Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Good news for online shoppers in Azerbaijan: the country will not impose customs restrictions on the purchase of mobile phones and other products on electronic trading platforms for private consumption.

The citizens can order products via the Internet in accordance with a previous decision by the Azerbaijani government, a source in the telecommunications market told Trend.

The issue covers exemption from customs duties of goods imported via international mail traffic or courier services, the value of which does not exceed an amount equivalent to $1,000 per individual for 30 days.

The cost of goods falling under previous exemption - middle of November 2013, was under $200.

"The control measures are implying intersection of speculation. That is the classification of imported goods on the subject of whether or not they are intended for private consumption or imported for commercial purposes is under consideration,” the source said.

Misusages were the primary reason that made the State Customs Committee to propose to reduce the equivalent rate from $1,000 to $ 200.

The initiative of the Committee was to prevent tax evasion. The issue became the subject of discussion in a number of state departments of the country.

The Communications and High Technologies Ministry thinks there is no need to reduce this rate, as ordinary consumers should not suffer from the fact that the market is not insured from speculators.

Electronic shopping in Azerbaijan is strongly developing. Last year e-commerce volume in the country increased by about 2.5 times.

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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar

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