Since 2020, if I order, let us say, a 250-euro costing phone, then I will have to go to the airport and to deal with corrupt customs officers who will not let me take my ordered phone until I pay them a bribe. According to the requirements of the Eurasian Economic Union I will be able to receive web-ordered products costing up to 200 euro within a day in the post office. To tell the truth, I am not so worried about driving to the airport and not even paying the customs duty, as looking at the custom officers’ “disturbed eyes”, eyes that reflect brain activity, and there is nothing in the brain, except for bribe-taking from customers.
Accordingly, the reforms, I think, should proceed in three directions. First of all, it is necessary to develop Internet market and create conveniences for citizens, instead of creating obstacles. Now it is clear that calling a taxi, ordering food, concert, train, airplane ticket, and hotel booking are more convenient and cheaper on the Internet than all the other ways. Likewise, ordering phones, computers, cars and other spare parts via the Internet is much more profitable than buying in stores in Armenia. The threshold should therefore be up to 1,000 dollars. Of course, there should be a threshold: one thing is that I buy spare parts for my car, another thing is when I am engaged in the spare parts business.
The second direction, I believe, is to make the customs clearance completely online, so that if I purchase something online, I can also do the clearance online and receive the product from the post office. It will save me from unpleasant meetings with custom officers.
The third and most important direction is changing the mindset of society. According to the Soviet (Eurasian) custom, we think that a state official, in this case, a customs officer, does not do a service to us, but is some kind of a “ruler” with whom we have to “find a common language”. In fact, there is no need to please him, he has to do his job, and if he does not, then you must immediately complain and make sure that he gets punished. You should not worry about being a “whistle blower”, as soon as you see the official starts to “make a fool out of you” immediately speak to him with the language of the law. For this, of course, you should be sufficiently literate and know the law.
It is also important to be careful about doing internet shopping. Here are some “insurance” options. But we will talk about them another time.
