1 In line with Article No. 3 of the Agreement on the movement of goods by individuals for personal use across the customs border of the Customs Union and on customs operations connected with their release, the risk management system is applied to classify goods transported by individuals across the customs border as goods for personal use. The following risk indicators are taken into account:

information about the goods declared by an individual either orally or in writing in a passenger customs declaration;
the nature and quantity of goods;
frequency of border crossing by an individual and (or) transportation of goods across the customs border.

In determining the intended purpose of goods imported by individuals, the principle of division of powers is applied.

Persons responsible for making decisions at different levels include:

1. Customs Clearance and Control Department officer (hereinafter – Inspector), in charge of customs clearance;
2. Customs Clearance and Control Department shift supervisor (hereinafter – Shift Inspector);
3. Head of the Customs Clearance and Control Department (Deputy Head);

1. Head (deputy head) of the customs house;
2. Deputy head for customs control and clearance;
3. Head of the customs house.

In determining the authority of the persons responsible for making decisions about the intended purpose of goods, depending on the number of transported goods and the frequency of transportation, please see the attached table. In making a decision on the intended purpose of goods an official in charge of customs operations should take into account the assortment of goods transported by individuals in one transport vehicle. Transportation of three and more identical items of durable use specified in Paragraph b) of the Notes in one vehicle (except for buses with more than 12 seats and rail cars) by different individuals can be considered as commercial activity, even if they meet the criteria for quantity and frequency of movement established in these guidelines.

When the intended purpose of the product is determined by customs officials, starting from the shift inspector up to the top, the following factors should be taken into consideration:

- family composition;
- individual’s need in this type of the product;
- workplace or its absence;
- place of residence (a resident of the Customs Union member state, a foreigner; if the resident of the Customs Union member state – then a city, a regional center, a village, etc.), vicinity to the border;
- circumstances of the trip (purpose and frequency);
- circumstances of the previous trips, if the individual falls into the category of persons specified in the Notes to the table;
- the assortment of the transported goods;
- the documents confirming the legal retail acquisition;
- the frequency of transporting identical goods through the border by different individuals;
- other factors established during the further communication with the individual.

2. Under thecriterion “the nature of the product”, the goods are recognized as goods for personal use taking in account their consumer properties, area of application or their use for personal, family, domestic, other purposes that are not connected with business activities keeping in mind Supplement 1 to the Agreement on the movement of goods by individuals for personal use across the customs border of the Customs Union and on customs operations connected with their release (hereinafter – the Agreement).
It is recommended to pay special attention to the individuals who have no marks confirming the entry into the neighboring state, if such marks are required in the passport or substituting documents. Such individuals should be denied release of goods since they cannot act as customs applicants in line with Clause 3-3, Article 8 of the Agreement. 

If individuals importing durable goods through the “green corridor” made the last entry less than a month ago or the imported goods are listed in subparagraph b) of the Notes, it is recommended to suggest that such individuals should use the “red corridor” and declare the goods with the subsequent entry of the data into the Doka automated system.  

In determining the purpose of the goods, passenger customs declarations with a mark confirming the release of goods or declarations with a mark denying registration issued by the customs officials are taken as documents confirming that the goods purchased within a certain period of time were not transported across the border. Such declarations are recognized by customs officials as the proof that the goods have not been imported by the individual despite frequent border crossing by the latter.

3. If imported items cannot be classified as goods for personal use, and an individual refuses to declare them, a customs inspector makes an entry in the section “For official use only” of the passenger customs declaration or in a customs examination report: “Release of goods denied under Article 3 of the Agreement. Recommended: to carry out export of goods, place them under customs procedures”. The individual should be recommended either to declare the goods in accordance with the rules for juridical persons and self-employed businessmen or carry out export of these goods from the Republic of Belarus.


