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The Russian economic market today is very attractive for many foreign citizens, who sometimes make many mistakes when importing goods into Russia. Our law firm regularly receives requests for assistance in cases when an individual fails to comply with the rules when crossing the customs border of the EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union), as well as foreigners who are not citizens of the countries participating in the Eurasian Customs Union.

Our lawyers help clients find answers to the following questions:

☑ What goods are forbidden to be imported by individuals and legal entities into Russia?
☑ What permits must you obtain when importing goods into Russia?
☑ What documents are required to import goods into Russia?
☑ What is the customs clearance of the goods?
☑ What is the liability for non-declaration or false declaration of goods?
☑ How much do I have to pay for importing goods?
☑ What are the most common problems when crossing the green channel with goods subject to customs duties?
☑ What are goods for personal use?

Due to the complex and ambiguous judicial practice on these issues, we decided to highlight the most common problems when importing goods from abroad into Russia.

Our practice shows that few people know about the list of goods prohibited by law in Russia.

WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO IMPORT INTO RUSSIA NOWADAYS?

● Weapons, ammunition for them and their components without a special permit (this category includes certain types of edged, gas and air weapons);
● Endangered representatives of flora and fauna;
● Pornographic photo-, video-, and printed products, as well as any things that include components of state secrets, incitement to terrorism, racism, religious or national hatred, Nazism;
● Non-certified fruits and vegetables;
● Narcotic drug;
● Biotissues, blood and its components, organs.

Situations in which customs legislation violation by individuals entails administrative and criminal liability deserve special attention.

An individual may be held administratively liable as a result of committing administrative offenses in the field of customs regulation, defined by the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (RF).

THE TYPES OF ADMINISTRATIVE LIABILITY FOR CUSTOMS RULES VIOLATION ARE:

● Concealment of goods from customs control by using recesses or other methods that make it difficult to detect goods, or by making some goods look like others when moving them across the customs border of the EAEU (Art. 16.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses);

● Non-declaration in the prescribed form or false declaration of goods subject to customs declaration (Art. 16.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses);

● Non-observance of prohibitions and (or) restrictions on the import of goods into the EAEU / Russian customs territory and (or) the export of goods from the EAEU / Russian customs territory (Art. 16.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses);

● Non-declaration or false declaration of cash and (or) monetary instruments by individuals (Art. 16.4 of the Code of Administrative Offenses);

● Movement of goods and (or) vehicles or persons across the border of the customs control zone or within it, or carrying out production or other economic activities without the customs authority’s permission, if such permission is required (Article 16.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses);

● Temporary goods storage terms violation (Art. 16.16 of the Code of Administrative Offenses);

● Failure to export temporarily imported goods and (or) vehicles within the established time limits from the EAEU customs territory by individuals, or failure by individuals to re-import into the RF temporarily exported goods subject to mandatory re-import in accordance with Russian legislation (Art. 16.18 of the Code of Administrative Offenses);

● Transfer of the right to use or dispose vehicles temporarily imported by individuals without complying with the conditions established by the EAEU customs legislation (Art. 16.19 of the Code of Administrative Offenses);

● In other cases provided for by the Code of Administrative Offenses of the RF.

An individual is found criminally liable as a result of committing crimes defined by the Criminal Code of the RF.


TYPES OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR CUSTOMS LEGISLATION VIOLATION:
○ evasion of customs payments levied from an organization or individual (Art. 194 of the Criminal Code of the RF);

○ smuggling of cash and (or) monetary instruments (Art. 200.1 of the Criminal Code of the RF);

○ smuggling of alcoholic and (or) tobacco products (Art. 200.2 of the Criminal Code of the RF);

○ smuggling of strong, toxic, poisonous, explosive, radioactive substances, radiation sources, nuclear materials, firearms or their main parts, explosive devices, ammunition, WMD, their delivery systems, other weapons, other military equipment, as well as materials and equipment that can be used in making WMD, their delivery systems, other weapons, other military equipment, as well as strategically important goods and resources or cultural values, or especially valuable wild animals and aquatic biological resources (Art. 226.1 of the Criminal Code of the RF);

○ smuggling of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, their precursors or analogues, plants containing narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their precursors, or parts thereof containing narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their precursors, tools or equipment under special control and used for manufacture of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances (Art. 229.1 of the Criminal Code of the RF).

