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УДК 339.543
БОТ 10.24412/с1-36450-2022-3-164-169 Д. Л. ХАЧАТРЯН
Таможенно-тарифное регулирование России после присоединения к Всемирной торговой организации
В статье рассмотрено влияние таможенно-тарифного регулирования на экономику Российской Федерации, выявлены последствия «связывания» ставок таможенных пошлин в рамках членства во Всемирной торговой организации, а также определены основные направления совершенствования таможенно-тарифного регулирования. Ключевые слова: таможенно-тарифное регулирование, таможенный тариф, Всемирная торговая организация, таможенные пошлины, либерализация, защита отечественных производителей.
ХАЧАТРЯН Диана Леонидовна, студент факультета таможенного дела Владивостокского филиала Российской таможенной академии.
Научный руководитель - Бадеева Елена Яковлевна, канд. филол. наук, доцент кафедры иностранных языков Владивостокского филиала Российской таможенной академии.
D. L. KHACHATRYAN
Customs and Tariff Regulation in Russia after Joining the World Trade Organization
The article considers the influence of customs and tariff regulation on the economy of the Russian Federation, defines the consequences of «binding» customs duty rates within the framework of membership in the World Trade Organization, and also identifies the main trends for improving customs and tariff regulation.
Keywords: customs and tariff regulation, customs tariff, World Trade Organization, customs duties, liberalization, protection of domestic producers.
Nowadays, active globalization of the world economy is increasing, and it does not only ensure the competitiveness of a series of countries, but it also carries the external risks of damaging individual national economies, which are not always able to meet international standards. In this case, the government faces the concern of economy protection.
The government regulation of foreign trade activity is a priority in ensuring the economic security of the Russian Federation as it aims at pursuing a trade policy that will create favorable conditions in the domestic market for producers. Customs tariff regulation measures play an important role among the methods of foreign trade activity regulation, and the main element of these measures is customs duty - mandatory payment which is collected by customs authorities in respect of goods transported across the customs border. Customs duties level the price of foreign and similar domestic goods for consumers, and they are based on the difference in their costs, thus creating conditions for equal competition in the domestic market and protecting manufacturers from cheap imports.
To harmonize the international trade, Russia joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) on December 16, 2011 by signing the Protocol on the Accession of the Russian Federation to the Marrakesh Agreement [3]. The later entered into force in 2012, establishing the World Trade Organisation. The negotiations on bringing Russian legislation into compliance with the WTO requirements lasted 18 years, and customs tariff regulation has undergone significant changes during such a long period. The main criterion for WTO membership is trade liberalization, and the WTO obliged all Contracting Parties to apply bound tariff rate that implies determining the maximum level of duty rates for all categories of goods for these purposes (table 1).
Table 1
The WTO parameters for average rates of import duties in comparison with the Russian Customs Tariff before the WTO accession, % [4]
Aggregate WTO indicator The average rate of Russian Customs Tariff The average rate of the WTO
The beginning of the transition period The end of the transition period
The whole Nomenclature 10,29 11,85 7,15
Agricultural products 15,63 15,18 11,27
Industrial goods 9,39 11,26 6,41
In accordance with the international obligations [3], Russia had to reduce the rates of import duties within 7 years and to remove most export duties on such goods as alcoholic beverages, seafood, chemical products, precious metals, etc.
It should be pointed out that the fulfilment of WTO requirements could have a negative impact on the economic security, and, therefore, simultaneously with the liberalization of customs tariff, Russia had to ensure the development of domestic production to protect manufacturers from foreign competition.
Today, the commodity structure of Russian import in accordance with the Federal Customs Service statistics can hardly be called the best possible, as, despite the end of the transition period in 2020, it has undergone only minor changes since joining the WTO, and annually more than 50 % of imported goods are vehicles and equipment (table 2).
Table 2
The commodity structure of Russian import according to the Federal Customs Service after the WTO accession, %
The name of goods 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020
Vehicles and equipment 52,06 50,46 50,21 50,61 50,81
Industrial chemical products 16,10 16,79 19,05 18,72 18,84
Food and agricultural products 13,00 13,43 12,52 11,22 11,34
Metals and metal products 5,62 5,68 5,35 5,90 6,01
Wood, pulp and paper products 1,84 1,89 1,71 1,54 1,41
Consequently, the dependence of the Russian economy on imported goods could not be reduced to the extent that a sufficiently high level of competitiveness would be ensured. However, despite the increase in the supply of certain categories of goods, Russia continues stimulating the import substitution of the industries most exposed to foreign competition [5].
As we know, the Russian mechanical engineering is still considered to be a highly vulnerable link in the industry. For this reason, foreign automobiles were subject to significantly high rates of import duties in order to increase their value in the domestic market and to reduce the demand for them. Among the Russian obligations to the WTO, the reduction of duties on new automobiles from 25 % to 15 % was the most dangerous for the economy [3]. Therefore, Russia had to step up measures for stimulating its own production.
Naturally, the volume of domestic production of automobiles reached all-time high values by the end of 2012 because of the high import duties [6]. However, pursuing the new customs tariff policy, Russia was forced to search for other ways to develop its own production. As you can see in the figure, the industry managed to stabilize the automobile production through the expansion of transnational companies activities in the world and by establishing its branches on the territory of the Russian Federation. Therefore, the feature of modern mechanical engineering industry is the growth of production volumes due to the development of foreign brand cars assembly.
