Baku, Azerbaijan, July 13
By Huseyn Veliyev - Trend:
Azerbaijan can apply tough measures to combat the illegal import of mobile devices, a source in the government told Trend.
The source noted that, the study of world practice is an important issue in the fight against smuggling.
"For example, this problem was solved within the shortest possible time in Turkey. This success was achieved thanks to high fines and severe penalties. Moreover, tough sanctions provide for either imprisonment from one to five years, or payment of a fine established by the court within 10,000 punitive days. The court, taking into account the property status of the culprit, can appoint a daily amount of a fine in the amount of 20 to 100 Turkish liras," the source said.
The system of registration of IMEI codes of mobile devices has been in operation since 2006 in Turkey, and the mobile devices imported into the country must be registered within one month, otherwise they will be disconnected from the network. The registration fee is 170 Turkish liras. In addition, every citizen is allowed to register one device every two years.
"In Azerbaijan, smuggling and illegal sales of mobile devices of both famous brands and non-original versions, have reached a critical level. Attempts of the Customs Committee to combat this phenomenon show that, it is quite difficult to completely eradicate this illegal penetration, and more advanced mechanisms are needed for this," the source said.
About 30,000 mobile devices were imported to the country over the past month, of which 25,000 were imported from Dubai according to the data provided by the Customs Committee.
"As it turned out, the owners of online stores operating outside Azerbaijan are involved in this business. It is just they who send mobile phones in the name of the citizens of Azerbaijan, which are then sold both by wholesale and retail. And the people in whose name the mobile phones were sent, do not even have an idea about what is happening," the source said.
The source noted that, smuggling causes great damage to the economy of the country, because in addition to the above facts, it also creates an atmosphere of unfair competition in the market, forms an illegal market and opens access to low-quality products on the market.
"About 80 percent of the market is formed by the "gray market" today, according to the official sales channels, and the budget can’t get the full amount of taxes worth about four-five million manats every month due to the illegal import of mobile devices. The absence of tough mechanisms of influence only plays into the hands of smugglers and wreaks havoc on the positions of official distributors. In addition, the illegal product is not secured by the manufacturer's warranty, and consumers cannot be absolutely sure that in case of purchase of defective products or breakdowns they will be able to return them or get them repaired," the source said.
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