Let us recall that at the end of October, during a government meeting, the situation of the country's automotive industry and the issue of "grey" car imports were discussed. The Prime Minister instructed government agencies to address the problem of "grey" transportation imports. This summer, during his visit to Almaty, Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev stated that Kazakhstan should become an automotive powerhouse.
In July, Adilbek Bektibaev, the head of a department within the Ministry of Industry, announced plans to propose to the Eurasian Economic Union countries the prohibition of importing cars that are more than seven years old when discussing the recycling collection petition. Most of the registered vehicles in Kazakhstan are over 10 years old. According to the latest data from the National Statistical Committee, only 6.2% of the cars are less than three years old.
Sanzhar Bokayev stated, "The government deliberately monopolizes car imports and trade, so that only certain oligarchs can engage in such practices. The government's explanation for these changes is straightforward - to combat grey imports. However, Bokayev categorically disagrees with this explanation.
If Kazakh citizens pay all the fees stipulated by law when importing cars, what kind of grey import is that? When importing a car, you are required to pay a 12% value-added tax, a 15% customs duty, recycling fees based on engine size, SBCTS (Vehicle Safety Certificate-F), and GLONASS, all of which are paid by individuals. Oligarchs, under the guise of domestic producers, pay nothing for these. People believe that personal imports are all grey imports, while car dealerships are what our country needs. Yet, they do not pay value-added tax, they do not pay customs duties, they do not pay recycling fees, they do not pay 'primary taxes' - nothing at all."
Sanzhar Bokayev believes that by adopting such innovations and combating grey imports, the government has only created favorable conditions for car dealers, as buying a car in Kazakhstan is much more expensive than abroad. For instance, the Hyundai Elantra is priced at 4.2 million tenge in China. When a Kazakh citizen brings this car, they must pay customs duties, value-added tax, and excise duties. All these add up to 2 million tenge. The GLONASS button costs 180,000 tenge, and the disposal fee is 646,000 tenge, in addition to temporary storage and vehicle registration. For a Kazakh citizen bringing it from China, the price of this car can reach up to 8 million tenge. In Kazakhstan, the same "bare" Elantra is already priced at 10 million tenge at car dealerships, and if it has higher specifications, the cost of the Elantra can reach 13 million tenge, Bokayev calculates.
The latest news from Kazakhstan can be understood to mean that for individuals, the opportunity to bring brand new cars into Kazakhstan has completely disappeared. Previously, any declarer could import cars through the OTTS system; currently, individuals are prohibited from importing new cars that are less than three years old, which also implies that the parallel import method will come to an end. Companies must have authorization from the brand owner and OTTC certification from EAEU member countries to import vehicles, leading to a situation where only the original manufacturers can import cars. However, the document also mentions that individuals in Kazakhstan can import used cars that are between three to seven years old, but due to the increase in scrapping taxes and other fees, this makes used cars from China lose any advantage they might have had!
Reprinted from the Auto Export Express WeChat public account article.