Import duty exemption in the EAEU: from 9 September 2026 no additional application procedure is needed
On 9 July 2026 the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission adopted Decision No. 80, which amends clause 15 of the Procedure for applying exemption from customs duties on the import of certain categories of goods into the single customs territory of the Customs Union, approved by CU Commission Decision No. 728 of 15 July 2011. For goods that are not named in the Procedure itself but are exempt from import customs duty on the basis of clause 7 of CU Commission Decision No. 130 of 27 November 2009, no additional procedure for applying that exemption has to be determined. The amendment enters into force on 9 September 2026. Formally it is a technical edit to a single clause, but it closes the gap between two documents — the gap that regularly produced conflicting readings when duty-exempt goods were released, and conflicting readings are what keep a container standing at the border.
1. What changes on 9 September 2026
Two different documents are at work here. Clause 7 of CU Commission Decision No. 130 lists the cases in which import customs duty is not paid. The Procedure approved by CU Commission Decision No. 728 describes the mechanics: how exactly the exemption is applied to the specific categories of goods named in it.
The problem was with goods that fall under the exemption by virtue of clause 7 of Decision No. 130 but are not separately described in Procedure No. 728. Formally, one question stayed open: does an additional procedure for applying the relief have to be established for them — and if so, by whom and in what form. In practice this turned into different readings at different customs posts and into requests for extra documents where the law did not directly require them.
From 9 September 2026 the answer is written into clause 15 of the Procedure itself: for such goods, determining an additional application procedure is not required. The relief is applied on general grounds, without waiting for a separate act covering a particular category.
One thing to understand straight away: the list of grounds for exemption is not being widened. Goods that did not fall under clause 7 of Decision No. 130 will not start being exempt from duty in September. Only the procedural layer on top changes.
You do not file the declaration yourself — your consignee in Russia does, as the declarant. But the disputes this amendment removes were fed by the shipping file: the description of the goods, the contract, the invoice and the accompanying documents you issue. That is why the change reaches your side of the deal too.
2. Where the duty sits in your shipment: base, rates and what the exemption actually zeroes
To see the effect of the amendment in money, it helps to go back to the basic construction. The object of customs duty is goods moved across the customs border. The base for calculation is the customs value of the goods and/or their physical characteristic in natural terms: weight, volume, number of units.
Hence three types of rate and three calculation schemes: ad valorem — a percentage of the customs value; specific — a fixed amount per unit of measurement; combined — a mix of the first two, where the result is determined by the rule built into the rate itself. The most disputed part of the base is the customs value: it is affected both by the structure of the transaction and by the exchange rate applied when the customs value is calculated. If the value is adjusted upwards, both the duty and the VAT go up. For you as the shipper this is the practical point: the customs value is assembled from your contract, your invoice and your transport documents, and a discrepancy between them is the usual trigger for an adjustment — with a zero duty rate as well.
The exemption zeroes the import duty and nothing else. VAT, excise and the customs fees for customs operations are calculated under their own rules and are not automatically removed by relief on the duty. This is the first place where the landed cost of a consignment gets miscalculated — and where a supplier's promise of "duty-free delivery" turns into an argument with the buyer.
Another frequent confusion is terminological. Duty-free trade is not "import without duty": it is a separate customs procedure, under which goods are placed for sale in duty-free shops. Exemption under Decision No. 130 works differently — the goods are released for domestic consumption, simply without payment of import duty. The two notions must not be mixed in documents, including in the wording on your invoice.
And finally: relief on the duty does not cancel permits, conformity documents or marking. Certification, declarations of conformity and marking codes follow the rules of their own product group regardless of whether duty is paid — and most of that block depends on the manufacturer: technical documentation, samples, factory data, marking codes applied at the plant.
