Chapter 1. BASIC PRINCIPLES
Article 1. Customs Regulations and the Customs System of the Russian Federation
1. In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the customs regulations are subject to the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation in establishing the norms and the rules whose observance shall enable persons to fulfil their rights to convey merchandise and means of transport across the customs border of the Russian Federation (hereinafter, the customs border).
The customs regulations shall be exercised in accordance with the customs legislation of the Russian Federation and the effective Federal Law of the Russian Federation on the State Regulation of Foreign Trade Activities.
2. The customs system incorporates the methods and the facilities applied to ensure the observance of customs-tariff regulations, prohibitions, and restrictions stipulated by the effective Federal Law of the Russian Federation on the State Regulation of Foreign Trade Activities associated with conveyance of merchandise and means of transport across the customs border.
3. In accordance with Russian federal legislation, the Government of the Russian Federation exercises general supervision of the customs system.
The Federal Customs Authority shall warrant proper fulfilment of customs-related tasks and uniformity of application by all customs authorities of the customs legislation of the Russian Federation on the territory of the Russian Federation.
4. The Russian Federation participates in international cooperation in the field of customs regulations with a view to harmonizing and amending the customs legislation of the Russian Federation in conformity with generally recognised international norms and practices.
Article 2. Customs Territory and Customs Border of the Russian Federation
1. The territory of the Russian Federation constitutes the only customs territory of the Russian Federation.
2. The customs territory of the Russian Federation also includes man-made islands, installations, and structures situated in the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation as well as those located on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation subject to the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation in accordance with Russian federal law.
3. The territory of the Russian Federation may incorporate special economic zones set up in accordance with Russian federal legislation, which constitute an integral part of the customs territory of the Russian Federation. The merchandise placed on the territory of said special economic zones shall be regarded as situated outside the customs territory of the Russian Federation in terms of its liability for customs duties, taxes, and economic prohibitions and restrictions pursuant to the effective Federal Law of the Russian Federation on the State Regulation of Foreign Trade Activities, except in those instances stipulated by this Customs Code and other federal laws.
4. The boundaries of the customs territory of the Russian Federation, including the perimeters of the territories specified in Items 2 and 3 herein, shall comprise the customs border of the Russian Federation.
5. The customs border coincides with the State Border of the Russian Federation except the boundaries of the territories specified in Items 2 and 3 herein.
Article 3. Customs Legislation of the Russian Federation. Legal Acts of President and Government of the Russian Federation
1. The customs legislation of the Russian Federation regulates relations in the sphere of the customs system including those stipulated by the adoption of the customs border crossing procedures for merchandise and/or means of transport, arising in the process of customs registration and customs control measures, due to persons’ complaints to legal acts, actions (inaction) of customs offices and their officers, resulting from the introduction and application of various customs procedures, as well as the relations associated with the establishment, levying and collection of dutiable payments.
The customs border crossing procedures applicable to the merchandise and means of transport conveyed across the customs border, the latter coinciding with the State Border of the Russian Federation, shall be governed by the Federal Law on the State Border of the Russian Federation and in those instances which are not regulated by the Federal Law on the State Border of the Russian Federation, by the customs legislation of the Russian Federation.
As regards the relations predicated on the establishment, levying and collection of dutiable payments, the customs legislation of the Russian Federation shall only apply in those instances which are not regulated by Russian legislation on taxes and duties.
2. The customs legislation of the Russian Federation consists of this Customs Code and other federal statutes adopted pursuant to this Customs Code (hereinafter, the statutes of the customs legislation).
3. The relations specified in Item 1 herein may also be regulated by decrees issued by the President of the Russian Federation.
Based on and pursuant to the statutes of the customs legislation and pertinent decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation shall issue specific resolutions and directives pertaining to the customs system.
Article 4. Validity of Statutes of Customs Legislation and other Legal Acts of the Russian Federation
1. The statutes of the customs legislation, the decrees issued by the President of the Russian Federation, the resolutions and the directives of the Government of the Russian Federation (hereinafter, other legal acts of the Russian Federation) shall apply to the relations resulting from their enactment, and they shall have no retroactive effect, except in those cases stipulated by Item 2 herein.
2. The statutes of the customs legislation and other legal acts of the Russian Federation adopted to improve the customs formalities applicable to persons shall have retroactive effect provided such effect is directly stipulated by them. In other situations, the statutes of the customs legislation and other legal acts of the Russian Federation may only have retroactive effect if the latter effect is stipulated by federal laws or the international treaties to which the Russian Federation is party.
3. The statutes of the customs legislation shall go into effect not earlier than in one month from the date of their official publication.
