12 Jan 2011 19:59

Russia puts off transition to mandatory electronic customs declaration to 2014

MOSCOW. Jan 12 (Interfax) - The Federal Customs Service has put off from January 1, 2011 to 2014 the transfer to mandatory electronic customs declaration.

A report posted on the service's website says that the full transition to paper-free document turnover and electronic declaration is scheduled for 2014.

At the beginning of 2010 head of the service's analytical service Vladimir Ivin said that the customs would guarantee 100% electronic declaration as of January 1, 2011.

However, now the report says that in December 2010 the service handled only 53.5% of declarations in electronic form a day.

The Customs Service also reminds readers about the new technology of remote customs clearance of commodities that implies the division of customs control into documentary and physical that will be conducted by different customs bodies. The service believes this should help reduce the flow of heavy freight traffic to big cities, simplify document turnover and reduce the time for customs transactions.

At the end of 2010 36 internal and 27 border customs posts were involved in the system of remote customs clearance.