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Amendments to lists of standards to technical regulation on food products enacted 02 Jun 2025 Amendments to lists of standards to technical regulation on food products enacted On June 2, amendments to the lists of standards to the Eurasian Economic Union's technical regulation on food products adopted by the Eurasian Economic Commission's Board in December 2024 came into effect. According to the amendments, the list of voluntary application standards is supplemented with 17 interstate standards, while the list of standards for methods is expanded with one interstate standard. Ten interstate standards are updated. 14 national standards of the EAEU countries are excluded, as the corresponding interstate standards have been developed based on them. The amendments were prepared by the Commission based on proposals of the authorized standardization bodies of the Union countries, taking into account paragraph 36, subparagraph b of the Procedure for Developing and Adopting Lists of International and Regional (Interstate) Standards approved by the EEC Council.
EAEU temporarily zeroed import customs duties on tropical fruit puree for juice production 02 Jun 2025 EAEU temporarily zeroed import customs duties on tropical fruit puree for juice production The Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission set temporary zero rates of import customs duties on mashed bananas, mangoes, kiwis, nectarines, as well as peaches, apricots and pears. "Concentrated puree from these fruits is used in making juice products, including for children's nutrition. But many of them do not grow on the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union or do not grow in sufficient quantities for industrial processing. Therefore, businesses buy imported raw materials, the prices for which have significantly increased in recent years," Vahagn Ghazaryan, Director of the EEC Tariff and Non-tariff Customs Regulation Department, explained the necessity of the measure. At the same time, he stressed that the validity period of the measure is calculated taking into account investment programs for the development of domestic horticulture in the EAEU States and will be from one to three years for different types of purees. The Decision shall come into effect after 10 calendar days have elapsed from the date of its official publication.
EEC Council approved increased rate of import customs duty on certain types of light industry goods until late 2026 02 Jun 2025 EEC Council approved increased rate of import customs duty on certain types of light industry goods until late 2026 EEC Council approved increased rate of import customs duty on certain types of light industry goods until late 2026 The Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission decided to increase the rate of import customs duty on "other printed bed linen from cotton yarn" (code 6302 21 000 0 CN FEA of EAEU) to 12%, but not less than 0.44 Euros per 1 kg until December 31, 2026 inclusive. "The adopted measure of customs tariff regulation will additionally support domestic enterprises taking into account that yarn for bed linen production is also mainly coming to us from third countries," noted Vahagn Ghazaryan, Director of the EEC Tariff and Non-Tariff Customs Regulation Departmen Along with that, he emphasized that the manufacturers of the EAEU countries make products that are not inferior in their characteristics to imported bed linen and offer a wide range of products. The Decision shall come into effect after 10 calendar days have elapsed from the date of its official publication.
02 Jun 2025 Vitaly Vovk: "Competitiveness of machine tool products within the EAEU requires support from the Member States" Vitaly Vovk and Laura Sadykova, Deputy Directors of the Eurasian Economic Commission's Industrial Policy Department, took part in the international specialized exhibition of equipment, devices and tools for the metalworking industry "Metal Processing 2025". The exhibition events and the international trade and industrial congress "Investments. Development. Cooperation" held as part of them noted the need to develop the production of critical components using domestic capacities. EEC representatives met with a number of Belarusian and Russian manufacturers of machine tool products. "Now it is especially important to specialize machine-tool enterprises of the Eurasian Economic Union countries: firstly, to establish production of critical components for the EAEU countries, and secondly, not to create internal competition," Vitaly Vovk stressed during the negotiations. He also noted that in order to increase the competitiveness of Eurasian machine tools and components at the current stage, substantial support of the Union's countries is needed in terms of securing orders and providing guarantees for the sale of finished products. The Unit representatives told the exhibition participants about the mechanism for financing industrial cooperation, urging them to involve enterprises of the Member States in cooperation chains.
01 Jun 2025 Bakytzhan Sagintaev conveyed anniversary greetings to Nikol Pashinyan Bakytzhan Sagintaev, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, conveyed 50-year anniversary greetings to Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and Member of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. “You make a significant contribution to strengthening constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation across the Eurasian Economic Union,” the letter of greetings reads. On behalf of the Eurasian Economic Commission and in his personal capacity, Bakytzhan Sagintaev wished Nikol Pashinyan good health and further achievements for the benefit of Armenia and its citizens.