4. The prohibitions, restrictions or requirements pertaining to the customs system set forth by other legal acts of the Russian Federation shall go into effect not earlier than in one month from the date of official publication of said acts except the instances when:
the respective clauses of the legislative acts, on whose basis and pursuant to which other normative legal acts of the Russian Federation have been issued with an intent to warrant the observance of the prohibitions and restrictions introduced in accordance with the Law of the Russian Federation on the State Regulation of External Economic Activities, directly stipulate that they be enforced within a shorter period of time;
this Customs Code sets forth a special procedure for the enforcement of said prohibitions, restrictions or requirements.
Article 5. Legal Acts of the Federal Customs Authority
1. In those instances which are directly defined by the statutes of the customs legislation and other legal acts of the Russian Federation, the Federal Customs Authority within the limits of its competence shall issue normative legal acts pertaining to the customs system.
2. The normative legal acts of the Federal Customs Authority shall be subject to state registration and official publication in accordance with the procedure established for the state registration and official publication of normative legal acts issued by the federal executive power bodies.
3. The normative legal acts of the Federal Customs Authority shall go into effect not earlier than in ten days following their official publication with the exception of the instances when:
respective clauses of the statutes of the customs legislation and of other legal acts of the Russian Federation on whose basis and pursuant to which the Federal Customs Authority has issued its normative legal acts ought to go into effect within a shorter period of time;
the normative legal acts of the Federal Customs Authority stipulate more equitable procedures than those currently applied. In this case, the time terms for the entry into force of such legal acts may be shortened or they may have a retroactive effect.
this Customs Code establishes a special procedure for the entry into force of the normative legal acts issued by the Federal Customs Authority.
4. The normative legal acts of the Federal Customs Authority affecting the rights and lawful interests of the persons involved in entrepreneurial and/or other economic activities may be appealed in arbitration tribunals in accordance with the provisions of the Arbitration Procedural Code of the Russian Federation.
Article 6. Requirements Laid to Statutes of Customs Legislation, Other Legal Acts of the Russian Federation, and Legal Acts Issued by the Federal Customs Authority
1. The clauses and provisions of the statutes comprising the customs legislation and the normative legal acts pertaining to customs ought to be worded and formulated so as to ensure clear understanding by every person of his (or her) rights and obligations, as well as his (or her) actions and their sequence in the process of conveyance of goods and means of transport across the customs border.
2. The clauses of the legal acts of the Federal Customs Authority may not contradict the provisions of the statutes of the customs legislation or any other legal act of the Russian Federation or the requirements, prohibitions and restrictions that are not stipulated either by the statutes of the customs legislation or by other legal acts of the Russian Federation.
3. A normative legal act pertaining to the customs system shall be regarded as inconsistent with this Customs Code if said act:
1) has been issued by a body that is not authorised by this Customs Code to issue such legal acts or its issuance contravenes the order established for the issuance of such legal acts;
2) repeals or constrains the rights of persons with regard to goods or means of transport or affects the powers of the customs authorities laid down by this Customs Code;
3) changes the provisions, conditions, sequence, or order of actions set forth by this Customs Code undertaken by participants of the relations regulated by the customs legislation of the Russian Federation or by any other persons whose responsibilities are defined by the provisions of this Customs Code;
4) alters the substance of the provisions set forth in this Customs Code, or in case such provisions are applied with connotations other than those stipulated by this Customs Code.
4. The normative legal acts specified in Item 1 herein shall be regarded as inconsistent with this Customs Code in case at least one precondition specified by Sub-Item 3) of Item 3 herein applies. Said normative legal act can only be pronounced inconsistent with this Customs Code by an explicit court ruling to that effect.
5. No person may be prosecuted for a violation of any customs regulation if such violation was predicated on vagueness of the legal norm in question contained in the normative legal act pertaining to the customs system.
6. The state shall be obliged to recompense the losses incurred by persons as a result of untimely adoption, entry into force, and/or publication of normative legal whose passage is stipulated by this Customs Code and reimburse the losses caused by inaccurate information circulated by the customs authorities. Compensations shall be repaid from the Treasury of the Russian Federation in accordance with the order set forth by the applicable Russian legislation.
Article 7. Application of Customs Tariff Regulations, Prohibitions and Restrictions Stipulated by the Federal Law of the Russian Federation on the State Regulation of Foreign Trade Activities and Statues of Federal Legislation on Customs Duties and Taxes
The customs system shall be subject to customs tariff regulations, prohibitions and restrictions stipulated by the Federal Law of the Russian Federation on the State Regulation of Foreign Trade Activities and the statues of Russian legislation on taxes and duties effective on the date of acceptance of a customs declaration unless other provisions thereto apply.
