Legal developments in anti-counterfeiting and customs enforcement in Kazakhstan under the EAEU Treaty

Foreign brand owners who sell into Kazakhstan — or who manufacture there and export across the Eurasian Economic Union — are operating inside a customs and IP enforcement framework that has shifted materially in recent years. The EAEU Treaty consolidated the single-market rules for all five member states, but it left significant enforcement detail to each national system. In Kazakhstan, that detail has been actively legislated: customs authorities have expanded the tools available for detaining suspected counterfeit goods, the national IP customs registry has been restructured, and the interaction between EAEU-wide trademark protection and domestic border measures has become a live operational question for multinational brand teams.

Before the EAEU Treaty's IP provisions took full operational effect in Kazakhstan, the principal tool for border enforcement was a domestic trademark registration confirmed with the customs authority on an ad hoc basis. Enforcement was reactive: a rights holder would receive notice of a suspicious consignment and had a narrow window to respond. Coordination between Kazakhstani customs and counterpart bodies in Russia or Belarus was informal and inconsistent.

The EAEU Treaty introduced a unified customs code applicable across all member states, but more significantly for IP enforcement purposes, it created the framework for a supranational IP registry — the Unified Customs Register of Intellectual Property Objects — administered through the Eurasian Economic Commission. Under this framework, a trademark registered with the EEC registry receives protection at all EAEU external borders simultaneously, without requiring separate national-level registration with each member state's customs body.

Kazakhstan's national implementation went further in one respect: the State Revenue Committee — which oversees customs — moved to integrate domestic customs registry records with the EEC unified register, reducing duplication for rights holders maintaining both national and supranational registrations. In practice, this means that a foreign brand owner holding a registered EAEU trademark who has enrolled it in the EEC registry can now expect Kazakhstani customs officers to act on that registration without a separate filing at the national level.

The material change for brand owners is therefore not a single legislative event but a structural shift: the default enforcement posture at Kazakhstani borders has moved from reactive (notify-and-act) to proactive (register-once-and-intercept). The practical consequence is that unregistered or unprotected rights receive less protection than before, because customs officers are increasingly working from a registry-based model rather than a complaint-based one.

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The enforcement changes affect foreign companies in three distinct situations, each with different exposure.

The first group comprises foreign brand owners exporting into Kazakhstan — whether directly or through a local distributor — who have not enrolled their trademarks in either the national Kazakhstani customs registry or the EEC unified register. These companies are in the weakest position: their goods may be detained on suspicion of being counterfeit because a third party has enrolled a conflicting mark, and they have no registered right that customs officers can positively identify to release the consignment.

The second group is foreign licensors or franchise principals whose Kazakhstani licensee or franchisee handles customs formalities. The risk here is subtler: the licensee may have enrolled only its own local rights, not the principal's umbrella registration, creating a gap in protection at the border — and potential confusion over who holds the enforceable right in any customs dispute.

The third and most operationally complex group is companies that manufacture goods in Kazakhstan for re-export into the EAEU — particularly into Russia. Under the EAEU's parallel import rules, the exhaustion of trademark rights within the EAEU is regional, not national. Goods placed on the market in Kazakhstan by a licensee are, in principle, available for onward sale throughout the EAEU without the brand owner's consent for that specific movement. For companies that want to maintain distribution channel discipline across the EAEU, this regional exhaustion principle creates a structural enforcement gap that no amount of Kazakhstani customs registration can entirely close.

"The EAEU's regional exhaustion rule means that brand protection strategy in Kazakhstan cannot be designed in isolation — it requires a coordinated position across all five member states, or channel discipline will unravel at the first cross-border resale." — Aigerim Serikbayeva, Contributing Regional Analyst — Kazakhstan · EAEU Trade, Customs & Market Entry

The practical priority for any foreign brand owner with Kazakhstan exposure is to audit the registration position in two registers: the national Kazakhstani customs registry maintained by the State Revenue Committee, and the EEC unified register administered by the Eurasian Economic Commission. These are not redundant — each has different procedural requirements, different terms of protection, and different interactions with border enforcement.

For companies with an EAEU-wide trademark registered through the national patent offices of the member states, the EEC unified register is the strategically important registration: it activates protection at all five external borders simultaneously and is the instrument most likely to be checked by customs officers in Kazakhstan as the integration matures. The national registry remains relevant as a backstop and as the route for rights that have not yet been submitted to the EEC.

Companies using Kazakhstani distributors or franchisees should review their contractual arrangements to confirm that the licensee is obligated to maintain and renew customs registry filings on the principal's behalf, and that there is a mechanism for the principal to step in if the licensee fails to do so. The absence of such a clause has caused consignment detentions in practice when a registration lapses mid-shipment.

For manufacturers exporting from Kazakhstan into the broader EAEU market, the regional exhaustion issue requires legal advice that spans at least Kazakhstan and Russia simultaneously. A unilateral Kazakhstani registration strategy will not address the parallel import exposure — that requires a coordinated approach to licensing, distribution agreements, and potentially product differentiation that falls outside customs registration alone.