30 May 2025 Bakhyt Sultanov: "It is important to maintain a balance of interests between the use of artificial intelligence and the protection of rightholders" Bakhyt Sultanov, Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy of the Eurasian Economic Commission, spoke at the Astana International Forum about the possibilities and risks associated with the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) in various sectors of the Eurasian Economic Union's economy. Speaking at the panel session "Intellectual Property in the Era of AI", Bakhyt Sultanov touched upon the issues of dividing the rights and liability in respect of works created using AI. He emphasized the difficulties in determining authorship, as well as the need to develop clear rules and regulations concerning the use of artificial intelligence technologies in scientific and innovative activities. Bakhyt Sultanov underscored the importance of developing international standards and agreed approaches in this area, noting that the EAEU countries are actively working on the creation of national legislative initiatives: Kazakhstan has adopted the Concept for Artificial Intelligence Development for 2024-2029, Belarus is developing a law on artificial intelligence and Russia is implementing the National Strategy until 2030. The Minister drew attention to the fact that the issues of legal protection and enforcement of rights to intellectual property items created using AI are widely discussed by the global community. The Eurasian integration association is developing a draft Action Plan for the implementation of the Eurasian Economic Path Declaration, which includes the elaboration of possible approaches to the legal protection of such items. "At the same time, it is important to maintain a balance of interests between the use of artificial intelligence and the protection of rightholders," mentioned Bakhyt Sultanov. On the sidelines of the Forum the EEC Minister met with Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization. The meeting discussed cooperation within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding between the organizations and considered the possibility of holding joint events dedicated to the Eurasian economic integration in the context of intellectual property protection and safeguarding. "The Commission constantly monitors trends in the trafficking in counterfeit goods and the practice of combating violations of intellectual property rights in the EAEU. Annually, we prepare a report that includes data on identified infringements and recommendations for improving law enforcement practice," Bakhyt Sultanov reported. The EEC Minister also met with Amy Pope, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Today, the Commission and the IOM Regional Office are working on a Joint Statement based on the existing Memorandum of Cooperation between the organizations and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, to which all EAEU countries have joined.
30 May 2025 EAEU countries converge positions on establishing common energy markets A meeting of the Council of Heads of Authorized Energy Authorities of the Member States chaired by Arzybek Kozhoshev, Minister in charge of Energy and Infrastructure of the Eurasian Economic Commission, was held on May 30. During the meeting, the heads of the energy ministries of the Eurasian Five countries discussed relevant matters related to the establishment of common markets for oil and petroleum products. Arzybek Kozhoshev noted the readiness of the parties for constructive dialogue: "The search for solutions to sensitive issues will continue both bilaterally and at a higher level in order to sign an international treaty on oil and petroleum products as soon as possible." The heads of the authorized authorities of the EAEU countries proposed to strengthen interaction within bilateral consultations on settling individual issues of the common energy markets functioning. Also at the meeting, the proposal of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan was discussed to make amendments and additions to the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union dated May 29, 2014, in terms of the common electric power market of the EAEU, involving significant changes in approaches to the functioning of the Union common electric power market. The meeting participants pointed out the need for a thorough elaboration of the issue with a mandatory financial and economic assessment of the risks envisaged by the Republic of Kazakhstan and the sufficiency of instruments to protect domestic energy markets in the current conditions. Arzybek Kozhoshev noted significant positive results in the establishment of the common electric power market of the Union, "By now, almost entire regulatory framework for the functioning of the market has been approved, and the Accession Agreement with regulations has been prepared to a large extent. It is necessary to intensify the work on the establishment and functioning of the market, which is crucial for integration aspects, including due to the extensive influence of the electric power on the real sector of the economy." After the Kazakhstani party submits the information necessary for analysis, the experts will re-consider the proposal.
30 May 2025 EEC and ITIC deepen cooperation On the sidelines of the Astana International Forum, there was a meeting between Bakhyt Sultanov, Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy of the Eurasian Economic Commission, and Daniel Alan Witt, President of the International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC). It is worth noting that this is the first business contact between the organizations since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. The parties expressed their intention to continue cooperation within the framework of the existing Memorandum of Understanding, which, in particular, provides for regular joint activities on tax policy and administration. The possibility of exchanging information and analytical materials on digitalizing tax administration and adaptation of its procedures to the conditions of digital and globalized economy, as well as best practices of integration associations on harmonization of excise taxation were discussed. "I am confident that our meeting will help develop a dialogue between the EEC and ITIC on the discussed areas, will contribute to the improvement of the investment climate and business environment within the EAEU, as well as the implementation of new joint projects for the benefit of Eurasian integration," summarized Bakhyt Sultanov. ITIC is an independent non-profit research and education organization founded in 1993 to promote tax reform and public-private initiatives to improve the investment climate in transition and developing economies. The Memorandum of Understanding between the EEC Advisory Committee on Tax Policy and Administration and ITIC was signed in 2013 and its updated version was signed in 2017. On the Commission's part interaction with ITIC is coordinated by the Financial Policy Department.
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