Republic of Belarus : New restrictions on importation from 1 January 2022

Goods transport

Belarus has imposed a ban on the import of certain types of goods, which will enter into force on 1 January 2022.

The period of validity of the restrictions is from the 1st of January until the 30th of June 2022 with the possibility of extension.

The Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus No. 700 “On the application of special measures in relation to certain types of goods” of 6 December 2021 significantly expanded the list of goods prohibited for import.

The import prohibition will apply to goods according to the list (see Annex 1) and countries of origin as follows: the European Union and its member states, the United States of America, Canada, Norway, Albania, Iceland, North Macedonia, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Switzerland.

The import embargo will not apply to:

• goods imported to the Republic of Belarus before 1 January 2022;
• imported for personal use;
• imported for processing and placed under customs procedures «Release for Internal Consumption» within the established tariff quotas with a license issued by the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade (MART), «Free Customs Zone», «Processing for Internal Consumption», «Processing within the Customs Territory»;
• imported within the established tariff quotas;
• imported within the quotas established in accordance with the Regulation on quotas for the import of certain types of goods to the territory of the Republic of Belarus, ensuring a balance in the consumer market.

Considering that Resolution No. 700 was adopted on the basis of Presidential Decree No. 128, the new prohibitions also do not apply on the transit of goods through the territory of the Republic of Belarus, carried out by vehicles for international transportation, as well as to other obligations of the Republic of Belarus related to the functions of international transit and mediation.

At the same time, navigation seals are used to move prohibited goods by road in transit through the territory of the Republic of Belarus. Navigation seals are fixed/removed at Belarusian border crossing points or at specially designated places on the Russian-Belarusian border. The cost of the service for the attachment and removal of the navigation seal is fixed and amounts to 10 base units, which is approximately 102 Euro on the date of this document.

The validity period of the introduced restrictions is from 1 January until 30 June 2022 with the possibility of prolongation.

Source: IRU