Russia 2022 - страница 6

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Russia is a member state of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Russia shares its customs and border regime with Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

The customs legislation is codified. It consists of the Customs Code of EAEU, and corresponding EAEU acts, treaties, Federal laws, orders of the President, ordinances of the Government and numerous regulations of the Federal Customs Service. On As an EAEU member, Russia also is a member of multiple free trade agreements (e.g. between EAEU and Singapore, Vietnam or Serbia).

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The Federal Customs Service is a united centralised organization, which is answerable to the Government of the Russian Federation. It is responsible for control of imported and exported goods in the Russian Federation; the collection of customs payments, anti-dumping and compensations duties; the compilation of statistics; the prevention and restraint of cross-border fraud and the violation of the currency control regulation. The Federal Customs Service is a huge organization employing tens of thousands of people and is responsible for the major source of state revenues. It is often criticized for being a difficult and unpredictable organization. Yet, as governmental e-services spiked in Russia in recent years, many of the services are provided via the Federal Customs Service website, accelerating the decision-making process and making it more transparent.

Entry points

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Goods may be imported into the Russian Federation through the entry points on the Russian border. Some goods, however, e.g. alcohol, tobacco or meat, can be imported only through specially designated places.

Import licenses and quotas

As a general rule, goods entering the Russian Federation can be imported without any restrictions. There is, however, a rather narrow list of goods which can only be imported with the authority of a license granted by the government such as, e.g. alcohol, encryption systems or military objects. In some cases the government imposes quotas or special duties on particular goods. This normally includes such goods as meat, fish or products of agriculture.

Since accession to the WTO, number of import quotas has been gradually falling, quotas being effectively replaced by import tariffs. Still, at the moment this report is being written quotas are imposed on several categories of goods, like metal or meat.

In 2021, however, several important changes in customs legislation come in force. Firstly, from January 1, 2021, customs duties are to be paid simultaneously with customs reporting unless the goods are imported from another EAEU member state. Also, new rules are set for expertice of imported items of cultural and artistic values and some medical products. In February 2021 (with a follow-up in April 2021) new rules for filing a customs declaration come into force, and from March 1, 2021, additional marks in paperback documents will not be made in case of electronic customs declaration filing.