Often in practice there are cases of foreign citizens contacting us, who do not declare goods when the duty-free limit is exceeded. In this case, such persons face an administrative fine under part 1 of Article 16.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the RF in the amount of 50% to 200% of the value of the goods that were the subjects of an administrative offense. In addition to a fine, the person involved may also face confiscation of the goods themselves.

It should be noted that non-declaration is understood as a situation in which a person actually does not fulfill the requirements established by the customs legislation for the performance of customs operations, namely, for the declaration of goods being moved. According to the Decree of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the RF of October 24, 2006 N 18 "On some issues arising from the courts when applying the Special Part of the Code of the RF on Administrative Offenses", one does not declare all or part of the goods to the customs authority, namely:

- Part of a homogeneous product is not declared;

- or, when declaring a consignment consisting of several goods, information about only one product is reported in the customs declaration;

- or a product is presented for customs clearance, other than the one, information about which was declared in the customs declaration.

Declaration is a prerequisite for the goods movement across the customs border and consists in a statement to the customs authority using the customs declaration of information about the goods, about the chosen customs procedure and (or) other information necessary for the goods release (subparagraph 35, paragraph 1, Article 2 of the Customs Code of the EAEU).

Customs declaring is in electronic form. Cases when customs declaration is allowed in writing are established by paragraph 4 of Art. 104 CC EAEU:

1) When goods undergoes the customs transit procedure;
2) Goods for personal use;
3) Goods sent by international mail;
4) International transportation vehicles;
5) when using transport, commercial and (or) other documents as a customs declaration, including those provided for by international agreements between the Member States and a third party;
6) In other cases determined by the Eurasian Economic Commission and the legislation of the Member States.

When declaring goods, depending on the declared customs procedures and persons moving goods, the following customs declaration types apply: goods declaration, transit declaration, vehicle declaration and passenger customs declaration.

As a goods / transit declaration, one can use transport, commercial and (or) other documents, including those provided for by international agreements of the Member States with a third party, containing information necessary for the release of goods.

In cases determined by the Eurasian Economic Commission, you must fill in a customs value declaration, which declares information about the customs value of goods, including the method for determining the customs value of goods, the amount of the customs value of goods, the conditions and circumstances of the transaction with goods.
A customs value declaration is an integral part of the goods declaration (clause 2, article 105 of the Customs Code of the EAEU). The form and procedure for filling out the declaration of customs value are established by the decision of the Commission of the Customs Union of September 20, 2010 N 376 "On the procedures for declaring, controlling and adjusting the customs value of goods."

There are cases, when the declarant or customs representative submits an customs declaration of goods with false information about their classification code according to the unified Commodity Nomenclature for Foreign Economic Activity of the Eurasian Economic Union; that is, when describing goods, incomplete / false information is given about their quantity, properties and characteristics that affect their classification, or information about their name, description, country of origin, their customs value, or other information, if such information served (or could serve) as the basis for exemption from customs duties, taxes or to reduce their amount.

The specified act shall entail imposing a fine on individuals and legal entities in the amount of one half to two times the amount of customs duties to pay, with or without confiscation of goods that are the subjects of an administrative offense, or confiscation of the subjects of an administrative offense without imposing a fine. Officials are liable to a fine from ten thousand to twenty thousand rubles.

The connection of falsely declared information with exemption from fee payment, or with an underestimation of their amount is a necessary condition for holding administratively liable for this offense (Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the RF of October 24, 2006 N 18 "On some issues arising from the courts when applying the Special Part Code of the RF on Administrative Offenses). Thus, if the false information declared did not affect the amount of calculated customs payments, then there are no grounds for holding the person administratively liable under this article.

In all the above cases, the lawyers of our company will help you file a complaint with the judicial authorities against decisions, actions (inaction) of the customs authorities and their officials, including appealing the examination conclusion in relation to imported goods, or returning the goods as illegally confiscated.

Should you have any questions or you are in need of legal aid in Russia, do not hesitate to contact us:
Tel: +7 909 961-19-09
Email: legalsolutions@inbox.ru
Visit us: Moscow, Zubovskiy bulvar, building 4, room 308