International legal analysis of privileges and immunities of the Eurasian Economic Union (selected customs aspects)

Abstract

International treaties on both general and special issues, adopted at the universal, regional and bilateral levels, provide a variety of legal mechanisms for the cooperation of States in one of the branches of international law — international customs law. Here there is a very specific set of international legal norms, of course, corresponding to general international law and at the same time introducing its own characteristics. The article provides an analysis of the privileges and immunities that are within the competence of customs administrations. In particular, the author considers the so-called “customs privileges” provided to a certain category of persons in the Eurasian Economic Union (hereinafter referred to as EAEU or Union). The article analyzes the customs aspect of the EAEU law and the relevant provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963 regarding the procedure for granting privileges and immunities to certain categories of people, the movement of diplomatic mail and the consular bag. In addition, the practice of the Russian Federation on the above-mentioned issues is described. The relevance of the research topic is due to the adoption of the new EAEU Customs Code in 2017, which has undergone significant changes in terms of customs regulation of the provision of immunities and privileges for a certain category of persons, the legal analysis of which requires correlation with international standards in this field adopted earlier. The peculiarities of customs regulation within the framework of the EAEU, regarding the granting of immunities and privileges to certain categories of persons, are pointed out and adherence to their norms of international law is noted.