Yerevan/Mediamax/. State Revenue Committee of Armenia facilitated the procedure of including additional kitting into the customs cost of cars.

Mediamax reports that the Head of Customs Control Department of State Revenue Committee of Armenia Gevorg Saghoyan stated today that the new mechanisms have been in effect since February 15 and aim at neutralizing corruption risks in the process of customs clearance and saving time of importers and the customs.

“If previously the number of additional kitting, included in the customs cost of the car, was not limited, now there are only four of them”, Gevorg Saghoyan stated, explaining that for cars, produced in CIS countries, the elements of additional kitting are from now on the hatch (1.5% markup to the customs cost), the non-factory wheel disks (1.5%), audio-video system (3%) and conditioner (4%),

For cars, produced outside CIS (off-road vehicles, sedans, compact cars and sport cars), elements of additional kitting are now the leather cabin (3.5 markup to the customs cost), non-factory wheel disks (1.5%), audio-video system (4%), as well as xenon headlights (1%).

According to Gevorg Saghoyan, the previous order caused difficulties both for the customs and for importers, who often did not understand the mechanisms for calculations and did not manage to control this process. “Now for each element of additional kitting in a car, there are percentages applied, calculated from the customs cost of the car, which allow reflecting their depreciation in the final customs cost, depending on the year of the car issue”, Gevorg Saghoyan stated.

He also informed that according to the new order, the presence of additional kitting elements will from now on be taken into account for cars with the cost over $50 thousands, cars of “Luxury” class, busses and micro busses, as well as trucks.

“Due to the new order of customs cost calculation for transport means, corruption risks disappear, the process becomes absolutely transparent and controllable, the importer may independently determine even before the customs clearance how much this procedure will cost him/her”, Gevorg Saghoyan stated.

He added that detailed information on the order is available in Yerevan specialized customs on registering transport means and in the information service of the State Revenue Committee.

Head of Customs Control Department expressed confidence that the changes will have positive influence on the volumes of car import in Armenia, which have significantly reduced as a result of the global financial-economic crisis.

According to the statistic data of the State Revenue Committee of Armenia, car import volume in 2009 reduced by 58.7%, making 17 296 items.