The agreement on electronic trade in goods in the EAEU was signed at the 47th meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, which was held on August 6-7 in Cholpon Ata. The document sets out the key conditions for cross-border trade and operation of marketplaces within the union.
The four norms change the alignment for sellers directly. The single return period for all five countries is 14 days. Equal conditions for sellers from any EAEU state: platforms will not be able to discriminate against them, in particular through commissions. General rules for the return of goods and funds. The right to pre-trial dispute resolution.
The jurisdiction of the dispute is tied to the buyer. As explained by the Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov, disputes with consumers will be considered in the jurisdiction of the country where the buyer is located. For a Russian seller trading in Kazakhstan or Belarus, this means proceedings under local law.
The agreement provides for the free movement of tangible and digital goods and related services in the markets of the five countries without additional restrictions other than those provided for by the EAEU Treaty.
All norms have no direct effect.
"The agreement does not include all the rules of direct action. Some of them have been relegated to lower—level by-laws, such as commission decisions, because regulatory flexibility is needed. There is still a lot of work to be done at the commission level," Reshetnikov said.
At the same time, Russian legislation will have to be compared with the union legislation. The Minister noted that when developing a package of supranational acts, approaches will be compared with the law on the platform economy, which comes into force on October 1. He did not rule out changes to this law after agreeing on common rules within the EAEU, including the unification of requirements for the return of goods, product cards and the display of order data.
The signing of the agreement itself does not require changes to national legislation.
What the seller should do. Those who trade for the EAEU countries should bring the return dates to 14 days in advance — a discrepancy with national practice creates a risk of dispute. To assess the readiness for proceedings under the law of the buyer's country: it makes sense to check contracts and offers for this scenario. And keep in mind the law on the platform economy: the requirements for cards and the display of order data may change after October 1.
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