FAQ

The Eurasian Economic Union is an international organization of regional economic integration with international legal personality and established by the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union signed by the Heads of States of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan in Astana on May 29, 2014.

The EAEU provides for free movement of goods, services, capital and labour, conducting coordinated, agreed or common policy in the economic sectors stipulated in the Treaty and international treaties within the Union.

The Union carries out its activities based on the following principles:

- respect for the universally recognized principles of international law, including the principles of sovereign equality of the Member States and their territorial integrity;

- respect for specific features of the political structures of the Member States;

- ensuring mutually beneficial cooperation, equality and respect for the national interests of the Parties;

- respect for the principles of market economy and fair competition;

- ensuring the functioning of the Customs Union without exceptions and limitations after transition periods.

The main objectives of the Union shall be as follows:

- creating proper conditions for sustainable economic development of the Member States in order to improve the living standards of their population;

- seeking the creation of a common market for goods, services, capital and labour within the Union;

- ensuring overall modernization, cooperation and increased competitiveness of national economies within the global economy.

The idea of the formation of a Eurasian Union of States was put forward for the first time by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, on March 29, 1994 during his speech at the Lomonosov Moscow State University. A large-scale project on integration of the new independent states on a qualitatively new, pragmatic and mutually beneficial economic basis developed by the Kazakh leader forms the foundation of the idea.

It was an innovation to further improve the Commonwealth of Independent States and to simultaneously create a new integration structure, the purpose of which would be formation of an agreed economic policy and adoption of joint programmes for strategic development. Integration in the Eurasian Union was provided, according to the project, by more clear and detailed institutional structure of the new integration association and sufficient scope of its regulatory powers in key economy sectors, as well as in the political, military, legal, environmental, cultural, educational fields.

The Eurasian initiative that Nursultan Nazarbayev proclaimed at the peak of disintegration was not perceived and supported immediately, as the tasks of strengthening national independence and sovereignty, on the one hand, and the development of economic cooperation, on the other hand, were actually opposed at that moment.

Gradually, an understanding emerged that the success of integration is greatly facilitated by the recognition of the priority of national interests, national independence and sovereignty, and the integration itself started being perceived as a "leverage" of economic growth and a prerequisite for the full implementation of the new opportunities that had appeared thanks to the fulfilled political "disengagement" on the post-Soviet States.

Bodies of the Eurasian Economic Union are:

Supreme Eurasian Economic Council;

Eurasian Intergovernmental Council;

Eurasian Economic Commission;

Court of the Eurasian Economic Union

The Supreme Eurasian Economic Council (the Supreme Council, SEAEC) is the supreme body of the Union, consisting of the Heads of the Member States of the Union. The Supreme Council shall consider the main issues of the Union’s activities, define the strategy, directions and prospects of the integration development and make decisions aimed at implementing the objectives of the Union.

Decisions and dispositions of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council are adopted by consensus. Decisions of the Supreme Council and Eurasian Intergovernmental Council are enforceable by the Member States in the procedure provided for by their national laws.

Meetings of the Supreme Council shall be held at least once a year. In order to solve urgent issues of the Union operation, at the initiative of any Member State or the Chairman of the Supreme Council, extraordinary meetings of the Supreme Council may be convened.

The Eurasian Intergovernmental Council (Intergovernmental Council) is a body of the Union consisting of the Heads of Governments of the Member States. The Intergovernmental Council ensures and monitors the implementation of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, international treaties within the Union and the decisions of the Supreme Council; on the proposal of the Commission, it considers issues, on which a consensus was not reached; it gives instructions to the Commission, and exercises other powers provided for by the Treaty on the EAEU and international treaties within the Union. Consensual decisions and dispositions of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council are enforceable by the Member States in the procedure provided for by their national laws.

Meetings of the Intergovernmental Council shall be held as necessary, but at least twice a year. In order to solve urgent issues of the Union, at the initiative of any Member State or the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Council, extraordinary meetings of the Intergovernmental Council may be convened.

The Eurasian Economic Commission is a permanent regulatory body of the Union. The Commission shall consist of a Council and a Board. The Commission adopts decisions with regulatory and binding effect for the Member States, organizational and administrative dispositions and non-binding recommendations. Decisions of the Commission form a part of the Union law and shall be directly applicable on the territories of the Member States.

Decisions, dispositions and recommendations of the Council of the EEC shall be taken by consensus. Decisions, dispositions and recommendations of the EEC Board are adopted by qualified majority (2/3 votes of the total number of the Board members), or by consensus (on sensitive issues, a list of which is defined by the SEAEC).

The Commission is located in Moscow.

The Court of the Eurasian Economic Union is a permanent judicial body of the Eurasian Economic Union.

The objective of the Court's activities is to ensure uniform application by the Member States and the Bodies of the Union of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, international treaties within the Union, international treaties of the Union with a third party and decisions of the bodies of the Union. The Court resolves disputes arising in connection with the implementation of the Treaty on the EAEU, international treaties within the Union and (or) decisions of the Union bodies upon an application of a Member State or an economic entity. Based on the results of consideration of disputes upon an application of a Member State, the Court makes a decision binding for the parties to the dispute. Based on the results of consideration of disputes upon an application of an economic entity, the Court makes a decision binding for the Commission.

The Court includes two judges from each Member State appointed to the positions by the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council at the initiative of the Member States for a period of nine years. The Court shall examine cases when composed of the Grand Panel of the Court, the Panel of the Court and the Appeals Chamber of the Court.

