How to enter the EAEU market

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) unites Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan into one customs territory: goods imported into one member pay import duty once, under a common tariff, and then move to the others without further duty. Product rules are largely shared too: many goods need a certificate or a declaration of conformity under the union's technical regulations and the EAC mark. To enter, check your product's 10-digit code and duty, find out which technical regulations apply, choose a country of entry and a local partner who can act as the applicant for conformity documents, and settle how payments will work before you sign.

For an exporter this means one set of rules for a market of about 180 million people. It does not mean one market in practice: tax rates, labelling systems, payment conditions and demand still differ between the five countries. Below is what is common, what is national and how to prepare.

What is common across the union

• The customs territory. The EAEU Treaty came into force on 1 January 2015, and the union has a common Customs Code since 2018. There is no customs control on goods moving between members.
• The product code. All members use the same commodity nomenclature, ТН ВЭД ЕАЭС (TN VED EAEU). Its codes have 10 digits; the first 6 are the international HS code, which means the same in almost every country.
• The import duty. One Common Customs Tariff applies to goods from outside the union, whichever member they enter. The tariff is published by the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), the union's executive body.
• Technical regulations. The union has dozens of technical regulations, known by the Russian abbreviation ТР ТС (TR CU, technical regulations of the Customs Union) or ТР ЕАЭС. They set safety requirements for product groups such as low-voltage equipment (TR CU 004/2011), food (TR CU 021/2011) and toys (TR CU 008/2011).
• Trade remedies. Anti-dumping and other protective duties are imposed by the EEC for the whole union, not by single members.

What stays national

• VAT and excise. Each member sets its own rates. VAT is paid in the country where the goods are imported or, in trade between members, where the buyer is.
• Digital marking of goods. Russia requires many product categories to carry a digital code in its Chestny ZNAK system; other members run their own systems for some goods.
• Exceptions in the tariff. Kazakhstan applies lower rates than the common tariff to a list of goods under its WTO commitments. Such goods are meant for Kazakhstan, and moving them on to other members means paying the difference.
• Licences, currency rules and demand. Some licences and permits are national, and so are banking rules, taxes and buying habits.

Step 1. Find your code and the duty

Start from your 6-digit HS code and find the 10-digit ТН ВЭД ЕАЭС code for your exact product. The last four digits can change the duty rate, so do not guess them. How to do this is covered in How to find the HS code for a product.

Then check the rate in the Common Customs Tariff on the EEC website. Look at three things:

• The type of rate: a percentage of the value, an amount per kilogram, litre or piece, or a combination.
• Preferences for your origin. The union has free trade agreements with several countries, among them Vietnam, Serbia and Iran, and gives reduced or zero duty to goods from some developing and least developed countries. Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and some other CIS countries trade with EAEU members mostly without duty under the CIS free trade agreement. To get a preferential rate, you need proof of origin, usually a certificate of origin.
• Protective duties on your product from your country. More on where to find them in How to check import duties and trade restrictions.

Step 2. Check which technical regulations apply

If your product falls under a technical regulation, it can only be sold in the union after its conformity is confirmed. There are two main forms:

• Certificate of conformity. Issued by an accredited certification body, usually after product tests and, for series production, an assessment of the factory. Used for products with higher risk.
• Declaration of conformity. The applicant itself draws up the declaration that the product meets the requirements, based on test reports and other evidence; the declaration is then entered in the unified register. Used for many lower-risk products.

Which form you need is set in the regulation for each product. Some goods, for example certain specialised foods and chemicals, also need state registration. Both certificates and declarations are entered in unified registers, are valid in all five countries, and allow you to put the EAC mark on the product.

The key point for a foreign company is that the applicant must be registered in the union: the manufacturer, its authorised representative or the importer. A manufacturer based outside the union therefore applies through an authorised representative or an importer. In practice you need a local partner before you can certify, and you should agree in writing whose name the documents are in and what happens to them if you part ways. Our guide How to find a distributor abroad covers this point in the contract.

