By Lilia Kosmacheva
Vladimir Orlovsky, the Head of the Belarusian State Customs Committee’s Customs Control Organisation Office, has told Belarusian and Russian journalists in Minsk that over 20 percent of goods imported into the Customs Union are controlled using the preliminary information system, reducing time spent on border crossing. Customs inspection is currently organised via a risk analysis and management system, reducing the number of inspections by more than 5-fold (on 2005). It brings subjective decision making to a minimum at the border.
The Chairman of the Belarusian State Customs Committee, Alexander Shpilevsky, stressed during a press conference that Belarus and Russia have been building the Customs Union for over 10 years already, boasting serious achievements in improving speedy crossings. As far as Kazakhstan is concerned (the third country of the Customs Union), there are difficulties in information sharing. According to Mr. Shpilevsky, the sides have agreed to mutually exchange information with Kazakhstan from January 1st, 2011. Accordingly, next year, Kazakhstan is likely to join the customs information sharing system of the Customs Union.