Article 8. Application to Customs of International Treaties of the Russian Federation
1. In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the generally recognised principles and norms of international law and the international treaties to which the Russian Federation is party shall constitute an integral part of the legal system of the Russian Federation.
2. In case an international treaty to which the Russian Federation is party contains regulations conflicting with those stipulated by this Customs Code, the regulations of said international treaty should prevail.
Article 9. Determination of Time Terms Established by This Customs Code
1. Commencement and termination of the events stipulated by this Customs Code, which are defined either by a time interval or by the date of their commencement, shall be calculated in accordance with the order laid down by this Customs Code.
2. Unless this Customs Code establishes a special order for determining the time terms of events, the rules set forth in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation shall apply with consideration of the provisions contained in Item 3 of Article 129 of this Customs Code.
Article 10. Handling of Information Received by the Customs Authorities
1. Any information obtained by the customs authorities in accordance with the statutes of the customs legislation, other federal laws and normative legal acts of the Russian Federation or the legal acts issued by the Federal Customs Authority shall be used exclusively for the customs purposes.
2. The customs offices, their officers and other persons who have legitimate access to the information described in Item 1 herein pursuant to law or in accordance with agreement shall have no right to make public, use for personal purposes, or pass to a third party, including the state authorities, any information constituting a state secret, commercial, banking, tax-related, or other secrets protected by law, or other confidential information, except in those instances stipulated by this Customs Code and other federal laws.
The customs authorities shall furnish the information submitted to them to the federal bodies of the executive power branch, if such bodies need said information for fulfilling the tasks vested in them by federal law, abiding by the procedures coordinated between the Federal Customs Authority and the respective power body of the executive power branch based on the observance of Russian legislation protecting state secrets, commercial, banking, tax-related and other secrets protected by law or other confidential information.
The federal executive power bodies, their officers, and other persons who enjoy legitimate access to the information provided by the customs authorities shall have no right to make public, use for personal purposes or pass to a third party any such information, except in the instances stipulated by federal law.
3. The information referred to in Item 1 herein, which constitutes a state secret, commercial, banking, tax-related, or other secrets protected by law or other confidential information, shall be subject to special storage and access procedures.
4. Loss of the documents containing state secrets, commercial, banking, tax-related, or other secrets protected by law or other confidential information, disclosure of such information, its use for personal purposes, or its conveyance to a third party shall entail the responsibility stipulated by the Russian laws to that effect.
Article 11. Definitions of Basic Terms Used in the Customs Code
1. The basic terms used in this Customs Code shall have the following definitions:
1) goods / commodities / merchandise: any movable property conveyed across the customs border, as well as the motor vehicles denoted as immovable articles. The means of transport specified in Item 5) herein shall not be qualified as goods or merchandise;
2) Russian goods: any merchandise which, for customs clearance purposes, enjoys the status of free circulation in the customs territory of the Russian Federation, i.e., the merchandise completely manufactured in the Russian Federation which has not been exported from the customs territory of the Russian Federation; the merchandise manufactured for free circulation in the customs territory of the Russian Federation; and the merchandise manufactured in the Russian Federation from the goods manufactured completely or released for free circulation in the customs territory of the Russian Federation;
3) foreign goods: any merchandise which does not qualify as Russian goods as per Item 2) herein;
4) goods under customs control: foreign goods delivered to the customs territory of the Russian Federation prior to their release for free circulation, their de facto crossing of the customs border in the process of their exportation, or up to the moment of their destruction, as well as Russian goods during their exportation from the customs territory of the Russian Federation up to their de facto crossing of the customs border;
5) means of transport: any seagoing vessel (riverboat) (including self-propelled and towed lighters, barges, and hydrofoils), hovercraft, aircraft, motor vehicle (including trailers, semi-trailers, and combination transport vehicles), or a single unit of railway rolling stock which is used for the international paid haulage of passengers or for the paid or free industrial or commercial haulage of goods, as well as their authorised spare parts, repair tools and equipment thereto, fuel and lubricants contained in their standard tanks if they are transported together with the means of transport;
6) status of goods and means of transport: absence of or pending prohibitions and restrictions with regard to use and disposal of the goods and means of transport as defined by this Customs Code;
7) conveyance of goods and/or means of transport across the customs border: the activities undertaken to import to or to export from the customs territory of the Russian Federation goods and means of transport regardless of the method of conveyance;
8) importation of goods and means of transport to the customs territory of the Russian Federation: de facto crossing by goods and/or means of transport of the customs border and all subsequent procedures with goods and/or means of transport stipulated by this Customs Code prior to their clearance by the customs authorities;
9) exportation of goods and means of transport from the customs territory of the Russian Federation: submission of a customs declaration or performance of the activities specified in the next paragraph herein which are directly intended to export goods and/or means of transport, as well as all the subsequent procedures with goods and/or means of transport stipulated by this Customs Code prior to their de facto crossing of the customs border.
