“House of representatives” ratified Customs Code in secret?

The Customs Code of the Customs Union takes effect on July 1, but it remained unclear how many states the Union consists of, two or three.

Formally, the Customs Union of three countries came into force on January 1, but, de facto, the union and common customs territory of the three countries will start real functioning only after the Customs Code takes effect. Russia and Kazakhstan signed the document yet on May 28, but Belarus didn’t delegate its representatives to the meeting. Russia and Belarus failed to agree on controversies on duties on oil products and importing cars by individuals.

On Wednesday, ahead of launching the Customs Code, deputy minister of economic development of Russia Andrei Slepnev said the Belarusian parliament could ratify the document on Wednesday, so in this case the Customs Union would consist of three states from July 1.

Belarusian deputy prime minister Uladzimir Syamashka said some hours after Slepnev’s statement that the country wouldn’t set its position on the Customs Union until July 5, when a meeting of the leaders of the three countries meet in Astana. According to the Belarusian party, the decision will depend on Russia’s position on oil products duties.

Two sources from the Belarusian parliament added intrigues by telling RIA Novosti on Wednesday that Belarus had finally ratified the Code. According to the sources, it was ratified at a closed-door sitting. Officially, both houses of the Belarusian “parliament” didn’t confirm nor deny this information on Wednesday evening.

BelaPAN reported at 10 pm that the “house of representatives” didn’t consider ratification of the Union’s Customs Code at the last plenary sitting of the spring parliamentary setting.

At the same time, an issue on an address to Lukashenka demanding to convene the special fifth session on September 7 was put on the agenda.