Juralink’s customs lawyers have recently registered the increase of queries relating to the disputes with Russian customs on non-declaration of goods.
Indeed, individuals when crossing the Russian border, although not pursuing commercial interests, often are not concerned about the rules for declaring the accompanying items, assuming that goods intended for personal use purchased by themselves or received as a gift are not subject to customs control and duties.
However, this is not always the case.
First comes the stress experienced by the person, who undergoes the customs scrutiny and is often confronted with immediate confiscation of their favorite jewelry or watches for a customs expertise. Hereafter, receipt of official notice on administrative investigation and impending penalties or even criminal liability. All this can be avoided if you inform yourself on declaration requirements when entering Russia beforehand.
Below you can find a simplified categorization of goods when imported into Russia:
- Commercial goods;
- New personal belongings;
- Used personal belongings.
If you import a precious watch for further sale in Russia a customs duty of 7 to 12% is charged upon import, depending on the product type, and VAT.
Personal jewelry newly bought when enjoying a shopping day during the holiday can be imported duty-free up to the value of 10.000 euro if traveling by plane, where a customs duty of 30% of purchase price would become applicable above the specified threshold.
Used personal belongings are generally imported duty-free.
It is the customs officer in place to decide whether he/she acknowledge the imported goods as commercial or personal. In doing so the officer would take into account:
- the person’s declaration;
- the nature and quantity of goods;
- the frequency of a person crossing the border and (or) the movement of goods across the customs border by this person or to him.
If your personal belongings are subject to duty, they must be declared upon import and you should cross the customs border using the red channel at all times. Please, make sure you also have the documents confirming the value of the imported goods (receipt, payment checks, etc.) with you. In the absence of the evidencing documents, the customs authority determines the value of the imported items on their own.
The export of personal goods from Russia is not subject to any duties or taxes. However, in some cases it is still worth looking into the “red corridor” and filing a declaration to make sure you won’t face any problems when coming back with the same things.
Be aware that failure to declare your jewelry when exceeding the duty-free limit is punishable by an administrative fine ranging from 50% to 200% of the value of the imported and not-declared items and may also lead to the confiscation of such personal goods. At the same time non-declaring of goods (jewelry, watches, jewels) in case their value exceeds 1,000,000 RUR (approx. 10,000 EUR) may also result in criminal liability for smugglers punishable by a fine in the amount of up to 1,000,000 RUR or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of one to three years, or by forced labor for up to five years, or by imprisonment for the same term.
Taking into consideration the above legal consequences, we recommend to promptly seek for a competent legal advise and a customs lawyer to represent your interests in the event you were stopped at the green channel and are now being confronted with a customs investigation for non-declaring of accompanying goods. Professional support is valuable not only to decrease the tension in the negotiations with the authority, but also to secure you from swindlers trying to use the situation, as well as brings practical positive results such as reduction of the customs penalties up to overall dismissal of the customs investigation and receiving back your valuable belongings.
Juralink customs experts would be glad to provide you with any further advise regarding dealings with Russian customs authorities. Do not hesitate to contact us via our contact form or on the phone.
