The State Revenue Agency (SRS) is aware of the risk of possible sanctions evasion with shipments of timber from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and customs control of timber and other goods subject to sanctions is being carried out in an intensified mode, the state officials said. representatives of the SRS to the LETA agency.
Customs legislation allows the customs officer to request documents proving compliance with the requirements established by the legislation. Depending on the situation, and to make sure that the sanctions are not violated, information about the previous customs procedure, the place of production of the goods, the origin of the goods and other documents are also requested. There are cases when laboratory tests are performed. The circumstances of each case must be considered separately, SRS representatives explain.
In general, customs control is carried out on the basis of risk analysis, and this principle also applies to countries in the Central Asian region, from which imported goods are not subject to sanctions.
In addition, the representatives of the SRS indicate that communication with the customs authorities of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan has been initiated within the framework of mutual cooperation to verify the conditions of transactions with timber. No responses have been received so far. According to the information available to the SRS, the Lithuanian customs authorities are also acting in a similar way.
Regarding the establishment of stricter requirements for the verification of accompanying documents and certificates of origin, the representatives of the SRS underline that this is a legislative issue that should be resolved at European Union (EU) level in the context of sanctions or customs regulations. Only uniform and strict requirements will guarantee the achievement of the result. A possible agreement at the level of the countries of the region – between the Baltic States and Poland – would be less effective.
The European Commission analyzes information on the import of goods, among which the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has the opportunity to get involved in investigating cases related to the sanctions sector, for example by checking information on risks a EU level, conduct an investigation, request information from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and other countries about exporting companies. If the competent authorities of these countries do not cooperate, the highest level of the EU should consider setting sanctions also against those countries involved in sanctions evasion, SRS representatives explain.
In addition, representatives of the SRS recall that compliance with sanctions is the responsibility of each person, and in the event of their evasion being detected, there is a threat of criminal liability.
It has already been reported that after the EU ban on the import of wood products from Russia and Belarus, cargoes from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan – countries with very little forest and from which Latvia had never bought anything before – started to flow to Latvia, according to research by the Baltic Research Journalism Center “Re:Baltica”. .
At the end of the year, imports of wood products to Latvia from Kyrgyzstan went from zero to €829,000 and from Kazakhstan to €1.85 million.
The same is happening in other EU countries, writes “Re:Baltica”. Out of 445,000 euros of exports to EU countries in 2020 and 2021, the two Central Asian countries imported more than 30 million euros worth of wood products into the EU this year, at least on paper. The main beneficiaries are Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Latvia and Denmark.
Lithuanian customs are convinced that the increase can be explained by circumvention of EU sanctions by importing timber from Russia and Belarus into the bloc with fake certificates from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
