RBC: Smartphone manufacturers encountered problems obtaining permits for the FSB to import equipment

Because of this, importers of equipment with cryptography are increasingly receiving documents for its import in Kazakhstan, but there are no serious problems yet.

In recent months, several large equipment manufacturers have begun to receive notifications in Kazakhstan, RBC reports with reference to the Unified Register of Notifications of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC). This is a document that companies must submit to the authorities (in Russia - the FSB) when importing goods containing elements of cryptography and encryption: smartphones, tablets, laptops, servers and others.

According to the rules of the EAEU, devices can be imported throughout the territory of the union, regardless of the country that issued the permit.

Among the large vendors who have recently begun to receive notifications in Kazakhstan, RBC names Intel Corporation, Lenovo, Huawei, Hewlett Packard, and Vivo, Samsung, and Asus have received notifications for their products in both Russia and Kazakhstan in recent years.

A permit document for goods containing elements of cryptography and encryption in Russia is issued by the FSB. As a representative of one of the large manufacturers of this type of equipment told RBC, after the start of the pandemic, the time frame for completing a notification to the FSB increased from ten days to at least a month.

According to another source of the publication, from March 25, 2020, the FSB closed the direct acceptance of documents and it was necessary to send letters by Russian Post, which is why the processing time for applications increased and sometimes reached 1.5 months. He also added that the process of reviewing documents has become less transparent.

“The percentage of negative decisions has increased sharply. Business representatives have no way to understand where exactly the mistake was made during registration until they receive a written decision, which is also sent only by mail,” RBC quotes a source.

He notes that due to problems with notification in Russia, there is a risk of postponing the start of sales of new products in the country to a later time compared to other countries, as well as risks of delaying the implementation of projects that depend on the supply of such products.

According to this RBC interlocutor, the procedure in Kazakhstan is organized “more transparently and adequately” than in Russia. It takes five working days and the application can be submitted electronically.

Representatives of Asus confirmed to RBC that since 2021, the time frame for receiving notifications has “increased slightly,” but this did not affect the planned starts of sales of the company’s equipment. Vivo reported that the notification process has not changed, and the company’s products are also represented in Kazakhstan. Other companies did not answer questions from the publication, which also sent a request to the FSB public relations center.

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