Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk took part in a meeting of the Eurasian Economic Commission Board in Moscow on 23 September.
Alexei Overchuk attends Eurasian Economic Commission Board meeting
The participants discussed building a common gas market and common markets for oil and oil products in the EAEU. They exchanged opinions on current global energy trends, including energy pricing. These trends will be taken into account in drawing up EAEU documents.
The parties reviewed the EEC report on the state of mutual trade between the EAEU member states at the end of 2021. According to the report, mutual trade in 2021 reached its highest point in EAEU history, or 73.1 billion dollars, with the share of settlements in national currencies at about 75 percent. The Commission also provided information on joint import substitution projects and the results in the main areas of industrial cooperation within the EAEU.
At the EEC Board meeting, a report was presented on the receipt and distribution of import duties among the budgets of the EAEU member states in 2021. It was noted that 2021 saw a significant increase in import duties, from 11.2 billion to 13.5 billion dollars, or 20.5 percent, in the budgets of the EAEU member states.
A number of key modifications to the EAEU technical regulations were adopted, in particular, changes to the technical regulation On the Safety of Products Designed for Children and Adolescents regarding children's footwear production.
The participants adopted amendments to the technical regulation On the Safety of Milk and Dairy Products, clarifying the concept of "reconstituted milk" and adjusting the physical, chemical, microbiological and organoleptic characteristics of dairy products.
The Board decided to amend the drug labelling regulation – specifically, the labelling of orphan and technology-intensive medical drugs, which will increase the availability of this group of drugs for patients.
The Board amended the procedure for state sanitary and epidemiological supervision (oversight) at the customs border and on the EAEU customs territory, which will allow for a risk-oriented approach to control.
The reports on the Eurasian Economic Union budget execution for 2021 and on the draft budget of the Eurasian Economic Union for 2023 were approved with the participation of the parties’ finance agencies.
The participants exchanged views on financing industrial cooperation projects within the EAEU, taking into account the instruction given by the member states’ heads of government.
The meeting also approved a set of measures (roadmap) as part of the EAEU climate agenda.
The term of the customs and tariff regulations providing for zero import duties as well as tariff privileges introduced as an anti-crisis measure for a wide range of goods was extended until 31 March 2023 at the initiative of the Russian Federation.
In addition, in order to saturate domestic markets with imported goods, the Board extended the 1,000-euro threshold for the duty-free import of goods for personal use in luggage and in international postal shipments (purchased through marketplaces) until 1 April 2023.
