2020, but this should not stop us. New approaches to removing obstacles are required for further growth of mutual trade," the Chairman of the EEC Board said.


According to Varos Simonyan, EEC Minister in charge of Internal Markets, Information Support, Information and Communication Technologies, work on removing barriers is systematic, and the Union States removed five barriers and three obstacles with signs of barriers in H1 of this year. Along with that, approaches to working with exceptions and restrictions should be changed, the EEC Minister stressed. If earlier common roadmaps for removing obstacles were developed for the next target period, now it is time to form roadmaps for individual obstacles and areas of activity.

Varos Simonyan has stressed that the work related to restrictions in mutual trade of goods imposed by the Union States came to the fore this year.

"Brief consultations have been held at the Commission's venue since March when emergency restrictive measures are imposed. This enables discussing the expediency of their implementation by all or individual Member States, analyzing their effects with the possibility to review the adopted decisions," Varos Simonyan said. "Owing to this approach, we see an upward trend – a reduction in these measures".

Following the discussion, the parties supported the Commission's proposals. Amendments and additions to the current version of the methodology for dividing obstacles will be submitted to the Commission’s Board for consideration.

The consultation attendees also discussed some differences on the Commission’s draft decisions, being worked on as part of implementing the Agreement on using navigation seals for monitoring traffic in the EAEU.

Besides, some differences were considered related to establishing new customs regulation in relation to the import of fish or other products manufactured on the Union States’ vessels from fish catches caught by third country vessels. The Russian Federation previously addressed the Union States with this initiative. The meeting attendees discussed approaches to simplifying customs regulation of marine fishery products, following which it was recommended to continue bilateral consultations.