CHAPTER 35. FORMS AND ORDER OF CUSTOMS CONTROL MEASURES
Article 366. Forms of Customs Control
Customs control measures may have the following forms:
[1] verification of documents and information;
[2] verbal inquiry;
[3] acquirement of explanations;
[4] customs monitoring;
[5] customs examination of goods and means of transport;
[6] customs inspection of goods and means of transport;
[7] personal search;
[8] verification of special markings or other identification of goods;
[9] customs inspection of rooms and territories for customs control purposes;
[10] customs auditing.
Article 367. Verification of Documents and Information
1. The customs authorities verify the documents and the information submitted to them at the instance of customs registration of goods and means of transport in accordance with the provisions of this Customs Code for the purpose of verifying the authenticity of documents and of the information contained therein, as well as the compliance of their formats.
2. Verification of the authenticity of the information submitted to the customs authorities in the process of goods customs registration shall be performed by way of comparing said information with the data acquired from other sources including the data obtained based on the results of application of other forms of customs control measures, analysing the available special customs statistics data, processing the available data using computer software, and by other ways which are not prohibited by law of the Russian Federation.
3. In the process of goods customs registration formalities, the customs authorities have the right to request additional documents and data exclusively foe the purpose of verifying the information contained in the goods customs declaration and other goods-related customs documents. The customs office shall request such documents in writing and stipulate sufficient time limits for their submission.
4. Request of additional documents and information or their verification shall not impede the release of goods (Article 149) unless this Customs Code stipulates different provisions thereto.
Article 368. Verbal Inquiry
In the process of customs registration formalities with the goods and means of transport conveyed across the customs border, customs officers have the right to perform verbal inquiry of natural persons and the person representing the organisations endowed with powers with regard to said goods and means of transport without formalising the explanations provided by said persons in writing.
Article 369. Acquirement of Explanations
1. Acquirement of explanations is defined as an act of obtaining by a customs officer of the information pertaining to the circumstances, which have special significance for effecting customs control measures, from the persons specified in Article 16 of this Customs Code including goods declarants and the other persons involved in the conveyance of goods and means of transport across the customs border who possess such information.
2. The explanations obtained therefore shall be formalised in writing. The form of explanatory statements is approved by the Federal Customs Authority.
Article 370. Customs Monitoring
Customs monitoring constitutes open, purposeful, systematic or occasional, direct or indirect visual surveillance (with the use of technical facilities) exercised by the authorised customs authorities for monitoring the haulage of goods and means of transport under customs control, as well as various cargo-handling and other operations with such goods and means of transport.
Article 371. Customs Inspection of Goods and Means of transport
1. Customs inspection of goods and means of transport constitutes an external visual inspection goods, hand luggage and baggage carries by natural persons, means of transport, cargo compartments, customs seals, stamps and other goods identification facilities for customs control purposes performed by the customs officers provided such inspection does not involve unsealing of means of transport or their cargo compartments and damage of the goods packaging.
2. In the territory of customs control zones, the customs inspection of goods and means of transport may be conducted in the absence of the goods declarants or the other persons in charge of said goods and means of transport and/or their representatives, except those instances when said persons have expressed their wish to attend the inspection.
3. In case a customs inspection of goods and means of transport reveals that the actual quantity of goods does not tally with the goods quantity as stated in the customs declaration, the customs authorities shall determined the quantity of goods on their own for customs clearance purposes.
4. Based on the results of a customs inspection of goods and means of transport, the customs authorities may draw up a customs inspection report compiled in accordance with the form approved by the Federal customs Authority provided the results of said customs inspection may be required in the future. Upon a request by a person responsible for said goods and/or means of transport, the customs authorities shall be obliged either to draw up a customs inspection report or affix a requisite stamp on the goods waybill thereby certifying the fact of said customs inspection. The duplicate copy of the customs inspection report shall be given to the person responsible for said goods and/or means of transport.
Article 372. Customs Examination of Goods and Means of transport
1. The customs examination constitutes examination of the goods and means of transport by customs officers involving removal of customs seals, stamps and other goods identification facilities, opening of the goods packaging or unsealing of the cargo compartments or reservoirs, containers and other places in the means of transport applicable for stowing goods.
The goods customs examination is normally performed following the acceptance by the customs authorities of the customs declaration pertaining to said goods. The customs examination can be conducted prior to the submission of a customs declaration pertaining to the goods imported to the customs territory of the Russian Federation with the view to identifying said goods for customs clearance purposes, or in the instance when the customs authorities have received information suggesting a breach of the customs legislation of the Russian Federation, with a view to verifying such information, as well as for effecting customs control measures based on a spot-checking principle.
