Amendments to the Customs Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan

Amendments to the Customs Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan effective from 28 May 2024

Law No. ZRU-913 of the Republic of Uzbekistan of 27.02.2024 (“the Law”) made amendments to the Customs Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan (“the Uzbek Customs Code”).

The new version of the Uzbek Customs Code took effect from 28 May 2024.

The changes are intended to bring domestic legislation into alignment with international standards, helping to promote fair economic competition and the attraction of foreign investments across a wide range of sectors.

In this bulletin, we provide a summary of what we consider to be the most important changes to customs legislation. If you would like a full list of changes, we recommend that you look through the text of the Law and the updated version of the Uzbek Customs Code, or that you contact us.

Transportation, declaration and release of goods

• Under the new version of the Code, responsibility for ensuring that information on all goods is included in shipping documents or for reporting information on goods to the customs authorities rests with the carrier (Article 219).
• Various changes have been made to the rules regarding the Certificate of approval of a means of transport for the transport of goods under customs seals (“Certificate”), including in particular:

- The list of documents needed to obtain a Certificate has been reduced (Article 229)
-­ The possibility and procedure for an applicant to be notified of deficiencies in a Certificate application with a view to their being remedied and documents re-submitted (Article 230)
-­ Informing an applicant regarding the decision to issue or refuse a Certificate and of the annulment of a Certificate (in electronic form via the Single portal of interactive state services of the Republic of Uzbekistan or information platform "License") (Articles 230 and 232)
- The list of grounds for the termination and annulment of a Certificate have been changed (Articles 231 and 232)

• It has been made possible for goods to be released before the results of a customs examination (provided that certain conditions are met) (Article 271¹).
• It is clarified that the declaration of goods for non-commercial use which are carried across the customs border in unaccompanied baggage should take place using a passenger rather than a cargo customs declaration form (Article 260).

Customs value

• Changes have been made to the general rules regarding the customs valuation of goods (Article 301):

- The use of arbitrary or fictitious customs values for imported goods is prohibited
­- Where possible, the transaction value of an imported good should be taken as the basis of the customs value of the good (under the transaction value method)
-­ Customs valuation procedures for imported goods must be universally applicable, i.e., they should not vary according to the source of supply of the goods, including the origin of the goods, the type of goods, the parties to the transaction and other factors
- Customs valuation procedures for imported goods must not be used for anti-dumping purposes

• The amendments clarify the concept of the “price actually paid or payable for goods”. They also clarify how the customs value is to be determined in the case of the declaration of a portion of goods out of a large quantity purchased in a single transaction (Article 303).
• The Law rewords the list of goods and services which are directly or indirectly supplied by a buyer free of charge or at a reduced price and for which appropriate expenses should be included in the transaction price of an imported good, and specifically (Article 304):

- raw materials, other materials, components, intermediate products and other goods from which imported goods were manufactured
- tools, stamps, dies and other similar goods used in the manufacture of imported goods
- materials consumed in the process of the manufacture of imported goods
- design, development and engineering work, artwork, designs, sketches and drawings performed outside the customs territory and essential for the manufacture of imported goods

Customs procedures

• It has been made possible to choose the customs authority which will carry out the customs clearance of goods after the completion of the processing outside the customs territory customs procedure (Article 52).
• It is established that, for the purposes of obtaining a permit for the processing of goods outside (in) the customs territory, only legal entities in which the state has an ownership share of 50% or more need to provide a feasibility study (calculations) (Article 134).
• It has been made possible for rights of possession, use and disposal in relation to goods placed under the free warehouse customs procedure to be alienated and transferred to another person provided that certain conditions are met (Article 103¹).
• It is specified that where goods are placed under the customs warehouse customs procedure more than once, the total period for which the customs procedure is in effect may not exceed 3 years (Article 94). The period of storage of goods is neither extended nor suspended if goods placed under the customs warehouse customs procedure are transferred to another person (Article 96).
• It is specified that the temporary importation period for a means of transport brought in by individuals for non-commercial use is calculated from the date of completion of temporary importation formalities (Article 159).

Customs charges

• The Law establishes cases in which obligations to pay customs charges do not arise or customs charges paid are refundable (Article 294).
• It is specified that arrears of customs charges are not required to be paid if they are not greater than 20% of the base calculation unit (Article 347).

Conversely, customs charges paid (collected) in excess are not refundable if the amount of those charges does not exceed 20% of the base calculation unit (Article 353).

• The Law sets a new rate of late payment penalties, which will be charged at 1/300 of the refinancing rate of the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan in effect at the time on the amount of outstanding customs charges for each calendar day for which they remain outstanding (Article 349).
• It is established that an exemption from customs charges applies for waste products resulting from the processing of goods placed under the import customs procedure (Article 297).
• The amount of security for the payment of customs charges payable by owners of a customs or free warehouse has been increased from 5 to 15 base calculation units per one square metre (for an uncovered site) or from 1 to 3 base calculation units per one cubic metre (for a covered facility) (Article 338).
• The Law introduces the concept of a general security for the payment of customs charges and the rules governing its application. Specifically, a general security may be used in a situation where one and the same person carries out multiple customs operations during a specified period of time (Article 339¹).

The Customs Register of Intellectual Property (CRIP)

• A requirement has been introduced for customs fees to be paid when intellectual property assets are included in the CRIP (Article 291).
• A detailed section has been inserted establishing actions which customs authorities must take to protect IP assets included in the CRIP (Articles 382¹ and 382²).
• Changes have been made to the list of information that must be provided in an application for inclusion in the CRIP and the form in which an application is submitted (in electronic form) (Article 385).
• A provision has been added regarding the disposal of funds paid into a customs authority’s individual treasury account in the event of the suspension of the clearance of goods containing possible infringements of IP rights. If the clearance of goods is suspended, 30% of the funds is to be transferred to a special fund of the Customs Committee attached to the Uzbek Ministry of Economics and Finance (Article 390).

HOW CAN BEONE HELP?

We would be happy to provide you with the following types of support:

• Advice on the applicability of the new legislative provisions to your company’s foreign trade activities.
• Advice on the following issues:

-­ Customs valuation, including assistance in selecting the appropriate customs valuation method and analysis of the need to include transport, insurance, royalty and other similar payments and expenses incurred under design, engineering and fitting-out contracts and contracts for the supply of other goods and services
- Analysing licensing, engineering and other intra-group agreements and modifying them in line with current legislation and implementation practice
-­ Analysing transportation, storage, freight forwarding and customs clearance agreements and modifying them in line with current legislation and implementation practice
-­ Selection of the optimal customs procedure
-­ Application of / compliance with reliefs and preferences for customs charges
-­ Application of / compliance with prohibitions and restrictions
-­ Classification of goods (including assistance in obtaining advance classification rulings)
-­ Protection of IP rights in connection with the importation of goods (including inclusion in the CRIP)
-­ Other aspects of customs regulation
- Support during customs audits

We hope that you will find this information useful. We would be happy to discuss the changes to the Uzbek Customs Code and advise on other issues relating to the application of customs legislation.