OREANDA-NEWS. October 04, 2010. Procedural preferences for Belarusian bona fide traders have been expanded in conditions of the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, Deputy Chief of the State Customs Committee Sergei Borisyuk told.

He said the bona fide trader status was provided in accordance with Belarusian regulations, because there were certain transition provisions in the Customs Code of the Customs Union. “We consider two to five applications for the status on a weekly basis, and grant the status,” he said.

There were over 500 bona fide traders in Belarus as of July 1, 2010.

According to Borisyuk, the Customs Code of the Union, which came into effect on July 1, 2010, has obliged Belarusian bona fide traders to make a security deposit to guarantee payment of customs duties and taxes. “The original version of the Code stipulated a 1 million-euro deposit, but the sum was later reduced to 150,000 euros, which is not a critical sum for our traders. Anyway, this money may not be paid in cash, he added.

According to Andrei Planin, the deputy head of the customs control department with the Committee, the transition provisions of the Customs Code pertaining to the security deposit for bona fida traders will come into effect for Belarusian traders 18 months after the Code came into effect.