On 1 September 2026 Kazakhstan began enforcing measures against “grey” car imports. The government issued the instruction back on 21 July, and over the summer the market filled with rumours of new duties and bans. In reality the rates have not changed — enforcement has. Here is what is now checked, where the “one car a year” rule comes from, and how to legally import a new car in your own name.
What has not changed
Customs duties, the recycling fee and the initial registration fee are the same — the government did not raise them. In July the State Revenue Committee denied rumours of new restrictions for private individuals: the uniform rates for personal imports are set by the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission and have not changed. The relevant ministry put it plainly: there will be no new rules, only enforcement of the ones already adopted.
So a cost estimate made before purchase stays accurate. All payments — duty, 16% VAT, the recycling fee and excise for engines over 3,000 cc — are covered in our 2026 customs clearance guide.
What has changed: personal imports are separated from commercial ones
The key change is that customs now draws a firmer line between two purposes of import. A car for personal use is cleared on a passenger customs declaration. Cars imported for resale must go through a goods declaration — with tax obligations, conformity assessment and a guarantee of payment.
The line is drawn by quantity. As one customs post explained in September, if a person imports more than one car in a calendar year, customs may treat this as import that is not for personal use. No other numerical criteria have been officially announced.
At the same time, oversight of the laboratories that issue the vehicle design safety certificate (SBKTS) was tightened. In early August the Ministry of Trade and Integration reported closing seven laboratories that had carried out tests only on paper; the schemes named included altered VINs, repainting and converted steering. Photo and video recording is now used when laboratories are accredited.
Where the “one car a year” rule comes from
The restriction is not new. Since 8 November 2024 SBKTS certificates have been issued in a digital system that sees when a private individual has already received a certificate for personal use and blocks a second one within the year. The trigger was the statistics: in 2023 one person imported 793 cars in their own name, and 34 people imported more than a hundred each. The September measures apply the same logic at customs: a second car in a year is no longer a personal import.
A new 2025–2026 car: how to import it in your own name
Since 1 December 2024, cars under three years old imported under a vehicle type approval (OTTS) may be imported only by the party named in that document — in practice, the manufacturer’s representative. The basis is the rules of the Eurasian Economic Commission, as clarified by the State Revenue Committee.
This does not shut out private buyers: an individual can still import a new car for personal use by obtaining an SBKTS for it — once a year. For an order from Canada this means a simple rule: the car is registered to the person who will drive it.
What this means if you are bringing a car from Canada
- One car, one owner. Register the car in your own name. If an intermediary offers to clear the car in someone else’s name, that is exactly the scheme the September measures target.
- Vehicle requirements are the same: left-hand drive, emission class Euro 4 or higher, ABS, a driver airbag, ISOFIX, daytime running lights and a connected emergency call system. Details are in our article on the SOS button and SBKTS.
- A clean history matters more than before. Laboratories check VINs more strictly, and a car with a questionable past risks being refused a certificate. How to check a Canadian car’s history is covered in a separate guide.
- Budget in advance. Rates have not gone up, so a calculation made before purchase remains reliable. You can estimate payments in the calculator.
The Canadian market is left-hand drive from the factory, and we work only with new cars and clean used cars from dealers — no auction write-offs. For such cars the September tightening means not new risks but less grey-market competition. Delivery process and what we ship are on the page about cars from Canada to Kazakhstan.