Kažimír stopped imports of Chinese textile and footwear

Finance Minister Peter Kažimír has ordered customs officials to open every container with Chinese textile or footwear and check whether the declared price corresponds to its real value. This will effectively halt such imports and force fraudsters to stop using Slovakia for their tariff evasion. Eurostat statistics show that several months ago, artificially cheap Chinese textile and footwear imports to Slovakia resumed. It remains to be seen whether the fraudsters corrupted the Slovak customs officials or are abusing their incompetence. Legal importers and fraudsters use Slovakia due to its relatively low customs fees, but Kažimír says “Slovakia is not interested in becoming a customs hub for Asian imports.“

Massive tariffs evasion from 2013-14 recently led to the resignation of tax and customs authority FS President, František Imrecze.

(N/2)