Chapter 6. THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN OF GOODS. NOMENCLATURE OF GOODS SUBJECT TO FOREIGN TRADE
§1. Country of Origin of Goods
Article 29. Sphere of Application of This Chapter
1. The country of origin of goods shall be determined based on the provisions of this Chapter in the event when application of the customs and tariff regulations, prohibitions and restrictions stipulated by the Federal Law of the Russian Federation on the State Regulation of Foreign Trade Activities is predicated on the country of origin of goods.
2. The procedures for determining the country of origin of goods shall be carried out with a view to applying either tariff preferences or non-preferential measures of trade policy.
Article 30. Determination of the Country of Origin of Goods
1. The country of origin of goods shall be defined as the country where the goods were manufactured wholly (Article 31) or subjected to sufficient processing (Article 32) in accordance with the criteria laid down by this Customs Code or in accordance with the procedures defined by this Customs Code. The country of origin of goods may be regarded as a group of countries, countries’ customs unions, a region, or part of a country whenever it is required to identify them for the purpose of determining the country of origin of goods.
2. Upon the request made by a declarant or any other interested person, the customs authorities shall make a preliminary decision with regard to determining the country of origin of goods as per Item 3 herein.
Article 31. Goods and Commodities Wholly Produced in a Given Country
The following goods and commodities shall be regarded as wholly produced in a given country:
(1) the minerals extracted from deposits within a given country, in its territorial waters, or from its seabed;
(2) the vegetable products, grown or harvested in a given country;
(3) the live animals, born and raised in a given country;
(4) the products derived from live animals raised in a given country;
(5) the products obtained as a result of hunting and fishing in a given country;
(6) the sea-fishing products and other sea products obtained by a vessel registered in the country concerned;
(7) the products obtained onboard a processing vessel registered in the country concerned exclusively from the products specified in Item 6 herein;
(8) the products obtained from the seabed or from the sea subsoil outside the territorial waters of a given country provided this country has exclusive rights to exploit said seabed or subsoil;
(9) the waste and scrap metals (secondary raw materials) derived from manufacturing and other machining operations in a given country, as well as used articles which have been collected in said country and are only applicable for their processing into raw materials;
(10) the products of high technologies obtained onboard spacecraft orbiting in space provided said country is the country of registration of the spacecraft concerned;
(11) the goods manufactured in a given country exclusively from the products specified in Items 1 through 10 herein.
Article 32. Criteria for Goods Processing Sufficiency
1. In case given goods have been manufactured in two or more countries, the country of origin of such goods shall be the country in which they were subjected to processing or manufacturing operations meeting the criteria of the goods processing sufficiency in accordance with the provisions laid down herein.
2. If no special requirements are set forth for determining the country of origin of specific kinds of goods imported to the customs territory of the Russian Federation, as per Item 4 herein, the following general rule shall apply: merchandise shall be regarded as originating from a given country if the operations involving the processing or their manufacture have caused a change of any of the first four digits in the goods classification codes as per the Nomenclature of Goods subject to Foreign Trade (EU Customs Tariffs).
3. Regardless of the provisions specified in Item 2 herein, the following operations or conditions shall not comply with the criteria of sufficient processing:
(1) goods preservation operations performed to ensure their safety during storage or haulage;
(2) operations for preparing goods for sale and haulage (division of merchandise into consignment, its sorting and/or repackaging);
(3) simple assembly operations, as well as other operations which do not cause any essential change of given merchandise as per the register defined by the Government of the Russian Federation;
(4) mixing of goods originating from different countries provided the specifications of finished products have no essential distinctions from the specifications of the products with which they are mixed.
4. The following criteria shall apply for determining the country of origin of goods in accordance with the procedures set forth by the Government of the Russian Federation:
(1) performance of specific manufacturing or technological operations sufficient for identifying the country where such operations took place with the country of origin of said goods;
(2) change of the goods value whereby the percentage ratio of the cost of used materials and the added value has reached a fixed share in the product's end price (the ad valorem ratio).
5. In the process of establishing the procedures for applying the goods processing sufficiency criteria with regard to specific goods imported from the countries to which the Government of the Russian Federation has accorded special tariff preferences, the Government of the Russian Federation has the right to determine the terms of application of direct purchase and shipment rules with a view to providing special tariff preferences.
