State Duma extends zero duty for import of equipment for Artic LNG 2 by two years

MOSCOW. Dec 6 (Interfax) - The State Duma has approved in the third reading a bill to extend the possibility of zero duties for the import of equipment for the second and third technological lines of the Arctic LNG 2 project for 2023 and 2024.

The bill (N212658-8) was introduced by the government in October, but initially it was proposed that zero duties be extended only through 2023. Later, when finalizing the document, a decisions was made to extend the norm not for one year, but for two, so as not to extend it annually and to implement Arctic LNG 2 on schedule.

The explanatory note to the document recalls that Novatek continues the implementation of the project with capacity of 19.8 million tonnes of LNG per year with a planned launch date of the first process line in 2023. The decision to classify imported goods under the customs code allowing for a zero duty rate was made in late 2020.

The document noted that in 2021-2022 there were disruptions in the schedule of delivery of components of such modules from Europe to China, which caused a delay in the completion of their top assembly. To maintain the pace of the project, a decision was made to import technological line modules into Russia from China by sea in partially assembled form.

The law on customs regulation allows the customs declaration of goods with indication of a single item, if the products are delivered in a complete or disassembled form. However, customs declaration under these rules is allowed only through March 1, 2023.

"In 2023, a significant number of deliveries are planned of modules of the second and third technological lines of the Arctic LNG 2 project. Amid increasing sanctions pressure, the delivery schedule for such modules can be maintained only if they are further imported in partially assembled form. At the same time, the degree of such assembly and the composition of components for making changes to the decision on the classification of goods in advance is impossible to predict at the moment," the explanatory note reads.

The bill proposes extending the possibility of import of modules in partially assembled form with classification under one code through March 1, 2025, respectively.