Kazakhstan issues new regulations: imposing punitive scrapping taxes on imported cars from Russia and Belarus

     On May 8, 2026, Kazakhstan's latest policy on adjusting the scrapping tax on automobiles and agricultural machinery (У т и л и з а р и о н н ы й с б о р) was officially implemented. This adjustment has created substantial trade barriers for vehicles imported from Russia and Belarus through extremely high differentiated tax rates.
     Background of official documents
     The legal basis for this policy adjustment is the "On Amending Order No. 448 of November 2, 2021 of the Acting Minister of the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan" On Approval of the Method for Calculating Scrap Tax "." The decree was signed by the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan on March 20, 2026 (Order No. 54) and was completed on April 3, 2026 with the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Registration No. 38306).
     According to regulations, the document will take effect 30 days after its first official release, and the actual implementation start date is May 8, 2026.
     Core policy change: targeted punitive taxation
     According to Order No. 54 's revision of Original Order No. 448, for mainstream M1 (passenger car) vehicles with 1 to 2-liter displacements in the market, the scrapping tax collection standards have diverged like a cliff:
      ·Kazakh locally produced vehicles: The basic rate of scrapping tax is 50 monthly calculation indicators (approximately 216,000 tenge, or US$465), an adjustment factor of 3.5 applies, and the tax burden remains low. 
    ·Imported vehicles from Russia and Belarus: a penalty factor of up to 136 applies. 
     It is estimated that a family car of the same specification imported from Russia or Belarus will have to pay a scrapping tax of approximately 29.4 million tenge (over 63,300 US dollars). This tax amount far exceeds the manufacturing cost and market selling price of the vehicle itself. In the old version of the order, no such separate rate factors were set for union member states.
     Industry compliance and trade impact analysis
     From the perspective of trade compliance and regional supply chain, this policy adjustment sends a clear signal:
    Trade barriers within the alliance are high.  By adjusting domestic fiscal and taxation policies, Kazakhstan has essentially broken the original "unified tariff space" of the Eurasian Economic Union. This marks that in addition to the unification of technical regulations (such as TR CU018), member states have begun to use non-tariff barriers to promote local industry protection.
    The export channel of Russian vehicles is blocked.  Punitive tax rates directly led to the loss of price competitiveness of Russian and Belarusian vehicles in the Kazakhstan market, and the original regional supply chain division of labor faced passive reorganization.
    The market structure is facing reshaping.  The market gap left by the withdrawal of Russian competing products may prompt Kazakhstan to accelerate the introduction of complete vehicle imports from other countries, or further promote the assembly and factory building process of non-Russian foreign-funded enterprises in Kazakhstan.
     industry recommendations
     For automobile and related machinery manufacturing enterprises involving the Eurasian market, it is recommended to pay close attention to the frequently changing domestic fiscal, taxation and access policies of Kazakhstan and member states. When formulating cross-border trade or production capacity layout plans, such non-tariff barriers need to be included in the compliance cost assessment system to avoid potential policy risks in advance.

Source: Leading the way to the sea by Gaoshen's car

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