2. Upon making a decision to conduct goods customs examination, a customs officer shall state said decision to the declarant or another person responsible for said goods and/or means of transport provided he (or she) has been identified. The declarants, the persons in charge of said goods and/or means of transport or their proxies may attend, and, upon the customs authorities’ demand, shall be obliged to attend the customs examination of said goods and/or means of transport. In the absence of any proxy specially authorised by the carrier, the customs examination shall be attended by a natural person driving the means of transport’s driver.
3. Customs have the right to perform the customs examination of the goods and/or means of transport in the absence of their d
[1] said persons have failed to report to the customs office within the period stipulated by bi Item 1 of Article 129 of this Customs Code;
[2] said goods pose threat to national security, public order, human life and health, animals, plants, the environment, items of cultural value, as well as under other circumstances that brook no delay (including evident signs indicating that the goods comprise inflammable, explosive or toxic materials, dangerous chemical and biological substances, drugs, psychotropic, virulent, poisonous, toxic, radioactive substances, nuclear materials and other malodorant goods);
[3] posting of goods in international mail (Chapter 24);
[4] retention of goods and/or means of transport in the customs territory of the Russian Federation in violation of the applicable customs procedure stipulating exportation of such goods and/or means of transport from the customs territory of the Russian Federation.
In such instances customs examination of goods and/or means of transport shall be executed in the presence of witnesses.
4. In case customs officers have examined some of the goods, which were entered into the customs declaration under the same name, the results of said examination apply to all such goods contained in the customs declaration. The declarant or the other person responsible for the goods has the right to demand an additional examination of the remaining goods if he (or she) believes that the goods examination results cannot be applied to all the goods.
5. In case a customs examination of goods and means of transport has revealed that the actual quantity of goods does not tally with the goods quantity as stated in the customs declaration, customs authorities shall determined the quantity of goods on their own for customs clearance purposes.
6. Based on the results of the customs examination the customs authorities compile a goods examination record which is made in two copies. The goods customs examination record contains the following details:
- the information identifying the customs officers of the customs office who carried out the customs examination as well as the persons who attended said customs examination;
- the reasons for carrying out said customs examination in the absence of the declarant or the other person responsible for the goods and/or means of transport;
- the customs examination results.
The format of the customs examination report is approved by the Federal customs Authority.
The duplicate copy of the customs examination report shall be given to the person responsible for said goods and/or means of transport or to his (or her) proxy provided said person has been identified.
Article 373. Personal Search
1. A personal search constitutes an exclusive form of customs control measures which may be performed upon a resolution to that effect passed by the chief of the customs office or his (or her) deputy provided there is sufficient evidence to suppose that a specific natural person present in the customs control zone or in the airport international transit zone, who is crossing the State Border of the Russian Federation, conceals and refuses to surrender voluntarily the goods forbidden, respectively, for importation to or exportation from the customs territory of the Russian Federation, or the goods conveyed across the border in violation of the order prescribed by this Customs Code
A resolution to conduct a personal search is made by the chief of the customs office or his (or her) deputy by way of appending a written instruction to that effect onto the report submitted by the customs officer in charge. Such a resolution may also be issued in the form of a separate written instruction.
2. Before starting the search, the customs officer in charge shall inform the natural person concerned with regard to the resolution to perform a personal search thereof, explain to said natural person his (or her) rights and responsibilities during the search, and propose that said person voluntarily surrender the concealed goods.
The natural person concerned shall be obliged to append his (or her) signature to the document containing a resolution to subject him (or her) to a personal search in confirmation of his (or her) knowledge of said resolution.
3. Personal search is conducted by a customs officer of the same sex with the examined person in the presence of two witnesses in an isolated room meeting proper sanitary and hygienic standards.
Access to the search room of other natural persons ought to be precluded as much as any possibility to observe the performance of a personal search. Examination of the searched person’s body ought to be conducted by a certified physician who has no right to refuse to fulfil the resolution passed by the chief of the customs office or his deputy with regard to subjecting said person to a personal search.
In the instance when a natural person subjected to a personal search is underage or disabled, his (or her) lawful representatives (parents, stepparents, guardians and custodians) or the persons accompanying them have the right to attend the search procedure.
4. A personal search ought to be conducted in a polite manner excluding humiliation of the searched person’s dignity or damage to the person’s health or property within the limits required for detecting the goods concealed on the natural person concerned.