10) The actions undertaken with a direct intent to export goods and/or means of transport from the customs territory of the Russian Federation shall involve entry of a natural person who is departing from the Russian Federation into the customs control zone; entry of a motor vehicle to a customs border gate at the State Border of the Russian Federation for the purpose of exiting the customs territory of the Russian Federation; submission of merchandise to shipment organisations, of mail to international post offices for their dispatch from the customs territory of the Russian Federation; actions undertaken by a person with an intent to effect de facto conveyance across the customs border of goods and/or means of transport circumventing the customs border gates set up in accordance with applicable statutes of the Russian Federation;
11) illegal conveyance of goods and/or means of transport across the customs border: perpetration of actions involving importation to and exportation from the customs territory of the Russian Federation of goods and/or means of transport in violation of the procedures set forth by this Customs Code;
12) customs authorities / customs offices: the Federal Customs Authority and all the customs authorities, offices and their officers of the Russian Federation subordinated to it, except the cases when this Customs Code makes reference to customs authorities of foreign countries;
13) person: any juridical and natural person unless this Customs Code contains a different provision thereto;
14) Russian person: any juridical person set up in accordance with Russian legislation and located in the Russian Federation, as well as any natural person who is a permanent resident in the Russian Federation including those residents who are registered as individual entrepreneurs;
15) foreign person: any person other than those specified in Sub-Item 13) herein;
16) declarant: any person declaring goods or the person in whose name said goods are declared;
17) carrier: a person who conveys merchandise across the customs border, a person who conveys merchandise subject to customs control inside the perimeter of the customs territory of the Russian Federation, and/or a person responsible for the use of means or transportation;
18) customs broker (agent): an intermediary [juridical] person fulfilling customs clearance formalities on behalf of or as instructed by a declarant or another person who is designated or authorised to perform customs operations in accordance with this Customs Code;
19) interested person: any person whose interests are affected directly and individually by the decisions, actions (inaction) of the customs authorities with regards to merchandise and/or means of transport unless this Customs Code contains other provisions thereto;
20) customs control: all measures undertaken by customs authorities for the purpose of ensuring the observance of the customs regulations of the Russian Federation;
21) customs control: the activities performed by persons and customs officers with regards to merchandise and means of transport subject to customs control in the process of their customs clearance as is stipulated by the provisions of this Customs Code;
22) customs procedure: all clauses and provisions of this Customs Code stipulating the sequence of customs operations for determining the status of merchandise and/or means of transport for customs clearance purposes;
23) customs treatment: the customs procedures establishing the terms and conditions including the procedures of subjecting merchandise and/or means of transport to customs duties, taxes, prohibitions and restrictions stipulated by the Federal Law of the Russian Federation on the State Regulation of Foreign Trade Activities, as well as the status of merchandise and/or means of transport for customs clearance purposes depending on the intent of their conveyance across the customs border and their use in the customs territory of the Russian Federation or beyond;
24) clearance: actions performed by customs authorities sanctioning the interested persons to use and/or dispose of merchandise in accordance with the customs procedure applicable to said merchandise;
25) free circulation: circulation of goods in the customs territory of the Russian Federation without any prohibitions or restrictions stipulated by the customs of the Russian Federation;
26) taxes: value-added and excise taxes levied by customs authorities on merchandise due to its conveyance across the customs border of the Russian Federation in accordance with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and this Customs Code;
27) domestic taxes: value-added and excise taxes levied on merchandise during its circulation in the territory of the Russian Federation;
28) customs declaration: an authorised documentary form for declaring goods and information thereto which is submitted to customs authorities in accordance with this Customs Code;
29) transportation (shipment) documents: bills of lading, waybills, packing lists or other shipment documents confirming the availability and contents of goods shipment contracts, as well as the documents accompanying merchandise and means of transport during international transit;
30) commercial documents: invoices, shipping and packing lists, and other documents used in conformity with international trade agreements of the Russian Federation, applicable laws of the Russian Federation or accepted trade turnover practices pertaining to foreign economic and other activities which, owing to law, agreement of the parties or accepted trade turnover practices, are used for confirming the validity of transactions predicated on conveyance of goods across the customs border unless this Customs Code contains other provisions thereto;
31) customs documents: any documents made or compiled exclusively for customs clearance purposes.
2. All the other terms and notions contained in this Customs Code are used in the meanings defined, respectively, by the Russian legislation on taxes and duties, the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the Law of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offences, and other Russian laws.
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