Kazakhstan revises recycling fee for vehicles

The size of recycling fees for vehicles in Kazakhstan has been reduced by 50%, according to the Khabar24 TV channel citing Roman Sklyar, the first vice minister of the country.

«The decision has been made. The current level of financial stimulation of the automobile industry allows us to cut the recycling fee twofold for all types of vehicles and agricultural machinery,» the official said.

The government plans to make allowances to the system when needed. In other words, the fee may be reduced even more or increased if necessary.

According to Sklyar, the recycling fee is an effective incentive for the local automobile industry.

As of January 1, 2022, the recycling fee in Kazakhstan ranged from $1,056 for vehicles with 1,000 cc to $8,096 for cars with 3,000 cc and bigger engines.

Earlier this month President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev shared his opinion about the recycling fee.

«Concerning the recycling fee, we’ve made our decision. The government should be the only recipient of all that money. Now we have to decide what the fee rate must look like. A group of experts is still working on the issue, but it will definitely be reduced. Of course, we have to steer clear of extremes. We can’t waste the money that was supposed to help the automotive industry to get stronger and open our market for junk cars. The recycling fee isn’t a goal in itself. We must make sure that people in our country are able to buy cars and agricultural machinery. I hope that vehicle producers and distributors would react to the fee changes,» said the president.

On February 10, Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov reported that the recycling fee might be significantly reduced but he didn’t reveal any figures.

«The recycling fees for cars and agricultural machinery must be revised downwards,» he said back then.

Public activists in Kazakhstan had urged the government long ago to reduce the recycling fees to $230 per car as along with this fee there is a registration fee. The size of this fee depends on the age of a car: $1.69 if a car is not older than two years; $350 for a car between the ages of two and three; and $3,520 for cars older than three years.

According to some media reports, during the period in January when the recycling fee wasn’t required for a while, the sales of cars significantly grew.