EEC approves all documents to launch mechanism using navigation seals

MINSK. Feb 21 (Interfax) - The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) has approved all the documents needed to launch a mechanism using navigation seals to track cargo shipments in Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries.

"Two procedures related to the use of navigation seals to track cargo shipments in the Eurasian Economic Union were approved at the EEC board meeting on February 20. These are the last documents needed to launch this mechanism," the commission said in a press release.

One of the documents is the practice procedure for national operators, authorized operators and regulatory bodies involved in removing navigation seals in transit through EAEU countries without ending surveillance of the tracked object and the subsequent application of seals, as well as cases where the navigation seal might be removed en route without loss of surveillance of the tracked object.

The second document is the practice procedure for national operators, authorized operators and regulatory bodies involved in replacing navigation seals in transit through EAEU countries and cases where the navigation seal may be replaced while the tracked object is in transit.

"The use of this technology in the countries of our union will make it possible to monitor transport online over hundreds and thousands of kilometers and record every illegal auction with goods in a sealed cargo compartment if they take place. Using navigation seals will ensure the transparency of shipments," the director of the EEC's customs legislation and compliance practices department, Sergei Vladimirov was quoted as saying in the release.

An agreement on the use of navigations seals in the EAEU to track freight shipments went into effect in April 2023. It is intended to minimize state control measures over shipments of goods, including transit, exports and in mutual trade, and ensure their legal circulation within the EAEU. The agreement calls for a gradual introduction of tracking taking into account the categories of goods and types of transport by which they will be shipped in order to ensure that shipping participants and government agencies smoothly adapt to the new working conditions.

EAEU countries are finalizing measures needed to begin the practical implementation of the agreement.

"The parties are now assessing their readiness to begin tracking freight shipments using navigation seals. They are finalizing the integration of information systems, preparation of acts at the national level, determining rates and so on. After the completion of all necessary measures at the national level, union countries will report their readiness to begin tracking to the commission, which in turn will adopt an executive directive on the date when practical application of the agreement in the union will begin," the EEC said.