MINSK: The State Customs Committee of Belarus expects the Russian customs service to resolve the problem of transit of embargoed goods as soon as possible, BelTA learned from SCC Chairman Yuri Senko after the government conference held on to discuss the removal of the prohibition on the import of Belarusian products to the Russian Federation and the transit of embargoed goods.
Yuri Senko stressed that the Belarusian customs service had done everything to ensure the meticulous transition of transport to other Customs Union member states. The Belarusian customs service can monitor the transportation of merchandise online or, if necessary, if the merchandise is in the risk group, the cargo can be escorted to the border of the Russian Federation and handed over to the Russian customs service, which in turn has to take care of the cargo’s transit across Russia.
The Chairman of the State Customs Committee said that during the negotiations that began in early November a draft resolution of the united board of the Customs Committee of the Union State of Belarus and Russia had been prepared and forwarded to the Russian Federation. In essence Belarus suggests taking care of routing automobile and railway transport in its territory, securing delivery to Russia, preventing cargoes from getting released into the economy, and transferring cargoes into the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. After that it is up to the Russian customs service to ensure the delivery of merchandise to Kazakhstan or third countries.
Speaking about the transit and the prevention of embargoed goods from reaching Russia, the head of Belarus’ Customs said that the situation in Belarus is under control. In the last five days only two attempts to transport embargoed goods to Russia were detected. The attempts were stopped, administrative proceedings were launched, and the confiscation of the goods is under consideration. Meanwhile, from the side of the Russian Federation 18 trucks were stopped with the weight of their cargoes approaching 300 tonnes. The bulk of the violations involved the absence of phytosanitary and veterinary certificates. “Cargoes were imported into Belarus without the necessary documents. The information was immediately forwarded to the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry for the Ministry to pass the final judgment,” said Yuri Senko.