The firm advises foreign companies on IP enforcement strategy across Kazakhstan and Russia, including registration, border measure activation, and coordination between the EEC registry and national customs systems. For cross-border matters touching both jurisdictions, the firm works with trusted Kazakhstani counsel to provide a coordinated advisory position.

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Several aspects of the EAEU customs enforcement framework as applied in Kazakhstan remain subject to ongoing development, and foreign companies should approach them with care.

The standard for customs officers when making a detention decision — specifically, how much weight they give to a goods owner's assertion that an import is genuine as against a registry-holder's potential claim — has not been uniformly settled across Kazakhstani administrative practice. In some districts, released consignments have been subject to re-examination on the same grounds; in others, a positive registry match is treated as sufficient to release. Companies with high-volume import flows should obtain specific legal advice on how the relevant customs post is likely to apply the standard in practice.

The interaction between the EAEU parallel import rules and Kazakhstan's own domestic intellectual property legislation has also produced interpretive divergence. Kazakhstan's national IP legislation has been amended several times to align with EAEU requirements, but the transitional provisions have not always been applied consistently by the courts. This is particularly relevant for companies that brought enforcement proceedings under the old regime and are uncertain whether those proceedings remain valid against a respondent relying on EAEU-based arguments.

Finally, the EEC unified register itself is still maturing as an operational instrument. Application processing times, the standards for evidence of use required on renewal, and the interaction between the EEC registry and national trademark registrations remain areas where the Eurasian Economic Commission's published guidance and actual administrative practice do not always align.

• [IP Protection & Enforcement in Kazakhstan — Practice Overview](/jurisdictions/kazakhstan/ip/)
• [Market Entry & Company Formation in Kazakhstan](/jurisdictions/kazakhstan/company-formation/)
• [Distribution & Franchising in Kazakhstan](/jurisdictions/kazakhstan/distribution-franchising/)

Q: What specifically changed in Kazakhstan's customs enforcement for trademark holders under the EAEU Treaty?

A: The principal change is structural rather than legislative: the default enforcement model has shifted from reactive complaint-based detention to proactive registry-based interception. Under the EAEU Treaty, Kazakhstan's State Revenue Committee integrated its national customs registry with the Eurasian Economic Commission's unified IP register. A trademark enrolled in the EEC register now activates border protection at Kazakhstani customs points without a separate national filing. Rights holders who relied solely on the old national complaint-based system may find that their goods are less protected than before, while a competing registrant's goods receive automatic priority.

Q: Which foreign companies are most exposed to the new enforcement framework in Kazakhstan?

A: The highest exposure sits with three groups: first, foreign brand owners exporting to Kazakhstan without any customs registry enrolment at either the national or EEC level; second, foreign licensors whose Kazakhstani licensees hold only local registrations that do not cover the principal's broader portfolio; and third, manufacturers exporting goods from Kazakhstan into Russia or other EAEU states, who face the regional exhaustion of trademark rights under the EAEU Treaty and cannot use customs registration alone to control grey-market flows. Companies in the second and third groups often underestimate their exposure because their domestic registration position appears complete but does not account for the cross-border dimension.

Q: What should a foreign company do first when assessing its IP customs position in Kazakhstan?

A: The first step is an audit of the company's registration position in two instruments: the Kazakhstani national customs registry and the EEC unified register. These are independent systems with different procedural requirements and renewal cycles. The audit should also cover the company's licensing and distribution agreements to confirm that counterparties are obligated to maintain registry filings and that the brand owner can step in if they do not. Companies with manufacturing or export operations in Kazakhstan will need advice that covers the EAEU regional exhaustion rules, which requires coordination across at least Kazakhstan and Russia. Vetrov & Partners advises on this cross-border dimension and works with trusted Kazakhstani counsel on matters requiring local admission.

Vetrov & Partners is a Russian boutique law firm established in 2009. The firm is recognised by Pravo-300 — Russia's principal legal directory — for eight consecutive years, and is listed as a trusted adviser by the German Consulate General in Novosibirsk.

The firm's IP Protection & Enforcement practice advises foreign brand owners, licensors, and manufacturers on trademark enforcement, customs border measures, and cross-border IP strategy across Russia and, in coordination with trusted regional counsel, across the EAEU. With over 1,000 matters handled since inception, the team provides direct partner involvement on every engagement and works with contributing regional analysts to cover Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and other EAEU and CIS jurisdictions for clients with multi-market exposure.

Enquiries: info@vetrovpartners.com | WhatsApp / Telegram: +7 (983) 510-38-76 | t.me/vitvetcom

This publication is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice under Russian or any other applicable law. The information herein should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional legal counsel tailored to your specific circumstances. Vetrov & Partners is a Russian-qualified law firm. For matters governed by foreign law or requiring local admission in another jurisdiction, we collaborate with trusted counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. For advice regarding your particular situation, please contact info@vetrovpartners.com.

— Aigerim Serikbayeva Contributing Regional Analyst — Kazakhstan · EAEU Trade, Customs & Market Entry vetrovpartners.com/contributions/