Article 33. Peculiarities of Determining the Country of Origin of Goods
1. On a declarant’s request, the assembled or disassembled goods supplied by consignments, the goods whose shipment in a single consignment is impossible for manufacturing or shipment reasons, or if a consignment of such goods has been mistakenly subdivided into several lots, shall be regarded as a single commodity for the purpose of establishing its country of its origin.
2. The conditions for applying Item 1 herein to goods shall require:
(1) preliminary notification of the customs office concerned about a shipment of goods in assembled or unassembled state or supplied by several lots, which preliminary notification shall contain the reasons for such consignment and the classification codes of the goods in each lot pursuant to the Nomenclature of Goods subject to Foreign Trade, the prices and countries of origin of said goods in each lot, or a documentary confirmation of a mistaken division of goods into several lots;
(2) shipment of all lots of goods from the same country of origin by the same supplier;
(3) declaration of all lots of goods to the same customs office;
(4) importation to the customs territory of the Russian Federation of all lots of said goods within a period not exceeding six months from the date of acceptance of the relevant customs declaration by the customs authorities, or upon expiry of time limit stipulated for its submission with regard to the first lot of goods. Based on a declarant’s motivated request, the customs authorities may extend the term of submission for the period required for the importation of all the lots of said shipment of goods.
3. The appliances, spare parts and tool-kits designed for servicing and repairs of machines, equipment, devices or means of transport shall be regarded as originating from the same country as the machines, equipment, devices or means of transport provided said appliances, spare parts and tool-kits are imported and utilised together with said machines, equipment, devices or means of transport in the completeness and in quantities that are normally supplied with such devices.
4. The packaging in which the goods are imported to the customs territory of the Russian Federation shall be regarded as originating from the same country as the goods packed in them with the exception of the cases when the goods’ packaging is to be declared separately from the goods per se. In such situations, the country of origin of the packaging shall be determined separately from the country of origin of goods.
Article 34. Verification of Country of Origin of Goods
1. The customs authorities have the right to request documentary proofs certifying the country of origin of goods, as in the instances stipulated by Article 37 of this Customs Code.
2. The formal documentary proofs certifying the country of origin of goods is contained in the Declaration of the Country of Origin Goods (Article 35), or the Certificate of the Country of origin of goods, as in the situations specified by the Government of the Russian Federation (Article 36).
Article 35. Declaration of the Country of Origin of Goods
1. In accordance with the provisions of this Customs Code, the documentary proofs certifying the country of origin of goods may be contained in a Declaration of the Country of Origin of Goods, which is a written statement made in any desired form is provided it contains the information confirming the country of origin of goods. Used as such a declaration may be any statement to that effect made by the manufacturer, seller, or exporter of said goods in connection with its exportation.
2. If the declaration of the country of origin of goods is based on the criteria other than those adopted in the Russian Federation (Articles 31 and 32), the country of origin of goods shall be determined based on the criteria adopted in the Russian Federation.
Article 36. The Certificate of Origin of Goods
1. The Certificate of the Origin of Goods constitutes an indisputable documentary proof of the country of origin of goods issued by the competent body or organisation of a given country or of the country of exportation of said goods if the country of exportation issues such Certificates based on the information obtained from the country of origin of said goods.
In case the information on the origin of goods contained in the Certificate is based on the criteria other that those adopted in the Russian Federation (Articles 31 and 32), the country of origin of goods shall be determined based on the criteria adopted in the Russian Federation.
3. The Certificate of the Origin of Goods is submitted to the customs authorities together with the customs declaration and other documents requisite for customs clearance of the goods imported to the customs territory of the Russian Federation. In the event the Certificate is not available, its formally authenticated copy shall be accepted.
4. If the Certificate of the Origin of Goods is not properly executed (the Certificate has erasures, blots or uncertified corrections; the Certificate does not contain all required signatures, stamps and/or seals; the information contained in the Certificate does not prove its correspondence with the declared goods; the Certificate does not contain an indisputable proof of the country of origin of goods or the criteria serving as the basis for establishing the country of origin of goods provided the statement of said criteria is mandatory in accordance with the international treaties to which the Russian Federation is party or the applicable Russian legislation), or the customs officers have detected other evidence that said Certificate contains incorrect information, they have the right to lodge a request to the competent bodies or organisations in the country that issued said Certificate to provide additional documentary proofs.
