Customs service of Kyrgyzstan responds to Kazakhstan's claims on smuggling goods through Kyrgyzstan

AKIPRESS.COM - The Customs Service of Kyrgyzstan has responded to the statement of the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan on "grey import" from China to Kazakhstan through the territory of Kyrgyzstan, the RFE/RL reported.
The Kyrgyz customs authorities said that a mirror statistics reveals existence of this problem in Kazakhstan itself.
"In 2015, the discrepancy in the data on export and import of goods between Kazakhstan and China amounted to $3.3 billion, while in 2018, the figure grew up to $6 billion, in other words, almost doubled. Thus, despite the modern equipped checkpoints in Kazakhstan, this problem is getting more serious," the statement says.
According to the Kyrgyz side, information of the Kazakh side that the contact of inspectors with carriers is in fact excluded is not true, which is testified by video materials on the Internet. The footage appeared on social media shows that all transit goods from Kyrgyzstan moving to Russia and goods going to China through the territory of Kazakhstan, are subject to a thorough inspection at the checkpoints of the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border.
"The above-mentioned actions of the State Revenue Committee of Kazakhstan go beyond the framework of legal regulation and violate the norms and rules of the WTO, the fundamental principle of freedom of movement of goods, confirmed by the Treaty of the Eurasian Economic Union. Illegal actions of the Kazakh side are nothing more than hidden customs control. As a result of violations of key principle of transparency, thousands of trucks from the Kyrgyz Republic are discriminated," the State Customs Service said.
Recently, Kazakhstan has again announced about a "grey import" from China through the territory of Kyrgyzstan. According to the Kazakh side, smugglers are importing into the country goods using un-equipped Kyrgyz border checkpoints. According to the statement made by the State Revenue Committee of Kazakhstan, the checkpoints that are not equipped with modern equipment provide a loophole for "grey imports". Goods that do not comply with the data stated in the documents are allegedly smuggled through Kyrgyzstan.