12/16/24 Eurasian Economic Union reaches Agreement on Unified E-Commerce

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) has reached fundamental agreements on the draft Agreement on Electronic Commerce of Goods in the EAEU, which establishes uniform requirements for the operation of EAEU trading platforms. The EAEU includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia and occupies a geographical area between Eastern Europe and Western China. Its population is 183 million people, and its GDP is $2.4 trillion.

The agreement provides that tangible and digital goods, as well as services related to e-commerce, will move freely in the countries of the Eurasian "five", and member states will not introduce tariff, non-tariff or other restrictions for sellers of goods and trading platforms that are not provided for in the Union treaty. At the same time, trading platforms should not create discriminatory conditions for sellers and buyers from other EAEU countries. "The main objective of the agreement is to reduce the risks of barriers to the free movement of e-commerce goods due to the lack of a comprehensive Union law in this area and the active development of its own regulatory framework in the member states," said Alexey Slepnev, Minister for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

It is expected that within the framework of the agreement, the EAEU countries will approve a set of supranational rules. Public offers, product cards, order information, and returns of goods and funds will be processed according to general rules. It is assumed that sellers and trading platforms will be able to standardize their business processes on a single platform.

Consumer rights in e-commerce will be protected in accordance with the legislation of the country where the consumer is located, and a single standard for the return period of goods will be introduced for the EAEU - within 14 days.

The agreement will also include measures to limit spam mailings, mandatory protection of personal data, and the provision of tools for pre-trial dispute resolution based on associations of professional market participants and consumer protection societies.

According to Slepnev, the volume of the e-commerce market in the EAEU is about $82 billion, and by 2030 this figure will grow by 30% and amount to about $110 billion: “Currently, the total share (of e-commerce) in the EAEU retail is about 13%, but there is steady growth. And by 2030, we predict growth to 30%. We are clearly moving towards this forecast.”

There are 78 million regular retail Internet users in the EAEU. Synchronization of e-commerce regulation between the EAEU countries will likely give a significant boost to the development of multilateral trade within the EAEU.

Source: portal “Russia's Pivot to Asia”