ABOUT THE EURASIAN ECONOMIC UNION (EAEU)

The treaty establishing the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) entered into force on 1st January 2015. It includes Armenia; Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia, with Kyrgistan to join in May 2015. At this time, the Eurasian Union represents 175.7 million people. 

Modelled after the EU, it has a Moscow-based executive body, the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), and a political body, the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, where Member States' leaders take decisions by unanimity. It has free movement of workers and a single market for construction, retail and tourism. Over the next 10 years, it aims to create a court in Minsk, a financial regulator in Astana and possibly to open up offices of the EEC in Astana, Bishkek, Minsk, and Yerevan. It also aims to launch free movement of capital, goods and services, and to extend its single market to 40 other sectors, with the pharmaceuticals next in line in 2016.

The EEC is the permanent body of the Eurasian Economic Union. The main objective of the EEC is to ensure the functioning and development of the EAEU and to prepare proposals for its further integration.

The EEC holds the status of supranational regulatory body and the keystone of its activity are the interests of the Eurasian community as an integrative initiative where no national interests prevail over those of the community. Decisions of the Commission are binding on the territory of the EAEU Member States.

The establishment of the EAEU is based on the understanding that Member States together will be able to both reduce the negative effects of global uncertainty and to actively promote their interests in foreign markets. The Eurasian Economic Union is open to other states which share the goals of unifying and are ready to assume the required obligations.

The most important element of the Commission's work is that all decisions are taken on a collective basis. The Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission consists of 12 members (Each Member State is represented by 3 Board Members (Ministers), and one of them is the Chairman of the Board of the Commission.

The Chairman and Members of the Board are appointed by the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council at the level of the heads of the Member States for a four year renewable term. Decisions are taken by voting.

The activity of the EEC comprises separate functions, each supervised by a Board Member (Minister). Each function encompasses a number of industries and areas of economic activity. Members of the Board and EEC Departments coordinate with the relevant government bodies within their respective fields of expertise.

At present, the EEC comprises 23 Departments. Moreover, 18 consultative committees assist the Departments to prepare proposals for the EEC Board and negotiate with national bodies of the Member States. The Board Members (Ministers) Chair the committees in accordance with their professional profile.

In its activity, the Board always maintain an inclusive dialogue with its key partners. The first level is the interstate dialogue which entails development of effective cooperation with national bodies during the decision-making process. The second level is a direct collaboration with the business community. The key professional principles of the EEC activity are avoidance of politicization, balance of interests, effectiveness and transparency.

The EEC is actively involved in international cooperation in order to promote the vision of the Euarsian Community and to attract key partners from the European and Asia Pacific regions to the integration processes.

The key trends of activities of the Eurasian Economic Commission are the following:

• Changing and allocating import customs duties;
• Establishing trade regimes in respect of third countries;
• Statistics of foreign and mutual trade;
• Macroeconomic policy;
• Competition policy;
• Industrial and agricultural subsidies;
• Energy policy;
• Natural monopolies;
• State and/or municipal procurements;
• Mutual trade in services and investments;
• Transport and transportation;
• Foreign currency policy;
• Protection of intellectual property rights and means of individualization of goods, works and services;
• Labour migration;
• Financial markets (banks, insurance, foreign exchange market, securities market);
• Customs tariff and non-tariff regulations;
• Customs administration.