In case one disagrees with the decision taken by the national customs clearance station, the decision can be reviewed by the deputy head or head of the customs house. To this end the goods are placed under customs transit procedures in the manner prescribed by the Customs Code of the Customs Union (hereinafter – the Customs Code) so that they could be delivered to the departmental customs clearance station of the customs house, which operates in the area where the individual resides, or to the nearest departmental customs clearance station fitted with a temporary storage warehouse. In case the goods are not classified as goods for personal use, individuals should be notified of the necessity to get the goods transported to the departmental customs clearance station and submitted for customs procedures envisaged by the Customs Code. 

After the aforesaid goods are removed from the Republic of Belarus or placed in temporary storage warehouses, the individual has the right to to submit a written request to the head of the customs house to classify the goods as goods for personal use (in the form of a resolution on the application or as a written response to the applicant). 

If the person refuses to remove the goods from the Republic of Belarus or submit them for customs transit procedures until they arrive at the departmental customs clearance station, the goods are arrested in accordance with Chapter 21 of the Customs Code of the Customs Union.
To determine the purpose of the exported goods an individual is to submit only a declaration on acquisition of goods within the customs territory of the Customs Union (taking into account Supplement 1 of the Agreement). This declaration can be confirmed by the relevant documents or on the basis of relevant identification labels, tags on the goods and/or their packaging.

Determination of customs value of goods

The customs value of goods for personal use transported across the customs border shall be determined on the basis of the value declared by an individual, confirmed by one or more original documents containing the information about the cost of goods (contracts, specifications, invoices, bills, pro formas, commercial bills, receipts, receipts for payment, inventory, etc.)

The value is verified using the data in the original documents presented by an individual by means of inspecting the availability of one or several documents confirming the transaction value declared by an individual.

Documents to support the declared value of goods should contain the correct information about the goods including the appearance and quantity, place and time of purchase. 

With that, a customs official shall independently determine the customs value of goods taking into account the information on prices on similar products and other data available to the customs bodies (data books, catalogues of producers/retail sellers of the identical goods, Eurotax catalogues, information on prices presented to the State Customs Committee by the world’s major producers, information on the goods that were declared earlier, including e-data of the documents of the Minsk Central Customs received through the Zapros IR system, information from the local shopping websites) if the following risk indicators are present:

the absence of documents and (or) information on the cost of goods imported by the individual for personal use;

corrections, contradictions in the submitted documents;

Other risk indicators, which give reason to believe that the documents submitted by an individual person and (or) the information is not accurate.

While comparing the customs value of goods declared by an individual with the information on prices available to the customs authorities as well as evaluation of such goods, please be aware that the identical product means a product which characteristics are similar to the characteristics of the imported goods, i.e. comparable to the imported goods in intended purpose, use, quality, technical and other characteristics.Division of powers between customs officials in determining the purpose of the goods transported under the Agreement on the movement of goods by individuals for personal use across the customs border of the Customs Union and on customs operations connected with their release *

*Notes:

The frequency of transportation and the number of goods to be classified as personal-use goods:

a) once a month of 1 item of not more than 3 types of durable goods (outerwear, auto parts, and other durable goods not named below), not more than three descriptions of construction materials. Durable goods are the goods which, taking into account their general application, have a working lifespan of more than a year, including washing powders, rinsers, detergents weighing more than 3kg.

• b) once a year one item of gas (or electric) cooks, funnels, food processors, microwave ovens, ovens, baths, shower units, kitchen sinks, wash-basins, bidets, toilet bowls, water closet tanks, refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, washing machines, sewing machines, boilers, LCD monitors, laptops (notebooks ), xerographic printers, receiving equipment, air conditioners, prams (of every type depending on the age of the child), outboard engines, except those imported with the payment of the aggregate customs duties.

• с) in respect to the goods specified in subparagraph b) the decision on classifying them as goods for personal use is taken by the deputy head or the head of the customs house if they are imported more often than once a year.

• d) The criteria for the number of products for inclusion into the category of goods for personal use by different categories of persons do not apply to movable goods with obvious signs of use (no packaging, labels, tags, signs of wear, etc.), including second-hand goods (clothing), which an individual wears taking into account the season and weather conditions.

At the same time these guidelines can be applied to used goods as well if their number and character give grounds to doubt that these goods are imported for personal use (second-hand).

The customs control department