Kazakhstan may be flooded with old cars if Russia raises scrappage feesThe number of old cars imported to Kazakhstan my considerably increase in case Russia should raise its car scrappage fees, Kazakh Minister of Industry and Construction Kanat Sharlapayev said."Because of a large difference in prices, we may again see a large inflow of old cars, which will pose a serious risk to traffic safety. Such a risk is quite real. Other countries protect themselves from the import of what we may call jalopies, by introducing special laws," Sharlapayev said at a government briefing on Tuesday.However, the increase in the scrappage fees by 70-85%, which is to come into effect in Russia from October 1, 2024, will not affect the car prices in Kazakhstan, according to the minister.In July 2024, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and Construction rejected the petition demanding that the scrappage fees on vehicles imported into the republic should be abolished. The ministry said that illegal imports undermined the competition in Kazakhstan’s auto market.The car scrappage fees have been in effect since 2016 after Kazakhstan joined the WTO and reduced the import customs duty on new cars from 30% to 15%, and on used cars from 48% to 15%. The scrappage fees help protect the domestic market from the import of used cars that do not meet environmental requirements, the ministry said earlier.The petition against scrappage fees received more than 50,000 signatures. Those who signed the petition demanded reducing the scrappage fees for passenger cars (category M1) to 100,000 tenge and for other categories of vehicles to zero tenge. The petition also demanded that the scrappage fees for agricultural machinery should be abolished. In addition, there was a requirement to reduce the rate for the initial registration of vehicles to 0.25 MCI (the monthly calculation index, which is currently set at 3,692 tenge).On June 4, the Ministry of Industry and Construction approved the composition of the working group, representing the concerned government agencies. In addition, the working group included the initiator of the petition, as well as representatives of a number of public associations, and the industrial sector. (ICE ALMATY)

Fonte notizia: INTERFAX