7th Symposium of Lawyers - Andrei Lokhov 2

“Diversity of controls and sanctions in goods road transport: helping your hauliers through the maze of unharmonised applications”

Andrei Lokhov
Assistant Departmental Manager, ASMAP,
Russian Federation

Importing goods into the customs territory: inspection measures and sanctions within the Russian Federation

Customs clearance in Russia is carried out in accordance with customs legislation for the Russian Federation and legislation relating to government control of external economic activities.

Customs legislation for the Russian Federation governs relations in terms of customs related matters, including relations concerning the establishment of the transport procedure for goods and vehicles crossing the customs frontier, these relations appearing during the course of the process of customs formalities and customs inspections, appeals against instruments and action (inaction) by customs authorities and their officials, as well as relations relating to the establishment and application of customs systems, the establishment, enforcement and collection of customs payments.

Customs legislation for the Russian Federation comprises customs regulations for the Russian Federation drawn up in 2003 and other federal laws adopted in accordance with the aforementioned legislation.

Legislative instruments relating to customs do not come into force until the end of a period of one month from the day on which they are officially published.

In the cases directly outlined in customs legislation and other legal instruments for the Russian Federation, the Russian Federal Customs Authority issues legal instruments for customs related matters within the scope of its powers.

In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, commonly adopted principles and standards of international law, as well as international agreements concluded by the Russian Federation, form an integral part of the legal system of the Russian Federation. Where the international agreement of the Russian Federation includes laws other than those outlined in customs legislation, the rules of the international agreement concluded by the Russian Federation apply.

All goods and vehicles transported across the customs frontier must form the subject of customs formalities and customs inspections in accordance with the procedure and the conditions outlined in customs legislation for the Russian Federation.

During the course of customs formalities and customs inspections, customs authorities and their officials are not entitled to establish requirements and limitations that do not appear in customs legislation or other legal instruments of the Russian Federation.

Customs legislation for the Russian Federation establishes the requirements as regards carriers when they arrive on the customs territory. The stipulated requirements differ depending on the type of transport.

Therefore, article 73 of customs legislation for the Russian Federation defines the documents and the information to be submitted for international road transport, when crossing the border.

For international road transport, the carrier provides the customs authorities with the following information:

details of the country where the transport vehicle is registered,
the name and address of the carrier of the goods,
the name of the shipping country and the destination country for the goods,
the name and address of the shipper and recipient of the goods,
details of the vendor and the recipient of the goods, in accordance with the commercial documents in the possession of the carrier,
details of the number of packages, their labels and types of packaging,
the name as well as the goods codes, in accordance with the harmonised system for describing and coding goods, or no less than the four initial symbols of the commercial nomenclature for external economic activity,
the gross weight of the goods (in kilograms) or the volume of the goods (in cubic metres), with the exception of goods with a high clearance,
details of goods, the importing of which onto the customs territory of the Russian Federation is prohibited or restricted,
details of the place where and date when the waybill was drawn up.

The carrier provides the aforementioned information by submitting the following documents to the customs authorities:

the documents relating to the vehicle,
the waybill,
the commercial documents in the possession of the carrier relating to the goods transported.

The procedure for action by customs officials at the border is established by the order of the SCC Russia N 1467 on 18.12.2003.

The authorised official is not entitled to require the carrier to provide information other than that mentioned in article 73 of customs legislation for the Russian Federation.

Where the carrier submits documents written in several foreign languages, the authorised official may, if necessary, require the translation into Russian of only the information outlined in article 73/1 of legislation.

Should the aforementioned documents be submitted in English, a request for translation of the information into Russian is not permitted.

Where goods are transported in accordance with the TIR Convention, the authorised official accepts the completed TIR carnet, which has been formalised in accordance with the requirements of the Convention.

Authorised customs officials are obliged to receive, record and inspect arrival information within 10 minutes of the documents being submitted by the carrier.

After recording information relating to the arrival, the authorised official checks the documents submitted when the arrival was announced.

If the documents submitted by the carrier do not contain all the essential information, the carrier provides the customs official with the missing information by submitting the documents in his/her possession or additional documents put together arbitrarily by the carrier.

If the missing information cannot be provided, at the discretion of the carrier, goods and vehicles may be:

subjected to a customs inspections with the aim of establishing and recording information regarding the name and quantity of goods,
placed in a segregated area within the customs inspection zone (ZTK) at the border crossing post, for subsequent submission of missing documents and/or information to the customs post.

Following the formalisation of documents, the authorised official carries out a customs inspection of vehicles, in accordance with the established procedure, during the course of which he/she checks:
a) that the identification labels attached to the goods compartments (containers), including the customs stamps and seals of the exporting country (transit) for the goods (where these are present) are intact,
b) that the condition of the goods compartment of the vehicle (container) has not been changed.

During the receipt of arrival information stage, the authorised official makes a decision regarding the need to carry out a customs inspection of goods and vehicles in the following cases only:
a) a written request from the carrier or the person transporting the goods for the purpose of establishing and recording information relating to the name and quantity of goods,
b) where goods are imported, on which it is necessary to carry out a customs inspection, as determined by the risk profile.

Carrying out customs inspections during the receipt and recording of arrival information stage for other reasons is not permitted.

The decision regarding the need to carry out a customs inspection must be taken within the time set aside for receipt and recording of arrival information (no more than ten minutes), the authorised official issuing directives in accordance with the procedure established by the legal instrument of the SCC Russia.

