Import regulations and customs duties  - Distribution - Transportation of goods - Standards - Patents and brands

Import regulations and customs duties

Regulations
Today, most of the goods can be imported into Kazakhstan without a license although a contract signed with the authorities has to be presented anytime. However, an import license is obligatory for a series of products: chemical products, medicines, medical equipment, petroleum exploitation equipment, waste, etc.
Import of narcotics, fire arms and ammunitions is prohibited.

Transportation of goods

By road
The road network extends over 158,581 km. A part of this network is maintained by the staff of governmental maintenance, while another part is maintained by private organisations.

By rail
The railway network extends over 13,841 km, but this figure does not include industrial railway lines.

By sea
Sea river transport extends over a distance of 40,002 km over the Syrdariya River and Ertis River.
The big sea port complexes are : Aqtau, Atyrau, Oskemen, Pavlodar, Semey.

By air
Airports are relatively numerous but only 55 are best adapted to the international standards.

Standards

Since 1992, some member States of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) have made laws aimed at protecting consumers and environment. Due to this fact, imported goods are also subject to a system of certification, which corresponds to the technical requirements. Every supplier in Kazakhstan has, therefore, to adapt to these rules relating to the marketing of goods. A large number of machines, equipment and specific products require to be certified. Nearly all food products are subject to certification. If the product is already certified or manufactured according to the international standards, then the certification procedure is faster.
As for labelling, the country of origin must be mentioned, sometimes the number of the lot, expiry date and period of preservation. These indications can be written in Kazakh, Russian, English and German languages: just follow the instructions of the importer.

Patents and brands

In the field of intellectual property, Kazakhstan is a signatory member of the following international agreements : The Convention for the creation of World Intellectual Property Organisation, Paris Convention for the protection of industrial property, Madrid Arrangement regarding international registration of trademarks, Patent co-operation Treaty (PCT) and Eurasian Patent Convention. The last three agreements enable to obtain the protection of trademarks or patents in Kazakhstan through registration of applications in Paris or Geneva.