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Tengrinews.kz – The Senate has ratified amendments to the Customs Code of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), introducing mandatory duties and customs declarations for goods purchased by Kazakhstanis on foreign marketplaces such as AliExpress and Temu.
The changes establish procedures for moving online purchases across customs, rules for declaring, storing, and releasing such goods, as well as payment of customs duties.
Senator Serik Uteshov noted that currently foreign purchases are treated as personal-use items and are only declared when exceeding thresholds, meaning they are not reflected in trade statistics. After ratification, the entire volume of cross-border e-commerce will be included in official data.
The amendments also define “e-commerce operators” and “goods acquired through e-commerce”. Such goods may now be processed under a simplified procedure using electronic customs declarations.
Vice Minister of National Economy Azamat Amrin explained that under existing rules, items under €200 (127,336 tenge in 2025) and up to 31 kilograms are exempt from duties. Anything above is subject to a 15% customs fee. Last year alone, these fees generated around 7 billion tenge in additional tax revenues.
The new system will make declaration mandatory for all online goods crossing the border. Declarations can be filled out by individuals or by operators such as Kazpost or DHL, who charge 4,000–5,000 tenge for the service.
At the same time, the tax structure will change: instead of a flat 15%, buyers will pay a 5% customs duty plus 12% VAT (rising to 16% next year).
“That’s 17% in total, which is only 2% more than before. If a person fills out the declaration themselves, it won’t cost extra,” Amrin said.
The protocol has already been ratified by Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia. It will take effect once approved by all EAEU member states.
