South Ossetia and Russia customs joining up

Nizhni Zaramag, the only port of entry on the border between Russia and South Ossetia, will now be serviced jointly by the Russian and South-Ossetian customs personnel.

Until now, people and cargoes had had to pass through two customs points when crossing the border – one on the Russian side of the border, and the other on the South-Ossetian territory. As of now, South-Ossetian customs officers will be teaming up with their colleagues on the Russian side of the border to jointly control all border crossings.

The new arrangement is based on the April 2016 Russia-South Ossetia customs services integration agreement and is supposed to hold until the end of the year.

It will speed up the movement of cargoes across the border, head of South Ossetia’s customs committee Murat Tskhovrebov told journalists. “So, as soon as a Russian customs officer clears an export, his South-Ossetian colleague will effect clearance procedures for the import of the cargo in question,” he said.

The agreement in the customs area also includes the transfer to the South Ossetian customs legislation of the Eurasian Union and the Russian Federation in 2020.

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