Luxury goods lockout: Kazakhstan limits imports of machinery, furs and jewelry

Кей тауарларды шетелден кіргізуге шектеу қойылады

Kazakhstanis will be restricted to importing certain goods only once per year / Illustration generated by neural network, photo editor: Dastan Shanay

Kazakhstanis will soon be banned from importing machinery, furs and jewelry for personal use more than once a year. The country’s Ministry of Finance is also setting limits on the quantity of such goods allowed per person.

The State Revenue Committee under the Ministry of Finance has amended regulations defining which goods transported by individuals across the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) customs border qualify as personal-use items. The draft regulation has been published on the government’s Legalacts.egov.kz portal and is open for public comment until April 22.

Under the proposed rules, individuals will be allowed to import the following items for personal use from EEU countries only once per year:

One fur product (including headwear) of a specific type, size and style per person.
Two cell phones per person.
Two tablets per person.
One laptop.
Five pieces of jewelry.
One bicycle.
One baby carriage per person.

Other goods may be transported across the EEU border no more than once a month. These restrictions do not apply to used items.

Additionally, only one vehicle for personal use may be imported per year. Exceeding this limit would classify the import as a commercial activity.