5. During the search procedure, the person concerned (his or her legitimate representative) shall be obliged to fulfil all lawful demands of the customs officer conducting the search. The search person has the right to:
- demand that the resolution with regard to conducting a search passed by the chief of the customs office or his (or her) deputy be announced to him (or her);
- be familiarised with his (or her) rights and obligations;
- provide explanations and submit petitions;
- examine the record of his (or her) personal search and make statements following the search termination which should be entered into the record;
- use his (or her) native language, as well as resort to an interpreter’s services;
- lodge complaint to the actions of customs officers following the search termination in case the searched person reasons that his (or her) lawful rights and interests have been infringed on in the process of conducting said personal search pursuant to the provisions of said Customs Code.
6. Based on the results of the personal search, the customs authorities compile a personal search record in accordance with the format approved by the Federal customs Authority.
The search record is signed by the customs officer responsible for the search, the natural person subjected to the personal search (his [or her] lawful representative), the witnesses thereof and the physician in case the search procedure included examination of the person’s body. The duplicate copy of the personal search report shall be given to the person subjected to the search (his [or her] lawful representative).
Article 374. Verification of Special Marking or Other Identification of Goods
1. The customs authorities verify presence and/or intactness presence of special identification facilities marking the goods (or their packaging) used for certifying the legality of their importation to the customs territory of the Russian Federation in the instances stipulated by federal laws and other legal statutes of the Russian Federation.
2. The absence on the goods or their packaging of requisite special marks or other identification facilities, as per Item 1 herein, shall be regarded as a confirmation of the fact that such goods have been imported to the customs territory of the Russian Federation without the required customs registration and customs clearance procedures unless the carrier or the other person in possession of said goods proves the opposite.
Article 375. Customs Inspection of Rooms and Territories for Customs Control Purposes
1. The customs inspection of rooms and territories is performed with a view to verifying the inventory of goods in customs custody including the conditionally released goods stowed in temporary-storage warehouses, bonded warehouses, on the trading floor and in the storerooms of duty-free shops, as well as in possession of the persons who are obliged to preserve such goods in compliance with the terms and conditions stipulated by the customs procedures applicable to said goods pursuant to this Customs Code. The customs inspections of rooms and territories shall be conducted based on the information pertaining to losses of goods and/or means of transport, their alienation or disposal of by other methods, or their utilisation in violation of the terms and conditions stipulated by this Customs Code for verification of such information, as well as pursuant to the spot-check inspection principle.
2. The customs authorities may conduct inspections of rooms and territories, other than those specified in Item 1 herein, at the checkpoints established at the State Border of the Russian Federation, in the customs control zones along the customs territory of the Russian Federation, as well as at the premises of the persons involved in wholesale and retail trade operations with imported goods, based on the information specifying the location of in such rooms or at such territories of the goods and/or means of transport which have been imported to the customs territory of the Russian Federation in violation of the importation order stipulated by this Customs Code for verification of such information.
3. Customs inspections of living quarters are not permissible.
4. The customs authorities initiate inspection of rooms and territories upon producing the official order for such inspection signed by the chief of the customs office or his (or her) deputy and their identification cards. The register customs positions whose officers have authorised access such rooms and territories, as well as the form of their authorisation order are approved by the Federal Customs Authority.
In the instance when federal laws stipulate other provisions regulating the access of state officials to specific installations, the above customs officers will be given access to such installations in the order determined by the above federal laws.
5. In the event of denial of access to customs officers to the rooms and territories subject to customs inspections, the customs officers have the right to penetrate into such rooms or/and territories by way of overcoming offered resistance and by forcing the locks thereof in the presence of two witnesses, except the situations when federal laws stipulate other procedures for providing access of the state officials to specific installations. The customs authorities shall be obliged to inform the district prosecutor 24 hours in advance of all the instances when the customs officers’ penetration into the rooms and territories presupposes overcoming of resistance and forcing of the locks thereof.
6. The customs inspection of rooms and territories should be performed within the shortest possible time period required for its performance, and such an inspection may not least longer than 24 hours.
7. The customs inspection report shall be compiled in accordance with the form approved by the Federal Customs Authority. The duplicate copy of said report is handed to the person whose premises have been subjected to the customs inspection.
Article 376. Customs Revision
1. The customs authorities perform customs revisions which constitute a verification of the fact of release of the imported goods and the authenticity of information stated in the goods’ customs declaration and the other documents submitted to the customs authorities in the process of the customs registration. In the process of a customs revision, the customs authorities compare the details contained in said documents, the accounting and reporting information with the accounts and other information provided by the persons specified in this article below.
