The Customs Union (CU) of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan was founded by the Treaty of 6 October 2007 but actually came into its official existence on 1 January 2010 when the new common customs tariff and non-tariff regulations were adopted by the three states. The Customs Code of the Customs Union entered into force on 1 July 2010 regulating the newly created unified customs zone.
The supreme bodies of the Customs Union are the Inter-State Councils at the governmental level.
The Parties to the Customs Union founded the Customs Union Commission (by the Treaty of 6 October 2007) – a common regulatory body of the Customs Union. In the late 2011 the CU Commission was replaced by the Euro-Asian Economic Commission. The Commission’s decisions are compulsory for all CU member states.
The Customs Union signifies:
- the common customs territory where no customs duties or economic restrictions are to be applied (except special protective, anti-dumping and compensation measures);
- the common set of customs laws and regulations (e.g. those regulating customs procedures);
- the common set of customs tariff regulations;
- common set of non-tariff customs regulations (e.g. those imposing sanitary restrictions, quantitative restrictions, licensing rules, export regulation, etc.);
- the common rules of product classification and product valuation; and
- the common rules for the determination of a “country of origin” for products.
The legislation of the Customs Union consists of:
- the Customs Code of the Customs Union (CC CU) – which has a direct effect on the Customs Union member states;
- international treaties and agreements adopted in accordance with the CC CU provisions;
- decisions of the Euro-Asian Economic Commission – which have a direct effect on the Customs Union member states, contain compulsory requirements and don’t require ratification.