The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) needs an efficient system to fight against the evasion of customs duties and taxes, Belarus Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov said at the meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council on 14 August, BelTA has learned.

“We have discussed the draft agreement on the product traceability mechanism. We need an efficient system to counteract any grey schemes of customs duty and tax evasion, preventing goods from illegal turnover,” the prime minister said.

According to Andrei Kobyakov, by declaring its readiness to fulfill all the EAEU commitments Belarus expects the same responsible approach from other member states. “Today we have agreed that the document will envisage product traceability on a mutual basis,” he said.

The head of government also said that Belarus hopes that the new customs code of the union will be introduced in early 2018. “This progressive document is aimed at creating comfortable conditions for doing business. We expect that the customs regulation will become one of the incentives for the economic development of the EAEU states, enhancement of their transit, investment and tourism attractiveness, improvement of the export potential,” he stressed.

According to the prime minister, Belarus supports the efforts to prepare the major areas for the union's digital agenda. “We believe that the IT projects, currently implemented, for instance, in the area of the product marking and traceability, are not comprehensive. Amid the rapidly changing realities, they will be acquiring new initiatives,” he said.