Oil and oil products will be supplied to Belarus from Russia duty-free and without volume restrictions in 2011

December 21, Minsk / Liliya Krapivina - BELTA /. Oil and oil products will be supplied to Belarus from Russia duty-free and without volume restrictions in 2011 after Belarus ratifies the relevant agreement on the Single Economic Space. This was stated today by Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov in the House of Representatives of the National Assembly, presenting a package of documents on the formation of the Single Economic Space, according to a BELTA correspondent. For ratification, a draft law of the Republic of Belarus "On the Ratification of the Agreement on the Procedure for Payment and Accrual of Export Customs Duties (other duties, taxes, and fees with equivalent effect) when exporting crude oil and certain categories of oil products from the territory of Belarus outside the customs territory of the Customs Union" has been submitted to the House of Representatives. This agreement establishes new conditions for the supply of oil and oil products to Belarus. It also regulates the issues of collection and transfer to the Russian budget of export customs duties when exporting crude oil and certain products from hydrocarbon raw materials from the territory of Belarus outside the Customs Union. Andrei Kobyakov recalled that this agreement was signed by the heads of state of the Customs Union on December 9. He also reported that since 2007, Belarus had been buying oil from Russia, taking into account customs duties. A coefficient for oil was determined. It changed every year, in 2008 it was 0.336, in 2009 - 0.356. At the same time, oil products were duty-free. In 2010, Belarus receives oil from Russia with full payment of customs duties, except for a duty-free quota of 6.3 million tons. Customs duties are also levied on oil products. Ratification of the agreement on the procedure for payment and accrual of export duties will introduce a new mechanism. Oil and oil products will be supplied to Belarus duty-free and without volume restrictions. Andrei Kobyakov reported that during negotiations with the Russian side on the issue of duty-free supply of crude oil, various options for the distribution of export customs duties on crude oil and oil products were considered. The Russian side insisted on paying the entire volume of duties on crude oil and oil products exported from Belarus outside the Customs Union into its budget. This includes crude oil produced in Belarus and oil products produced from Belarusian oil. This was the initial position, Andrei Kobyakov clarified. The Belarusian side proposed to establish a fair proportion for the distribution of duties on crude oil and oil products, based on the existing different conditions for the output of light and heavy oil products during the processing of oil in Belarus and Russia. As a result of the negotiations, a compromise, simpler option was determined. It provides that the duty from the export of Belarusian crude oil goes to the budget of the Republic of Belarus, and the duty from the export of oil products goes to the budget of the Russian Federation. -0-