5. The customs authorities also have the right to request that the competent bodies or the organisations in the country that have issued the Certificate of the Origin of Goods provide additional documentary proofs or clarifications for the purpose of carrying out spot checks. Such spot checks shall not impede the process of customs clearance of goods based on the information of their country of origin declared during the goods customs registration formalities.
Article 37. Submission of Documents Certifying the Country of Origin of Goods
1. At the instance of the importation of merchandise to the customs territory of the Russian Federation the declarant shall be obliged to present to the customs authorities documentary proof of the country of origin of the imported goods provided that country enjoys tariff preferences granted to it by the Government of the Russian Federation pursuant to the international treaties to which the Russian Federation is party or in accordance with the applicable Russian legislation. The documents certifying the country of origin of goods shall be presented to the customs authorities together with the pertinent customs declaration.
Note: application of above tariff preferences may also require that the declarant submit to the customs authorities the certificate of the country of origin of goods drawn up in strict compliance with the international treaties, to which the Russian Federation is party, or in conformity with the applicable Russian legislation.
The customs authorities have the right to ask the declarant to present documentary proof of the country of origin of goods if they doubt the authenticity of the declared information denoting the country of origin of the goods in question, so long as such information may affect the application of the customs duties, taxes, and/or restrictions and prohibitions stipulated by the Federal Law of the Russian Federation on the State Regulation of Foreign Trade Activities.
2. Regardless of the provisions of Item 1 herein, submission of the Certificate of the country of origin of goods will not be required in the following instances:
(1) if the goods imported to the customs territory of the Russian Federation have been declared as international customs transit or temporary importation with complete exemption from customs duties and taxes, except the cases when the customs authorities find evidence that said goods have originated from the country whose goods are prohibited for importation to or transit in the territory of the Russian Federation in accordance with international agreements and the applicable Russian legislation;
(2) if the overall customs value of the merchandise conveyed across the customs border in a single consignment, by the same method, by one the same supplier, and addressed to same recipient is below the 20,000.00 roubles;
(3) if the goods are conveyed across the border by a natural person as per Chapter 23 of this Customs Code.
(4) in other instances stipulated by international agreements and/or the applicable Russian legislation.
Article 38. Additional Terms of Merchandise Customs Clearance while Determining the Country of their Origin
1. In case the documents proving the country of origin of goods are not available whereas their presentation is mandatory for tariff preferences (as per Article 37), such goods shall be liable for customs duties according to the rates applicable to the goods originating from a country enjoying the status of a most favoured nation in terms of its trade and political relations with the Russian Federation, except the case specified in Sub-Item 1) of Item 2 herein.
2. In the instances when requisite documents certifying the country of origin of goods have not been presented or the customs authorities found evidence that the documents submitted by the declarant are not properly drawn up and/or contain fictitious information, the goods in question shall be subject to the measures, as stated below, until the declarant presents authentic documents certifying the country of origin of said goods or provides other explicatory evidence:
(1) in case customs authorities have found evidence that the goods in question have originated from a country that does not enjoy the status of a most favoured nation, such goods shall be liable for customs duties as per the tariffs applied to the goods originating from a country whose trade and political relations with the Russian Federation do not stipulate the status of a most favoured nation, or for the customs duties based on the said tariffs;
(2) in case customs authorities have found evidence that the goods in question have originated from a country whose goods are subject to various restrictions stipulated by the Federal Law of the Russian Federation on the State Regulation of Foreign Trade Activities or the international treaties to which the Russian Federation is party, such goods shall only be cleared by customs after the declarant has presented documentary evidence proving the observance of such restrictions or recompensed the required antidumping duties or other indemnities;
(3) in case the customs authorities have found evidence that the goods in question may have originated from a country whose merchandise is prohibited for importation to the Russian Federation by the international treaties of the Russian Federation or Russian law, such goods shall be denied customs clearance.
3. The goods specified in Item 1 and Sub-Item 1) of Item 2 herein shall be accorded the effective (reinstated) preferential tariff treatment or to the tariffs applied to the goods originating from a most favoured nation if the country of origin of said goods has been authenticated within one year from the date of acceptance by the customs authorities of the customs declaration pertaining to said goods. In this case, the charged amounts of customs duties and taxes shall be refunded in accordance with Article 356 of this Customs Code.
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