Furthermore, the customs inspection is carried out in accordance with the procedure outlined in articles 372 of legislation, as well as by other legal instruments of the SCC Russia, at the latest 24 hours after receipt of the decision to carry it out.

Authorised officials are obliged to carry out customs inspections in the following locations:

only in the customs inspection zone (ZTK) of the vehicle crossing point (in the event that no unloading of goods from the vehicle is planned),
in the temporary storage warehouses (SVKh) and appropriately equipped locations within the customs inspection zone (ZTK) of the vehicle crossing point (in the event that unloading of goods from the vehicle is planned),
in warehouses located close to the vehicle crossing point, or in the absence of such warehouses, in storage depots located in built-up areas close to the border (in the event that no unloading of goods from the vehicle is planned or if there is no storage warehouse (SVKh) at the vehicle crossing point).
In addition, goods and vehicles are placed in storage warehouses (SVKh) only for the period of time needed to carry out the customs inspection and to formalise the corresponding documents, confirming its results.

The goods are then formalised for the customs transit procedure (TIR carnets or transit declaration) in accordance with the established procedure.

Given the highlighting of documents and information in terms of details relating to the infringements of customs legislation, the customs authorities have the right to open an administrative offence inquiry and to carry out an investigation in accordance with the established procedure.

The details of customs infringements and the procedure for bringing a prosecution for infringement of customs legislation appear in the legislation governing administrative offences within the Russian Federation.

The following articles of the aforementioned legislation are those that are most frequently applied to carriers:

Article 16.1. Illegal transportation of goods and/or vehicles across the customs frontier of the Russian Federation

1. The submission to the customs authorities of incorrect information regarding the number of packages, their labelling, the name, weight and/or volume of goods on arrival at the customs territory of the Russian Federation or when departing from the customs territory of the Russian Federation with goods and/or vehicles, either to obtain authorisation for internal customs transit or to end the latter, or when placing goods in the temporary storage warehouse by submitting invalid documents, or by using false identification documents for this purpose or using genuine identification documents that relate to other goods and/or vehicles, -
results in the imposition of an official fine for ordinary citizens of between 1,000 and 2,500 RUB with confiscation of the goods forming the subject of the administrative offence or without confiscation, i.e. confiscation of the subject of the administrative offence, for officials of between 5,000 and 10,000 RUB, and for corporate entities of between 5,000 and 100,000 RUB with confiscation of the goods forming the subject of the administrative offence or with no such measures, or confiscation of the subject of the administrative offence.
NB. 1. For the administrative offences outlined in this chapter, people undertaking the activities of entrepreneurs without the formation of a corporate entity, are deemed to be officially responsible as corporate entities.
2. In order to apply this chapter, false documents, documents obtained illegally, documents containing incorrect information, documents relating to other goods and/or vehicles and other documents with no legal value are considered as invalid documents.

Article 16.9. Non-presentation or submission (transmission) without the authorisation of the customs authorities or the loss of related goods or documents.

1. Non-presentation of goods transported in accordance with internal customs transit or governed by the international customs transit system, at the destination, or submission (transmission) without the authorisation of the customs authorities, or the loss of goods whose status stipulates that they are in temporary storage, governed by the international customs transit system or stored in the customs warehouse or a non-bonded warehouse, –
results in the imposition of an official fine for ordinary citizens of between 1,500 and 2,500 RUB with confiscation of the goods forming the subject of the administrative offence or without confiscation, for officials of between 10,000 and 20,000 RUB and for corporate entities of between 300,000 and 500,000 RUB with confiscation of the goods forming the subject of the administrative offence or without confiscation.

Article 16.10. Failure to comply with the procedure for internal customs transit or the international customs transit system

A failure by the carrier to comply with the deadline established by the customs authorities regarding internal customs transit or international customs transit or the route defined by the customs authorities for transporting goods, as well as the delivery of goods to an inspection zone other than the one defined by the customs authorities as the destination, –
results in a warning or the imposition of an official fine for ordinary citizens of between 300 and 500 RUB, for officials of between 500 and 1,000 RUB and for corporate entities of between 5,000 and 10,000 RUB.

Article 16.11. Destruction, damage, removal, modification or replacement of identification labels

The destruction, removal, modification or replacement of identification labels used by the customs authorities without the authorisation of the customs authorities, as well as damaging or losing these identification labels –
results in the imposition of an official fine for ordinary citizens of between 300 and 1,000 RUB, for officials of between 500 and 2,000 RUB and for corporate entities of between 5,000 and 20,000 RUB.

The administrative offence inquiry is heard by the judge, customs authority or official authorised to hear the inquiry pursuant to the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Depending on the results of the hearing of the administrative offence inquiry, a resolution may be issued:

regarding setting an administrative penalty,
regarding stopping the procedure for the administrative offence inquiry.

The administrative offence inquiry resolution comes into force after the end of the period established for appealing against the resolution, if the resolution in question has not formed the subject of an appeal or has not been contested.

An appeal against an administrative offence inquiry may be lodged within ten days following the issue or receipt of a copy of the resolution.

The administrative offence inquiry resolution may form the subject of an appeal:

issued by the judge – to a higher level court,
issued by an official – to a higher legal authority, to a higher official, or to the local court relating to the hearing of the inquiry,

An appeal against an administrative offence inquiry resolution must be heard within ten days following the day on which it is received, with all the inquiry documents, by the court, the customs authority or the official authorised to hear the appeal.

An official fine must be paid by the person who is officially liable within 30 days, at the latest, from legal enforcement of the resolution to impose an official fine.

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