The government may reduce the powers of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise, but is not ready to liquidate it

The Russian government will today discuss the issue of the effectiveness of the Federal Customs Service. At the meeting, the question of the fate of FSUE ROSTEK, the largest customs broker, may be raised. According to Kommersant, a number of departments, including the FSB and the Ministry of Transport, have not abandoned the idea of creating a special agency to control customs infrastructure, with which, if created, ROSTEC will have to share. The government does not intend to disband ROSTEC.

Today at a government meeting, the head of the Federal Customs Service, Andrei Belyaninov, will present criteria for assessing the effectiveness of customs authorities (see Kommersant on June 4). As Kommersant was told in the government, the subject of consideration will be not so much the criteria that “contain nothing new or outstanding,” but the problem of combating corruption in the ranks of the Federal Customs Service. The activities of the largest player in the market of customs-related services, FSUE ROSTEC, may also be the subject of a separate investigation. The activities of ROSTEC, as Kommersant found out, were already discussed on July 3 at a meeting of the FCS board. The Federal Customs Service confirmed to Kommersant that the entire management of ROSTEC, as well as the heads of all its regional offices, were present at the meeting of the board. But such a large-scale representation at the board in the Kommersant service was explained by the fact that this meeting was timed to coincide with the 15th anniversary of ROSTEC.

FSUE ROSTEK is a single diversified vertically integrated holding, subordinate to the Federal Customs Service. ROSTEK Group - consisting of the parent enterprise FSUE ROSTEK and 46 operating subsidiaries. In 2006, the total revenue received by FSUE ROSTEC enterprises from all types of activities amounted to about 3 billion rubles. Growth compared to 2005 - 17%. ROSTEC structures provide customs brokerage, freight forwarding, and other services related to customs clearance. In 2006, the ROSTEC group worked with 7 regional customs departments, 81 customs offices, at 99 road and 17 railway checkpoints of the Federal Customs Service, acting as the owner of the customs infrastructure.

The property controlled by ROSTEK has already become a cause of discord in the government, and FSUE ROSTEK has been repeatedly proposed to be dissolved. After the FCS was reassigned directly to Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov in the spring of 2006, the former curator of the customs service, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, proposed to the government to create a Federal Agency for the Development of Border Infrastructure, to which part of ROSTEC’s assets was to be transferred, among other things, and prepared a corresponding draft resolution. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade insisted on its right to control the new agency. But the idea was not supported. And in January 2007, the FSB presented its claims to the customs infrastructure. First Deputy Director, Head of the FSB Border Service Vladimir Pronichev said that his department “is working to create a special federal department, which should become a single center responsible for the arrangement and maintenance of checkpoints and other facilities on the Russian state border.” According to Kommersant's information, the Ministry of Transport also lays claim to control over the customs infrastructure.

The government told Kommersant yesterday that the dissolution of ROSTEC is considered “inappropriate,” but the issue of its property is not closed. In the future, according to a government representative, it is planned to create a new federal state unitary enterprise or institution that will coordinate the work on the construction and maintenance of customs checkpoints. “ROSTEK will be able to participate in this work on a competitive basis,” the source said. “ROSTEK should remain, but the customs flag should be removed from it,” this is how Kommersant’s interlocutor outlined the White House’s position. Today, representatives of the Federal Customs Service, FSB, Ministry of Transport and other interested structures can present their views on this issue - yesterday the departments did not comment on it, and ROSTEC also refused to comment on the situation.

Petr Kommersant-Netreba, Arina Kommersant-Sharipova

ROSTEK is being pushed away from the border