EAEU won't automatically extend provisional zero duties on selected imports on Oct 1, but one-off decisions possible - minister

MOSCOW. June 29 (Interfax) - The Eurasian Economic Union or EAEU will not automatically extend provisional zero duties adopted in the spring on imports of number of goods on October 1, but some one-off decisions are possible, Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said.

"It is clear that we did this [zeroing duties] under a different exchange rate, and enterprises are now asking what will happen next. We are telling all businesses that there will be no automatic renewal of zero duties. That is, on September 30, this system will end," he said at the Russian Union Industrialists and Entrepreneurs congress.

"Where we see that we systemically need to zero out duties for some types of products we will conduct a new negotiation track with business, with sectoral ministries, and then we will put the systemic proposals before a commission," he said.

Reshetnikov said that within the EAEU framework import duties on about 1,300 types of goods were temporarily set at zero. The Econ Ministry estimates businesses have saved 23 billion rubles with this measure.

The Eurasian Economic Commission in March-April approved three packages of decisions to provisionally zero out import duties on several goods. EEC Trade Minister Andrei Slepnev told Interfax during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that the process had been concluded and that a fourth package was not planned.

He also said a decision to extend zero-duty imports, currently valid until September 30, would be taken separately for commodity headings.

The EEC has already canceled the provisional zeroing of import duties on televisions and washing machines, and plastics producers have asked for import duties on feedstock to be refunded