The EAEU Court is located in Minsk.

International treaties within the Union, international treaties with a third party and decisions of the Bodies of the Union shall be officially posted on the official website of the Union in the procedure determined by the Intergovernmental Council.

Bodies of the Union shall ensure preliminary publication of draft decisions on the official website of the Union on the Internet at least 30 calendar days prior to the planned adoption date. Draft decisions of the Bodies of the Union taken in exceptional cases requiring a rapid response may be published under other terms. All interested persons may submit to the Bodies their comments and suggestions.

In addition, in order to ensure transparency of decision-making of the Commission, it is provided for that the decisions of the Commission that may influence the business environment shall be adopted based on the results of regulatory impact assessments of their draft versions.

Activities of the bodies of the Union are funded from the budget of the Union formed under the procedure determined by the Regulation on the Budget of the Union. The Budget of the Union is formed in Russian roubles from assessed contributions of the Member States. The Regulation on the Budget of the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as the budget of the Union and the budget implementation report is adopted by the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. It also determines the amount (scale) of assessed contributions of the Member States into the budget of the Union.

The Treaty on the EAEU is an international treaty between the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation signed by the Heads of the States in Astana on May 29, 2014, which establishes the Eurasian Economic Union within which freedom of movement of goods, services, capital and labour, carrying out a coordinated, agreed or common policy in certain economy sectors specified in this Treaty and international treaties within the Union is provided. The Treaty on the EAEU contains provisions for reduction of exemptions and other restrictions, including barriers, mutual access of businesses to the market of the Member States. The Treaty on the EAEU is based on contractual legal framework of the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space, the rules of which have been updated and brought into line with WTO rules.

The Treaty on the EAEU has 4 parts, 28 sections, 118 articles, as well as 33 applications.

In general, the document can be divided into two parts.

The first, institutional, part outlines the strategic goals and objectives of the Eurasian integration, defines the legal status of the Union as an international organization, formulates the basic principles, goals, competence and the law of the Union, sets a system of the Union bodies, their competence, procedure of formation and operation, as well as describes provisions on the Union budget.

The second, functional (economic), part regulates the mechanisms of economic cooperation, as well as fixes commitments by industrial directions of the integration. These directions include a common trade policy and a technical regulation policy, an agreed macroeconomic and monetary policy, coordinated (agreed) transport and energy policy, agreed (coordinated) agricultural policy, cooperation in the field of industry and labour migration, an agreed consumer protection policy.

The Eurasian Economic Union is open for accession of any state that shares its objectives and principles, on the terms and conditions agreed upon by the Member States.

In order to obtain the status of a candidate state for accession to the Union, the state concerned shall send a corresponding appeal to the Chairman of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council.

The decision on granting a state the status of a candidate for accession to the Union shall be made by the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council by consensus.

The Eurasian Economic Commission (Commission) is a permanent regulatory body of the Union. The Commission shall consist of a Council and a Board.

The basic objectives of the Commission are enabling the functioning and development of the Union, as well as developing proposals in the sphere of economic integration.

The Commission carries out its activities based on the following principles:

- ensuring mutual benefit, equality and respect for the national interests of the Member States;

- economic justification of decisions adopted;

- openness, publicity and objectivity.

Powers of the Commission are provided for in the Treaty on the EAEU and other international treaties within the Union and extend to the following areas:

1) customs tariff and non-tariff regulations;

2) customs regulations;

3) technical regulations;

4) sanitary, veterinary & sanitary and phytosanitary quarantine measures;

5) transferring and distribution of import customs duties;

6) establishment of trade regimes for third parties;

7) statistics of foreign and mutual trade;

8) macroeconomic policy;

9) competition policy;

10) industrial and agricultural subsidies;

11) energy policy;

12) natural monopolies;

13) state and/or municipal procurement;

14) mutual trade in services and investment;

15) transport and transportation;

16) monetary policy;

17) intellectual property;

18) labour migration;

19) financial markets (banking, insurance, the currency market, the securities market);

20) other spheres as specified in the Treaty and other international treaties within the Union.

Tags are provided for producers not for free. The cost of introducing RFID tags is from 15 to 22 roubles. That's less than the cost of a bus ticket. Introducing tags will not significantly affect the final cost of goods. But this measure will protect against smuggling goods and “grey producers" that provide poor-quality goods.

According to the Treaty on the EAEU, conformity with the requirements established by the Union technical regulations is assessed by certification bodies, testing laboratories included in the Unified Registry of the EAEU Conformity Assessment Bodies.

Answers to questions on technical regulations in the EAEU are available here:

https://portal.eaeunion.org/sites/odata/_layouts/15/Portal.EEC.Registry.UI/RegistryPstrQA.aspx

The new rule applies only to cars newly imported into or produced in the EAEU. Used foreign-made cars, which "ran" on the roads of the Union before January 1, 2017 without an alarm button, will be used unchanged. Priority is the health and safety of the Union citizens. Similar requirement is also introduced in the EU since April 2018. Many global brands have already installed emergency equipment in their cars.

Insurance contributions for compulsory health insurance are paid to the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund of Russia by employers.

You can review the documents on the Legal Portal of the Eurasian Economic Union http://docs.eaeunion.org

EAEU. Unfortunately, there is a confusion, but the abbreviation “EAEU” is used in all official international documents.