EEU to regulate e-commerce

YEREVAN, October 18. /ARKA/. A roadmap for creating favorable conditions to develop electronic commerce across the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) will be presented to the heads of government of the EEU member states when they meet next, Vahe Ghazaryan, Director of the Department of Customs Tariff and Non-Tariff Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Commission, said today when speaking at the 8th Russian-Armenian Interregional Forum in Yerevan.

"The roadmap has been developed on the basis of the proposal provided by the authorized bodies and businesses from EEU member states. It comprises a number of fundamental areas such as  development of the EEU regulatory framework in order to improve EEU’s s rights in the field of electronic commerce, ensuring barrier-free movement of goods through  mutual e-commerce, the formation of an independent and stable infrastructure of e-commerce, independent of external factors, etc.,‘ he said.

Ghazaryan stated that e-commerce is a segment that is not strongly regulated on the territory of the EEU and in the world in general.

‘This is a new round of structured trade, which will gradually replace traditional trade and is already pushing it out of the market, acquiring huge volumes,’ he said.

According to him, today the EEU legislation defines electronic commerce either as classical trade, which is subject to the collection of all taxes, duties and payments, and is subject to technical regulation, or as trading of goods for personal use.

“At this stage, the problems that all of us, as consumers, face are not resolved. This is the problem of technical regulation. Goods for personal use are not subject to technical regulation, but goods of classical trade are," he said.

The expert explained that when making a purchase on an electronic site, one may encounter the problem that the purchased product can be anything, and there are no appropriate protection tools yet, since the sites are not obliged in any way to comply with any technical requirements.

Ghazaryan noted that a notification procedure is currently being developed: sites will be asked to notify consumers that these products comply with the technical regulations of the EEUI and provide the necessary minimum security base.

He also said that within the framework of a pilot project, approaches are being established for the development of bonded warehouses and it is envisaged to institutionalize relations with foreign Internet sites so that they also have certain obligations in relation to these requirements.

"These sites are interested in our market and they will fulfill our conditions," he said. -0-

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18:01 10/18/2021