Labelling must give product information in Russian, and in some members also in the state language. If your goods fall into a category with digital marking in Russia, plan for it with your importer.

Step 3. Choose the country of entry and a partner

• Russia is by far the largest market in the union.
• Kazakhstan is the second largest and a route to Central Asia; many companies serve neighbouring countries from there.
• Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan are smaller markets, each with its own neighbours and trade links outside the union.

Once goods are cleared in one member, they can be sold in the others without paying duty again. But each sale between members has its own VAT and paperwork, and your partner needs to know how to handle them. Choose the entry country by where your buyers are, not only by where clearance looks easiest.

Step 4. Plan payments and check sanctions

This is where the EAEU differs most from other markets, and the situation changes often:

• Sanctions on Russia and Belarus. The EU, the US, the UK and some other countries restrict trade with Russia and Belarus: lists of sanctioned companies and people, bans on supplying certain goods, and limits on banks. If your company, your bank or your goods fall under such rules, they apply even when you sell through another EAEU member.
• Re-export checks. Banks and authorities in sanctioning countries look closely at shipments of sensitive goods to Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, because goods can move on to Russia without customs control.
• Payments. Payments to and from Russia often go in roubles or yuan through banks that are not restricted, and can take longer than usual. Agree the currency, the banks and the payment route before you sign the contract.

Check the company you deal with against sanctions lists (see How to check a foreign company before a deal), and ask your bank before the first shipment. For larger deals, talk to a lawyer who works with sanctions.

How Orion Markets helps

Orion Markets has foreign trade shipment data for three EAEU members: Russia (since 2012), Kazakhstan (since April 2021) and Armenia (since October 2025). Since July 2025, data for Russia covers only trade with Kazakhstan, and reports on Russia carry a warning about it: comparisons with earlier periods show a change in coverage, not real market dynamics. Belarus and Kyrgyzstan are not covered as markets yet, but companies from these countries appear as partners in the data of other countries. Current periods are on the data coverage page.

• Analyze markets by product shows the importers and exporters of your product in Kazakhstan, Armenia or Russia, prices per kilogram, partner countries and countries of origin.
• Find new export markets takes the duty gap inside the union into account. If you name your country of origin and the market is an EAEU member, the price comparison adds an EAEU duty adjustment. Two tags explain it: Duty-free within the EAEU when you and the market are both members and suppliers from outside the union hold a significant share, and EAEU competitors pay no duty when you pay import duty while members supply a significant share duty-free. For each market the section also shows the duty and VAT rates; trade restrictions for your country and trade remedies open after free sign-in, and the full list of documents opens with the full analysis.
• Find buyers lists importers in these countries for your product.

Example: tomatoes in Kazakhstan

In 2025, by our data, Kazakhstan's imports of fresh tomatoes (code 070200) came mainly from companies in Turkmenistan (about 75% of the value), China (16%) and Uzbekistan (7%). Companies from the other EAEU members together had well under 1%. So in this market membership alone has not won producers from Russia or Kyrgyzstan a place: three quarters of the value comes from a neighbour outside the union, and Uzbekistan already sells to Kazakhstan mostly duty-free under the CIS free trade agreement. An EAEU producer does have an edge over China, which has no free trade agreement with the union, so its goods get no reduced duty. Membership is not the only thing that decides a market: for fresh produce, distance, season and existing links between neighbours matter at least as much. Before you count on the union as your advantage, check who already supplies the market. You can build such a report for your product in Analyze markets by product.

Common mistakes

• Treating the EAEU as one country. Duty and technical rules are common, but taxes, marking, payments and demand are not.
• Leaving certification to the end. Without a local applicant and the right documents, goods cannot be sold, even after clearance.
• Documents in the distributor's name without an agreement. Changing partners later can mean certifying again.
• Ignoring the payment route. A signed contract does not help if the payment cannot reach you.
• Using a 6-digit code for the duty. Rates are set for 10-digit codes.

To see who imports your product in the union, open your product in Analyze markets by product with Kazakhstan, Armenia or Russia as the country, or compare these markets with others in Find new export markets.