The customs bodies of Belarus and Russia coordinated the order of paying export oil duties at today’s meeting in Vitebsk, BelTA has learnt.

The protocol on amendments into the agreement “Concerning the payment of export customs duties (other duties, taxes and fees of the equivalent action) in the export of crude oil and certain categories of oil products from Belarus outside the Customs Union” was signed by Chairman of the State Customs Committee of Belarus Alexander Shpilevsky and Chief of the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation Andrei Belyaninov.

When asked about the essence of the changes, Alexander Shpilevsky cited an article of the Protocol which reads that the amounts of export customs duties or penalties excessively paid (unduly collected) are refunded to the payer from the account of the authorized body of Belarus in the current day within the amounts of export customs duties, penalties received by the authorized body on that day, taking into account the amounts of refund of export customs duties, penalties which were not-accepted by the National Bank of Belarus during the day. “The matter is about the recovery and return of the sums collected by the Belarusian customs. The point is that duties unduly collected are transferred to the Russian Federation by the authorized body,” the head of the customs service said.

The meeting of the joint panel of the customs services of the Customs Union of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan toot place in Vitebsk on 15 March. Partaking in the event was the head of the Ukrainian customs service.

BelTA