AZE.US
REAL party leader Ilgar Mammadov has criticized new amendments to Azerbaijan’s Customs Code, saying the government is expanding pressure on businesses and economically active citizens instead of moving toward freer trade.
In a Facebook post, Mammadov said lawmakers had added a large package of new provisions to the code, arguing that if the changes were that extensive, the authorities should have drafted a new document “in the spirit of free trade” and with a clearer economic purpose.
His main criticism focused on two measures: mobile inspections and possible travel restrictions for citizens with customs debts.
Mammadov warned that mobile customs inspections could become another tool of bureaucratic pressure on companies. He said sending inspectors to businesses would force entrepreneurs to spend more time, money and labor explaining their operations, while also creating fresh opportunities for corruption.
He also objected to a provision allowing restrictions on foreign travel for people with customs debts. In his view, if customs authorities assign a debt to a citizen, whether fairly or not, that person could effectively lose the ability to leave the country.
Mammadov questioned whether customs debt is really a large enough problem to justify such a measure. He argued that small-scale debt issues can be handled by the economy itself, while repeated attempts to close the border to businesspeople and active citizens only damage the wider business climate.
The REAL leader linked the issue to a broader concern: the outflow of working-age citizens from Azerbaijan. He said many families leave the country permanently because of the environment created by the authorities, and each departing family takes away part of the country’s economic capacity as both consumers and producers.
According to Mammadov, only the REAL party’s member of parliament voted against the amendments in the Milli Majlis.
He accused the ruling New Azerbaijan Party government of narrowing the country’s economic space and said Azerbaijan has already been pushed toward the bottom of the region in terms of economic environment. Mammadov ended his post by calling on voters to support REAL in the next election.
AZE.US