News
Valentin Tataritsky, "To regulate the security of e-commerce goods from third countries it is necessary to establish a special mechanism in the Union"
This was stated by Valentin Tataritsky, Minister in charge of Technical Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Commission, who chaired the panel session Technical Regulation of Electronic Commerce in the EAEU: Ensuring the Security of Goods on Electronic Platforms at the 3rd Eurasian Economic Forum.
According to the EEC Minister, the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Commission continue to develop approaches to regulating the security of goods in foreign electronic commerce.
"It's not an easy task. On the one hand, we have to ensure Union citizens are protected from dangerous products; on the other hand, the introduced mechanisms of safety regulation should not impede e-commerce development, create a shortage of goods in the Union market or reduce consumer demand," emphasized Valentin Tataritsky. "That is why the decisions of the Heads of Government and the EEC Council formalized validation of a "soft" approach to regulating the safety of e-commerce goods by applying the notification procedure, rather than the application of "classical" measures of technical regulation with mandatory confirmation of safety by carrying out a full range of procedures for assessing the conformity of goods as established by the technical regulations of the Union."
The session participants representing EAEU bodies authorized in the field of technical and customs regulation, standardization, as well as business communities discussed a wide range of specialized topics.
Several speakers focused on modeling approaches to regulating the safety of goods in foreign electronic commerce, including through applying the notification procedure for confirming their safety, but with a guarantee that the products will be safe for citizens of the Union. Among the speakers were Elena Morgunova, Chair of the State Committee for Standardization of the Republic of Belarus; Natalia Saveleva, Deputy Director of the Department for Government Policy in Licensing, Control and Supervision, Accreditation and Self-Regulation of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation; and representatives of the two largest electronic trading platforms Rafael Abrahamyan (Wildberries) and Alexey Minaev (Ozon).
"For practical application of the notification procedure at the national level as an experiment, the Commission has approved general approaches and mechanisms for its implementation, the so-called 'interim procedure', said Valentin Tataritsky, commenting on the presentations by colleagues. "It is important that the mechanisms of the interim procedure, as well as the types of goods being validated under the notification procedure, can be changed. Nationally, other types of goods may be chosen to validate the notification procedure and the specifics of their safety confirmation, which would be more effective."
When choosing other models, as the EEC Minister said, it is important to proceed from the fact that third countries already regulate the security of e-commerce goods and the rules established by them already present technical barriers to trade for the EAEU states. It is important to consider taking comparable measures and protecting the EAEU market and citizens of the Union countries from unsafe products.
Sergey Shklyaev, Deputy Head of the Federal Customs Service, devoted his speech to the aspects of customs administration regarding the application of the notification procedure.
"The amendments to the Customs Code introduce two categories of e-commerce goods. Goods that are declared at importation as goods intended for sale to natural persons should be subject to confirmation of compliance with technical regulation measures (a conformity assessment document is required). Relevant work is already underway at the Commission and this category of goods is being introduced in the Procedure for Importing Products," said Valentin Tataritsky, commenting on the above statement. "Goods purchased by natural persons are not placed under the customs warehouse procedure. For this category, it is planned to implement a notification procedure to confirm safety. If it is adopted and introduced in the Treaty on the EAEU, it is necessary to work out the administration rules for such goods upon importation."
In his speech, Anton Shalaev, Head of Rosstandart, drew attention to the need to develop standards as a tool supporting and developing e-commerce that will help prevent unfair competition, have quality consumer goods and streamline their delivery.
The session participants noted the need to develop a consolidated position on the Commission's proposed model of regulating the safety of goods in foreign electronic commerce, which, in addition to the introduction of a notification procedure, implies the possibility of defining a list of sensitive electronic commerce goods that must undergo conformity assessment procedures established by the technical regulations of the Union.
