Translated material
Clash of regimes
The Customs Union will deprive special economic zones of benefits
The agreement on the conditions for the functioning of special economic zones (SEZs) in the three states of the Customs Union (CU) being created by Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia implies a refusal to provide customs benefits to SEZ residents. The document was approved by the CU commission and will be signed, among many others, by the presidents of the three countries at the EurAsEC summit on July 5 in Astana. As Vremya Novostei was assured by the Ministry of Economic Development and the Federal Customs Service (FCS), the agreement will in no way affect the Skolkovo project , where residents will also receive certain customs benefits.The agreement on the SEZ was approved by the CU commission on June 18 at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum . It has not yet appeared on the official website of the Customs Union. The press service of the CU Commission refused to talk on this topic. It is assumed that there should be no customs benefits in the special economic zones newly created after July 1, 2010. Their possible availability must be agreed upon with partners within the CU Commission. The same applies to new residents who, after the official launch of the Customs Union, will come to the existing SEZs.
There are 28 of these in the three countries: six SEZs each in Belarus and Kazakhstan and 16 in Russia (two industrial production zones, four technology development zones, eight tourist and recreational zones and two port zones). These Russian SEZs operate in accordance with the 2005 law. Two more zones - in the Kaliningrad (created in 1996) and Magadan regions (1999) - operate according to the old rules.
As Dmitry Levchenkov, head of the department of special economic zones and project financing of the Ministry of Economy, explained to a Vremya Novostei correspondent, subject to certain conditions, the possibility of exporting processed products without paying customs duties from the zones to the territory of all three states remains until 2017 (for the Kaliningrad region this period ends earlier -- April 1, 2016). This rule will apply to those residents who register in existing zones before January 1, 2012. For those who came to the zones after this date, without paying customs duties, it becomes possible only to import products from outside the customs territory of the Customs Union countries. And what will be exported from these zones to the customs territory of the CU countries will be subject to mandatory customs duties.
Accordingly, from 2017 all customs benefits in special economic zones in the Customs Union are cancelled. The member countries of the union will be able to attract investors with tax and, possibly, other benefits that will make SEZs attractive to residents. In particular, new special zones, the creation of which is currently being discussed in Togliatti and the North Caucasus, will have to operate in this mode.
Kazakhstani and Belarusian special zones differ from Russian ones in their greater liberalism both in the principles of functioning, administration, and in benefits: in Belarus and Kazakhstan there are noticeably more of them than in Russia. “The task was to make the conditions for doing business in the SEZ of the three states equal,” explained Dmitry Levchenkov.
Moscow was particularly concerned about the Belarusian SEZs, the right to create which belongs personally to President Alexander Lukashenko. Moreover, benefits for almost every resident there are established individually by the head of state. This order threatened the emergence of unique customs offshores within the borders of the Customs Union.
However, the largest in terms of the scale of customs benefits received is the Kaliningrad SEZ. A special customs regime is very important for Kaliningrad, noted Yuri Avdeev, managing partner of the Kaliningrad audit company Avdeev and K. “Here, basically, there are only customs benefits,” the specialist recalls. - They work for everyone. Imported goods that are consumed in the Kaliningrad region are exempt from VAT and customs duties. The abolition of customs duty benefits will lead to an increase in the price of these goods by 23-25%. There are separate benefits for residents implementing investment projects. This is about 50 enterprises. Plus, many enterprises, under the old law, still enjoy the right to duty-free export to Russia of goods made from imported raw materials. For them, the raw material component in manufactured products will rise in price by 20 percent, and since the share of imported raw materials in it reaches 50-60%, the product itself will rise in price by 10 percent. The competitiveness of Kaliningrad enterprises will fall.”
“In Kaliningrad, everything will be as provided for under the current law No. 16-FZ, until 2031 - the validity period of this zone. Benefits for the export of processed products from Kaliningrad to Russia will remain until April 1, 2016,” reassures Mr. Levchenkov. “Customs benefits did not so much provide advantages as equalize the competitive opportunities of Kaliningrad goods with goods produced in Russia,” warns Mr. Avdeev, recalling the geographical remoteness and isolation of the region from the rest of the country. This problem will have to be solved after 2016 without customs benefits.
The abolition of customs benefits for the SEZ raises questions about the fate of one of the largest modernization projects in Russia - the innovation center in Skolkovo. “Skolkovo is not a special zone, it is a special law,” Viktor Vekselberg, chairman of the board of directors of Renova and curator of the Skolkovo project, told a Vremya Novostey correspondent. If our CU partners do not agree with this interpretation, then the head of Skolkovo is ready to “coordinate the issue within the framework of the Customs Union.” “In fact, they have already agreed,” Dmitry Levchenkov assured VN.
“Customs benefits within the Skolkovo project should be considered more like a bonus,” says Olga Uskova, president of the National Association of Innovation and Development of Innovative Technologies. -- The main economic preferences lie elsewhere. Residents of the future innovation city, according to a specially developed bill, will receive unprecedented tax benefits, being exempt from paying a large number of taxes applicable to legal entities. Therefore, the loss of a small number of customs benefits in no way can scare off investors.”
“In Skolkovo, preferences will be predominantly administrative and relate to customs administration, exemption from certain forms of customs control, declaration, there will be a more simplified registration of temporary import with a complete conditional exemption from payments,” Vladimir Ivin, head of the analytical department of the Federal Customs Service, confirmed to VN.
Indeed, the draft law “On the Skolkovo Innovation Center” submitted by President Dmitry Medvedev to the State Duma does not imply direct exemption of innovation city residents from customs duties. It states that “the costs of paying customs duties incurred by persons participating in the implementation of the project are subject to reimbursement to these persons in accordance with the budgetary legislation of the Russian Federation.” That is, companies operating in Skolkovo will be able to import the imported products they need, paying all required customs duties to the country’s budget. But then, after submitting all the necessary documents to the Skolkovo management company, which performs the functions of a special customs broker, they will receive the money back.
And here the shadow of the Customs Union appears. “We are now dividing the duties into three. One side cannot help but pay duties into a single pot. The fee will be paid, divided by three. And the fact that this duty will then be fully compensated to Skolkovo residents from the Russian budget is our budgetary relationship, which does not affect the triple budget,” explained Vladimir Ivin.
It turns out that customs preferences for Skolkovo will cost the Russian budget 12% more than their nominal value. The Russian budget will have to give exactly this share of customs benefits of an innovation city to partners in the Customs Union according to their share in the distribution of duties: 7.33% to Kazakhstan and 4.7% to Belarus.