Single Economic Space de facto uses WTO norms
According to Viktor Khristenko, the regulatory framework of the Single Economic Space heavily relies on WTO norms and rules. He remarked that norms, rules, procedures, and obligations of Russia within the framework of the WTO are applicable to other Customs Union participants. "While de jure not all the Single Economic Space members are part of the WTO, de facto the norms the Eurasian Economic Commission adopts rely on equivalent norms and procedures of the World Trade Organization," explained the Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission. "In my opinion, it is a positive thing for foreign trade participants and investors, who strive for getting market rules to comply with generally acknowledged, acceptable and time-tried procedures".
"The integration process is not just gaining momentum. It really demonstrates its effectiveness, which is confirmed by researches carried out by such institutions as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The bank named our project the most successful regional integration project in 2012," remarked Viktor Khristenko.
As of 1 January 2012 Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan are busy building the Single Economic Space on the basis of 17 fundamental agreements. "We will have to accomplish a stupendous piece of work within two years. We will have to pass about 60 documents to build upon these agreements in such important areas as macroeconomics, finance and foreign currency, industry policy, agriculture policy, trade policy, transport policy, and energy policy," said Viktor Khristenko.
The official said that the leaders of the three countries had given instructions to enable the operation of the Eurasian Economic Union as of 1 January 2015. "It is a massive undertaking. The thick of it will involve the reshuffling of competence between national and supranational bureaucracies," said Viktor Khristenko.
He remarked that the transfer of competence to the supranational level will create a unique opportunity to advance the reformation of the regulatory sphere because the best practices of global and supranational institutions have been utilized as the basis of the regulatory framework of the Customs Union, the Single Economic Space and the future Eurasian Economic Union.
"Our use of the opportunity, the support the deployed legal base will provide to the political will determine not only the success of the integration project but also the effectiveness of the regulatory environment in the Eurasian space on the whole," said Viktor Khristenko.
