Russian authorities are dissatisfied with the practice of import of cars through Kyrgyzstan with a significant price understatement. The media report.
Many experts pay attention to this situation in the car market. Cars that received customs documents in Kyrgyzstan are massively imported into the country.
«This is parallel imports. This country has the most favorable conditions for customs clearance within the EAEU. Plus, the local specifics and sanctions allow understating the value of cars, based on which the customs duty is paid. This aspect may lead to the fact that final buyers may simply lose their cars,» the statement says.
According to the blogger Mikhail Zhukhovitsky, a car with delivery to Kyrgyzstan costs $80,000. But at the customs in Kyrgyzstan they show a document that the cost was $30,000, and they pay duty on this amount.
«I have visited 15 largest car dealers and the car market in Kyrgyzstan. Absolutely all cars are cleared by the customs with underpricing. It is good if they showed 50 — 60 percent of the price at the customs. This is already rare. About 15-20 percent of the price is shown for mass models such as cheap electric cars like Geely,» he wrote.
According to him, part of the problem lies in the fact that due to sanctions and withdrawal of Western brands from Russia, the Federal Customs Service does not have up-to-date car prices. On the other hand, Kyrgyzstan is interested in customs operations passing through it, since duties remain in the country’s budget.
«It is simple. Geely Monjaro hybrid is sold after customs clearance in Bishkek for $33,000. It is picked up on a car transporter by Russian car dealers. A week later, it is sold with a Russian vehicle licence for an average of $41,000 — 42,000. Nine thousand dollars in profit from a middle-class car in a week — there have never been such profit margins in the auto business. Cars are sold in the Russian Federation instantly, there are almost none of them in stock» Mikhail Zhukhovitsky said.
The Russian Association of Auto Dealers said that such a scheme for parallel imports existed, but official dealers do not use it.
Vice President of the National Automobile Union Anton Shaparin confirmed that there are a lot of cars that arrived through Kyrgyzstan and have an underestimated cost in the Russian Federation. These are about tens and hundreds of thousands of cars.
«Our authorities, of course, are interested in having cars customs cleared in Russia. Now the authorities are trying to figure out how to settle this with the other side, get information, and whether it is possible to classify this as a violation in the field of customs legislation,» he says.
Mikhail Zhukhovitsky is sure that when the customs authorities come to an agreement, the sanction will be the toughest — up to the cancellation of the vehicle licence.
The Automobile Union believes that the vehicle licences will not canceled, as this is too harsh measure for people who bought a car for the full price, but they may well be forced to pay a fee.
