"Biometrics, fines, and power of attorney will be implemented at the Kazakhstan-China border."

“At the most ‘modernized’ border crossing point between Kazakhstan and China, ‘Nur Zholy – Khorgos’, which has the highest capacity, a working group continues its activities consisting of employees from the Main Transport Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Committee of State Revenues of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan. During the latest meeting on October 23, several important decisions for the market were made,” the statement reads.

CarGoRuqsat will implement biometric identity verification. The system will compare the user’s face captured on video during identification with the photo in their documents, which the user uploaded during registration. This will reduce the opportunities for intermediaries who are not authorized by carriers and who create an unjustified shortage of spots in the electronic queue for personal gain.

Conversely, authorized intermediaries approved by carriers will be able to receive a digital “power of attorney” from the owner or holder of the vehicle, alongside drivers. This means that each vehicle owner or holder will enter data about trusted intermediaries into the system, after which these intermediaries will be able to independently book their place in the queue. Thus, the institution of intermediaries will be registered in the service, allowing for tracking and analyzing the “digital footprints” of each user and their actions in the system. This will enable rapid and comprehensive monitoring of suspicious user activity and identifying potential violators. If a user cancels a reservation more than 10 times a month or fails to show up at the crossing point, the system will automatically deduct a voluntary compensation of 100 MRP for the ‘downtime’ of the crossing point from the account of the owner or holder.

“Analysis has shown that there are quite a few individuals who abuse the system by not using their reservations. For example, the system identified about 1,500 vehicles that did not show up at the crossing point or had their reservations canceled more than three times in the last 30 days. However, the working group has decided to set a ‘threshold’ of 10 instances of not using a reservation within a month. Moreover, the system will ‘monitor’ this, and if the same vehicle owners or holders appear repeatedly on this list, the threshold will be lowered, and nearly all those who abuse the system will end up having to make compensation payments to the budget. Currently, our goal is not to punish. We need to send a signal to the market that the electronic system is transparent, where all operations are clearly visible, and measures will be taken against those who continue to create an artificial shortage. Our ultimate objective is to fully realize the throughput potential of the posts, which should contribute to the development of our country's transport capacity,” explained the Committee of State Revenues.

The members of the working group also intend to work with JSC “State Credit Bureau” on the integration of the electronic booking service with the Unified Insurance Database (EISD).

“Currently, incomplete data is being transmitted to the service. With full integration, the system will be able to see exactly who has the power of attorney to operate the vehicle, thus eliminating bookings made by unauthorized intermediaries,” the committee added.

Additionally, according to the agency, a meeting of the heads of the border customs authorities of Kazakhstan and China took place in October 2024. During this meeting, issues of cooperation between the border customs authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the People's Republic of China were discussed, particularly regarding increasing the throughput capacity at crossing points, recognizing authorized economic operators, controlling radioactive materials, and addressing problematic issues for carriers.

“During the negotiations, the following agreements were reached: the Chinese side supported extending the operation hours of the crossing points ‘Kalzhat’ – ‘Dulaty’ by 2 hours. To increase throughput capacity, it was agreed to establish an additional inspection and control complex at the Chinese crossing point ‘Dulaty – Kalzhat’. The parties also agreed to create a working group to conduct time measurements for vehicle passage at the crossing points ‘Nur Zholy – Khorgos’ in both directions to resolve problematic issues,” the Committee of State Revenues of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan summarized.

It was previously reported that transport companies have appealed to government authorities requesting a suspension of early electronic booking for dates beyond three days. Currently, bookings are available for up to a month in advance. They complained that it is nearly impossible to secure an electronic queue for crossing the border with China. In the CarGoRuqsat electronic booking service, the most popular crossing points ‘Dostyk-Auto’ and ‘Nur Zholy’ are booked 2-3 weeks in advance. Moreover, as noted by the authors of the appeal, due to ignorance or “just in case,” a significant portion of the available slots are reserved by Russian carriers, who later decline their reservations, resulting in the point being ‘idle’, while diligent carriers are forced to wait for weeks. This is not all: in the Telegram support chats for the CarGoRuqsat service, freed-up slots are being resold for $100 or more. Allegedly, bot programs are being used that manage to secure a freed-up queue in a fraction of a second.