Temporary import is an actively used custom procedure in international trade. Temporary import applies to foreign goods that are temporarily located and used on the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union (the “EAEU”) given that the conditions for placing goods under this procedure and their use met with partial payment of import duties and taxes and without payment of special, anti-dumping and countervailing duties or without payment of import duties, taxes and without payment of special, anti-dumping and countervailing duties. In practice, temporary import is often used to import exhibits for expositions, fairs, sports and other competitions and does not apply to food, beverages, including alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, raw and semi-finished products, consumable materials and samples, except when they are imported into the EAEU in single copies for advertising and (or) demonstration purposes or as expositions or industrial samples; waste, including industrial; goods prohibited to be imported into the EAEU territory. It should be noted that goods placed under the temporary import, retain the status of foreign goods.
The main condition for placing goods under temporary import is identification. Identification is necessary in the process of customs declaration for the customs authorities to ensure that specifically imported goods are exporting.
Moreover, a distinctive characteristic of temporary import is that imported goods must remain in unchanged condition, except for natural wear and tear, i.e. goods under this customs procedure can be used, but not processed.
Temporary import has a term, namely the customs authority shall establish the import validity on the basis of a declarant’s application. In general, the term shall not exceed two years, but for certain categories of goods depending on the import purposes, the commission has the right to determine a shorter or longer period. Please note that the period of temporary importation may be suspended by filing an application for suspension of the temporary import and placing temporarily imported goods under customs storage warehouse, processing of goods on customs territory, etc.
Furthermore, it should be noted that the transfer of temporarily imported goods to third parties shall be made only with permission of the customs authority, except for temporarily imported reusable packaging intended for packaging and protection of imported goods, temporarily imported goods for their maintenance, repair, storage, transportation, temporarily imported goods for purposes of analysis, research, testing, inspection, experiments, as well as temporarily imported goods as determined by the commission and (or) provided by international agreements. In order to obtain permission of the customs authority a declarant shall submit an application stating reasons for transfer of temporarily imported goods to another person and information about that person.
We suggest considering the procedure of temporary importation by the example of goods imported in order to promote foreign economic activity and international cooperation. This includes goods for demonstration at exhibitions, fairs, international meetings and other similar events, samples of goods, advertising materials, promotional films, goods for testing, inspections, experiments, professional equipment, drawings, plans, models, stamps, carriers of digital information. A declarant shall notify the customs authority in writing a few days before the arrival of such goods to the Kyrgyz Republic and enclose a letter of guarantee on goods export. An organizer of the exhibition/fair also submits to the State tax service of the Kyrgyz Republic (hereinafter, the “STS KR”) a notification on temporary imported goods for an international exhibition/fair in the Kyrgyz Republic within the EAEU, and attaches information related to participants of the exhibition and/or fair held in the Kyrgyz Republic; information on export of goods by participants of the international exhibition and/or fair from the Kyrgyz Republic to the EAEU member states at their location. The organizer informs participants of the international exhibition/fair of the need to submit a notice to the STS KR, and provides with a certificate on tax registration to obtain an accompanying consignment note at the border crossing point of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Temporary importation involves partial payment of import customs duties and taxes. However, exemption from payment of customs duties and taxes is conditional, as it takes place only when conditions stipulated by the customs legislation are fully met. With regard to goods placed under the temporary import procedure with partial payment of import customs duties and taxes, import customs duties and taxes shall be payable from the date of their placement under temporary importation until the date of its termination. While goods placed under the temporary import without payment of import customs duties and taxes, upon the application of the declarant, shall be subject to partial payment of customs duties and taxes from the date indicated in the declarant’s application until the date of temporary import procedure termination of the. The declarant’s application should be submitted to the customs authority that released goods upon their placement under temporary import prior to the time limit expiration.
The EEU customs legislation, having adopted the international legal standards, establishes mechanism of application of the customs procedure on the common territory of the EEU. In practice, this procedure is widely used. However, temporary import requires detailed research before application and is a complicated procedure from the tax legislation point of view, and also needs interaction of customs and tax authorities.
Author: Jibek Tenizbaeva, Senior Associate