In addition, the rapid decrease in the production of automobiles after 2013 was caused by a new WTO requirement to remove the recycling fee. This fee was previously
levied on imported foreign automobiles in order to eliminate the difference in the price of domestic and imported automobiles with a reduction in import customs duty rates. To this date, the government stabilizes the level of production by funding Russian automobile industry [1].
2 500 2 000 1 500 1 000 500
1682 1660
Fig. 1. The volume of Russian automobile production in 2012-2020, thousands units per year
According to experts, agriculture and, in particular, the meat market has become another industry exposed to risks since Russia's accession to the WTO. The meat production is rather difficult to increase due to the climatic patterns of the country and internal problems of the agricultural sector, such as high costs, low wages of workers, and insufficient funding.
Russia continued applying tariff quotas to agricultural products during transition period. As long as goods are imported within quotas, they are subject to a much lower duty than outside them. According to the WTO requirements, the deadline for the application of pork quotas was January 1, 2020. At this stage, the transition period of fulfilling Russian obligations to the WTO was completed. It is possible to maintain the growth of pork and poultry production because of the quotas application and government incentives.
12 10 8 6 4
9,85
10,63
11,22
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Q Poultry Pork Beef Other
Fig. 2. The volume of meat production in Russia in 2014-2020, million tons per year
The volume of pork and poultry production is increasing annually, for example, pork production increased by 43,6 % in 2020 from 2014, and poultry meat - by 21,2 % [7]. The growth was caused by the intensification of import substitution after Russia imposed a food embargo against the United States in 2014. At the same time, the volume of beef production has hardly changed because of the high costs, which form the high price of this type of meat.
1 970
1 900
1 660
1 460
1 320
1 230
0
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2
0
As it has already been mentioned, the WTO accession has had an impact on the regulation of not only import, but also export of goods from Russia. Unlike import duties, export duties are traditionally applied for fiscal purposes, thus expanding investment activity in industries with a high potential. The share of customs payments in the federal budget is significant, for example, they accounted for more than 25 % of the budget structure in 2020. The share of export duties exceeds import duties more than two times.
4 000 3 000 2 000 1 000 0
n
Fig. 3. The share of import and export duties in the federal budget in 2016-2020,
billion roubles per year
The reduction in the amount of export duties by 50 % in 2020 from 2019 was the consequence of the world crisis, caused by the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, and, as a result, the global demand for Russian export decreased. However, the decrease in indicators did not affect the significant difference between import and export duties altogether.
This trend is characterized by the Russian raw materials oriented export. Despite the elimination of most export duties in accordance with the WTO requirements, the share of export duties has always been high because of the large volume of mineral resources export. In particular, the share of energy resources in export structure is more than 50 % annually, while high-tech products constitute only 7 % [5]. In other words, despite the fact that government stimulates the development of domestic vehicles and equipment production, the most exported items are still raw materials, due to which a high level of customs revenue is ensured.
Having considered the impact of customs duties on the Russian economy after joining the World Trade Organization, it can be concluded that the liberalization of import tariff has actually reduced the tariff protection and Russia remains dependent on imported goods. However, it also caused the need for progressive changes in the national economy, which led to the increase in production. As for the export tariff, despite the elimination of most export duties, a large volume of export revenue from energy resources has remained.
The main trends for improving customs tariff regulation to ensure the economic security of the Russian Federation include:
- ensuring a high degree of differentiation of customs duty rates for optimum regulation of the import structure [2];
- a wide application of tariff escalation principle, i.e. imposing a higher import duty on goods with a high degree of processing to stimulate bringing raw materials into the country and the development of high value-added goods production;
- the application of protective export duties to restrict the export of raw materials and to promote their processing in the domestic market.
3 025
2 291
2 054
1 968
618
579
615
506
490
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Thus, Russia has adopted a wide range of obligations to liberalize customs tariff policy after joining the WTO. On the one hand, these obligations posed a potential threat to reduce the level of domestic manufacturers protection because of the increase in import of more attractive foreign goods, and, on the other hand, they stimulated progressive changes in the economy during the transition period due to the growth of competition in the domestic market.
In constant conditions of customs policy harmonization in order to simplify international trade, measures, aimed at improving customs tariff regulation, are of a priority in trade policy. Only through the application of such measures, the government can achieve a balance between the protection of national production and active integration into the world economy by creating an effective customs tariff.
References
1. Khmelev, I. B. The changes in customs tariff regulation after the accession of Russia to the World Trade Organization // Center for the Development of Scientific Cooperation LLC, 2016. No. 30. P. 24-28.
2. Minaev, A. V. Trends for improving the customs tariff measures of foreign trade regulation in the Russian Federation within the WTO membership // Young Scientist Journal, 2016. No. 29 (133). P. 455-459. URL: https://moluch.ru/archive/133/37163 (accessed 04.05.2022).
3. Protocol on the Accession of the Russian Federation to the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (done at Geneva on 16 December 2011).
4. Reference of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation on the Russia's obligations as a member of the WTO. URL: https://wto.ru/useful-resources/articles-archive-from-russia-and-wto-section (accessed 04.05.2022).
5. Website of the Federal Customs Service. URL: https://customs.gov.ru (accessed 04.05.2022).
6. Website of the Federal Service for State Statistics. URL: https://rosstat.gov.ru (accessed 04.05.2022).
7. Expert and Analytical Center for Agribusiness. URL: https://ab-centre.ru (accessed 04.05.2022).
