The House of Representatives was not expected to consider the ratification bill for the Code of the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia at its June 14 meeting, the lower chamber's press office told BelaPAN.
Unconfirmed reports suggested that the lower chamber had planned to ratify the Customs Union's Code at its June 10 meeting but the bill had been removed from the agenda at the last minute.
Experts believe that the ratification of the Code of the Customs Union, which is scheduled to come into full-scale existence on July 1, was delayed after Alyaksandr Lukashenka's key talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow on June 11 failed to yield any compromise agreements on economic issues that have divided the two countries and threatened the Customs Union's future.
On May 28, Kazakhstan and Russia agreed to put the Union into full-fledged operation on July 1 on a bilateral basis without Belarus. Belarusian Prime Minister Syarhey Sidorski boycotted the talks in St. Petersburg in protest against Russia’s export duty on crude oil supplied to the country.
The ratification bill was added to the lower chamber's spring session agenda last week. The House is scheduled to hold its next meeting on June 30 to close its spring session. It may hold a meeting on June 23 if necessary.
The Russian parliament ratified the Customs Union's Code in late May and the Kazakh legislature did so on June 10.