Import duty exemption in the EAEU: from 9 September 2026 no additional application procedure is required for goods not named in Procedure No. 728
3. Before and after: situation by situation
| Situation | Before 9 September 2026 | From 9 September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Your goods are expressly named in Procedure No. 728 | The exemption is applied under the rules of the Procedure | No change |
| Goods are not named in the Procedure but are exempt under clause 7 of Decision No. 130 | The question of whether an additional application procedure had to be determined stayed open | No additional procedure has to be determined |
| Grounds for the relief | Clause 7 of Decision No. 130 | Unchanged — the list of grounds is the same |
| Documents filed with the declaration | General rules; the relief is claimed in the goods declaration by the declarant in Russia | General rules; the relief is claimed in the goods declaration by the declarant in Russia |
| VAT, excise, customs fees | Calculated separately | Calculated separately |
| The shipping file expected from you | Full and mutually consistent commercial set: contract, invoice, packing list, transport documents, product descriptions | Unchanged — the procedural fix does not replace evidence |
The rule starts to apply on 9 September 2026, and declarations filed earlier are handled under the previous approaches. If your consignment reaches the border in the first days of September, the filing date of the electronic declaration stops being a logistics detail and becomes a question of money and release time — so your document set has to be with the buyer before the goods arrive, not after.
The practical outcome is simple: your buyer now has a direct provision to cite in a reply to the customs authority. Until now the argument rested on interpretation; from September it rests on the text of clause 15. The relief is still claimed in the declaration, so what your documents actually say remains decisive — an error in the description or a mismatch between the contract and the shipping papers devalues any ground for exemption.
4. What your buyer in Russia will now ask you for
- Check with your consignee whether the goods you ship are cleared with reference to clause 7 of Decision No. 130 and are not named in Procedure No. 728. If they are, the amendment concerns your shipments directly.
- Expect requests for a tighter document package: contract and annexes, invoice, packing list, specifications and technical descriptions that let the goods be classified and the ground for relief shown at the moment of release, not a month later.
- Align the wording. The description of the goods in the invoice, the packing list and the transport documents must match the contract and the actual cargo. Divergence between papers is the classic reason for additional queries and for days lost at the border.
- Work the dates. For consignments arriving around the turn of the month, agree with the buyer which declaration filing scenario is being used, and send scans in advance so that the choice is not limited by a courier still in transit.
- Treat origin separately. If your buyer also claims tariff preferences based on the country of origin, that is an independent mechanism, unrelated to this amendment, with its own document package — and the origin certificate is issued on your side, in the country of export, which takes time.
- Keep the permit block moving. Certificates, declarations of conformity and marking are handled before the declaration is filed and do not depend on relief from duty; whatever requires the manufacturer — documentation, samples, marking codes — should start early. See certification.
- Be accurate about the money in negotiations. A zero import duty does not reduce VAT, excise or customs fees, so the saving your buyer actually gets is smaller than "no duty" sounds. Show the payments as separate lines rather than one figure.
- Name one person on your side who owns the shipping file. Liability for the declared information stays with the declarant in Russia, but the evidence behind it comes from the exporter, and it is worth having a single point of contact for it.
If you want the clearance side handled end to end for your consignee, that is what customs clearance and full logistics and customs services cover.
5. Frequently asked questions
Do declarations already released have to be redone?
No. The amendment enters into force on 9 September 2026 and concerns the procedure for applying the exemption, not the grounds for it. Declarations released earlier are not revisited because of this edit.
Has the list of goods exempt from import duty become longer?
No. The list of grounds remains the same — clause 7 of CU Commission Decision No. 130. The edit removes the requirement to determine an additional application procedure for goods not named in Procedure No. 728.
Does this exempt the shipment from import VAT?
No. It concerns the import customs duty only. VAT, excise and customs fees are charged under their own rules, and relief on the duty does not cancel them.
Does it change how many goods can be declared in one electronic declaration?
No. The relief is claimed in respect of each item in the declaration, and limits on the number of items in one electronic declaration follow the declaring rules, which are unchanged.
Do we need to change anything in our contracts or invoices?
The amendment itself does not require any change in your commercial documents. What changes is that your buyer no longer has to wait for a separate act covering your product category — the ground still has to be documented in the usual way.
Summary
From 9 September 2026, goods that are not named in Procedure No. 728 but are exempt from import duty under clause 7 of CU Commission Decision No. 130 no longer require an additional application procedure to be determined. The list of grounds for the relief does not change — only the procedure does. For an exporter this means one thing above all: your buyer's ground for exemption now rests on a direct provision, while the evidence behind it still comes from your shipping file, so send a complete and consistent document set before the goods reach the border. We can go through a specific consignment with you as part of customs clearance.
We will check whether your goods qualify for the import duty exemption and prepare the customs clearance in Russia for your consignee.
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