The threshold for duty-free online trading in the EurAsEC countries will be reduced to 200 euros from 2020.

The reduction will take place in stages: from 2019 , the monthly threshold in the EurAsEC countries, including RF, will decrease from 1000 euros to 500 euros, Interfax reports. 

The countries of the EurAsEC have agreed on the thresholds of duty-free Internet trade, the corresponding decision has been made, the Government said in a statementOf the Russian Federation.

"We agreed that this level, of course, will be uniform, otherwise this market will be fragmented. Such a decision has been made, and it has already been embodied in the acts of the Eurasian Union.

Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation

By the end of this year, it will be possible to import goods purchased in foreign online stores for up to 1,000 euros without duty, from January 1, 2019, the threshold is set at 500 euros, and from January 1, 2020 in the amount of 200 euros. Currently, the threshold values of duty-free import in the EAEU countries are not unified: in Belarus it is 22 euros, in Armenia it is 150 dollars, in Kazakhstan it is 1,000 euros, in Kyrgyzstan it is 1,000 dollars.

In In the Russian Federation, in addition to the limit on the amount during a calendar month, the weight of goods is also fixed, no more than 31 kg.This norm will be in effect until the end of 2018. The government had previously proposed lowering the threshold for duty-free import of goods in international mail to 20 euros, but this measure did not find support in the Ministry of Finance. 

The Association of E-Commerce Companies insists on restrictions for the operation of foreign online stores. The State Duma estimates the losses of Russia at the end of 2017 due to the unsettled situation with cross-border Internet trade at 130 billion rubles.

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