Chapter 21. SPECIAL CUSTOMS PROCEDURES
§2 Duty-Free Trade
Article 258. Content of the Customs Procedure
1. Duty-free trade constitutes a customs procedure under which foreign goods imported to the customs territory of the Russian Federation or Russian goods are sold by retail in duty-free shops directly to natural persons at the instance of their departure from the customs territory of the Russian Federation without payment of customs duties and taxes, or application of any economic restrictions and prohibitions stipulated by the Federal Law of the Russian Federation on the State Regulation of Foreign Trade Activities.
2. Sale of the goods specified in Item 1 herein in duty-free shops is effected under customs control in the customs territory of the Russian Federation at the border gates established at the State Border of the Russian Federation.
3. Upon placement of Russian goods under the duty-free trade customs procedure, said goods shall be exempted from domestic taxes; the paid domestic taxes levied thereto shall be redeemed or reimbursed in accordance with the Law of the Russian Federation on Duties and Taxes.
4. Upon placement of foreign goods under the duty-free trade customs procedure, the disbursed domestic import duties and taxes levied thereto shall be redeemed provided such redemption is stipulated for de facto exportation of said goods from the customs territory of the Russian Federation in compliance this Customs Code.
Article 259. Terms of Placement of Goods under the Customs Procedure
1. Subject to the duty-free trade customs procedure may be any merchandise, except those goods whose importation to and exportation from the Russian Federation or whose circulation in the territory of the Russian Federation is prohibited, as well as the other goods listed in the register approved by the Government of the Russian Federation.
2. The goods, which are placed under the duty-free trade customs procedure, may only be declared by the owner of a duty-free shop. The owner of a duty-free shop may only be a Russian juridical person.
3. Placement of goods under the duty-free trade customs procedure will be permitted in the following instances:
(1) the goods are intended for retail sale in a duty-free shop which was set up in accordance with Article 261 of this Customs Code;
(2) payment of customs duties and taxes has been guaranteed as per Article 31 of this Customs Code.
4. The goods used for ensuring functioning of a duty-free shop shall not be subjected to the duty-free trade customs procedure.
Article 260. Customs Requirements to Facilities, Equipment a Duty-Free Shop
1. The rooms of a customs-duty shop may comprise a sales area, backrooms, and storerooms.
The sale area, the back- and storerooms ought to be equipped so as to ensure sale of goods exclusively in the sales area of a duty-free shop, as well as preservation of goods and possibilities of subjecting them to customs control measures.
2. The Federal Customs Authority has established special mandatory requirements to the facilities and equipment of the storerooms serving the needs of a duty-free shop if said storerooms are located outside the border-gate area of the State Border of the Russian Federation, as per provisions stipulated in Article 107 of this Customs Code.
3. The sales areas of duty-free shops ought to be situated so as to preclude any possibility of leaving purchased duty-free goods in the customs territory of the Russian Federation including the possibility of handing them over to natural persons staying in said territory.
4. All rooms comprising a duty-free shop constitute a customs control zone.
Article 261. Setting Up a Duty-Free shop
1. Duty-free shops are set up and inaugurated in accordance with the requirements of the customs procedures established at the border-gate areas of the State Border of the Russian Federation provided the duty-free shop owners have obtained all the requisite registrations and licences for effecting retail trade operations with duty-free goods whenever availability of said registrations and licences is predicated on respective statutes of the Russian Federation, the statutes of the constituencies of the Russian Federation, and/or the normative legal acts adopted by the local self-governance bodies concerned.
2. The owner of a duty-free shop shall be obliged to send a preliminary notification to the customs office concerned designating the date of inauguration of the duty-free shop. Release of goods in compliance with the terms and conditions of the duty-free trade customs procedure shall only be permissible following the receipt of said notification.
Article 262. Obligations and Responsibilities of a Duty-Free Shop Owner
1. The owner of a duty-free shop shall be obliged to:
(1) observe the terms and conditions stipulated by the duty-free trade customs procedure;
(2) observe the requirements laid to the equipment and facilities of a duty-free shop (Article 260);
(3) exclude any possibility of utilisation of goods supplied to a duty-free shop for any purpose other than their retail sales;
(4) keep record of the goods supplied to and sold by a duty-free shop, and submit to the customs authorities respective reports thereof (Article 364);
(5) preserve the goods placed under the duty-free trade customs procedure only in the store- and backrooms of the duty-free shop;
(6) pay the customs duties and taxes stipulated by Item 2 herein and Item 2 of Article 263 of this Customs Code, as well as in the instance stipulated by Item 1 of Article 90 of this Customs Code if the owner of the duty-free shop also holds a permit for the domestic customs transit procedure;
(7) observe the requirements established by law of the Russian Federation in the sphere of trade operations with consideration of the peculiarities stipulated by this Customs Code;
(8) notify the customs office concerned of the decision to close down a duty-free shop.
The owner of a duty-free shop shall be responsible for paying duties and taxes levied on the foreign goods placed under the duty-free trade customs procedure in case of their losses or utilisation for the purposes other than their retail sales in duty-free shops to the natural persons departing from the customs territory of the Russian Federation in compliance with the terms and conditions stipulated in this Chapter. The owner of a duty-free shop shall not be responsible for paying duties and taxes on the goods only in the instance of their destruction or irretrievable loss due to an accident or force majeure or their natural wear and diminution under normal storage and sales conditions.
Article 263. Operations with Goods in cases of Closing Down a Duty-Free Shop
1. In cases of closing down a duty-free shop, the foreign goods enjoying the status of the duty-free customs procedure shall be subject to another customs procedure within fifteen days from the day following the date of closing down of said shop.
2. In cases of closing down a duty-free shop, the redemptions of the domestic taxes, which were levied on the Russian goods at the instance of their placement under the duty-free trade customs procedure which still remained in the duty-free shop, shall be repaid pursuant to the Law of the Russian Federation on Duties and Taxes including the interest charged on said amounts based on the refinance rates of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation which were effective at the time of the goods’ storage in the duty-free shops in accordance with the order stipulated by this Customs Code for levying dutiable payments.
3. Beginning from the day following the date of closing down a customs-duty shop, the goods placed under the duty-free trade customs procedure shall be regarded for customs clearance purposes as the goods subjected to a temporary storage procedure. Sale of such goods or placement of other goods in the duty-free shop is prohibited.
4. The exigency of closing down a duty-free shop does not relieve its owner of the responsibility to observe the terms and conditions stipulated by this Customs Code.
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