The forms of the customs revision may be general and special.
2. The customs authorities conduct the general customs revision of the declarants and the persons specified in Article 16 of this Customs Code who do not act in capacity of a declarant.
The general customs revisions are conducted upon a written resolution in that regard passed by the chief of the customs office or his (or her) deputy. A copy of said resolution is handed to the person subject to such an inspection before its commencement.
In the process of conducting the general customs inspection customs authorities, within the framework of their competence, shall have access to the databanks of the automated information systems of the person subject to the general revision with consideration of the requirements stipulated by the provisions of the law of the Russian Federation on protection of information.
The customs revision should be conducted within the minimal reasonable time period required for its performance, and it may not last longer than three working days. Said revision procedures should not impede the commercial or industrial activities of the person subjected to the revision.
Repetition of the customs revision with regard to the same goods is not permissible.
3. Subject to the special customs revision procedures conducted by the customs authorities may be the following persons:
- the persons specified in Item 2 herein in those instances when, based on the results of the general customs revision or application of other customs control methods stipulated by this Chapter, customs officers have revealed information indicative of falseness of some of the details submitted to the customs authorities in the process of the goods customs registration or during the goods utilisation or disposal of in violation of the established requirements and restrictions;
- the customs brokers (proxies), owners of the temporary-storage and bonded warehouses and customs carriers upon discovery of the evidence proving violations in the goods registration practices in the process of their conveyance across the customs border as well as the persons’ reporting thereof or breaches of other terms and conditions regulating the operations stipulated by the provisions of this Customs Code.
- the persons involved in wholesale and retail operations with imported goods in case the customs authorities have revealed evidence that said goods have been imported to the customs territory of the Russian Federation in violation of the terms and conditions set forth by this Customs Code, which violations have entailed breaches of the payment procedures stipulated for customs duties and taxes or non-observance of the restrictions and prohibitions established pursuant to the Federal Law of the Russian Federation on the State Regulation of Foreign Trade Activities.
Special customs revisions are conducted upon a written resolution in that regard passed by the chief of the customs office or his (or her) deputy. A copy of said resolution is handed to the person subject to the special inspection before its commencement.
4. In the process of the special customs revision, the customs authorities have the right to:
- demand free of charge submission of documents and information (including the persons’ banking information) and documents made in electronic format pertaining to the person’s industrial, commercial, and other operations with the goods imported to the customs territory of the Russian Federation and examine such information;
- inspect the rooms and territories belonging to the inspected person and conduct the goods customs inspection and examination in accordance with this Customs Code in the presence of authorised representatives of the person subjected to the special customs revision procedure or in the presence of two witnesses in the instance of the special customs revision of an individual entrepreneur;
- perform the goods inventory in accordance with the regulations stipulating the inventory procedures conducted by tax authority pursuant to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation;
- effect withdrawal of goods or sequester them as per Article 377 of this Customs Code.
5. The special customs revision should be conducted within the minimal possible time period required for its completion, and it may not last longer than two months from the date when a resolution authorising the special customs revision is passed by the customs authority in charge. The above revision period does not include the time elapsing from the moment of handing to the person concerned of the demand with regard to documents and information required for the revision until the moment when the person submits said information and documents to the customs authorities. In exclusive situations, the superior customs office has the right to extend the duration of the customs special revision by one additional month.
Repetition of the special customs revision of the same person is not permissible.
6. Customs revisions (in either special or general form) may only be applied to juridical persons and individual entrepreneurs.
7. For the purpose of conducting a customs revision (in either special or general form) the customs authorities may make use of the inventory results produced by the person with relevant powers with regard to said goods, by the person responsible for the goods storage, or by the supervisory bodies, as well as of the auditing conclusions, the deeds, and the conclusions made by the state authorities.
8. The results of a customs revision (in either special or general form) shall be compiled into a report the form of which is approved by the Federal Customs Authority. Said act shall be drawn up:
- on the day following the date of completion of the general customs revision;
- within ten days following the date of completion of the special customs revision.
The duplicate copy of the revision report shall be handed to then person subjected to the customs revision.
9. In the event when the customs revision (in either special or general form) has revealed evidence of a crime of an administrative violation in the field of customs procedure, the revision conducted with regard to the established lawbreakers shall be rescinded. In that situation the report on the revision results shall be compiled without delay. Further operations shall be effected by the customs authorities pursuant to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation or the Law of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offences.
Article 377. Sequester or Withdrawal of a Goods in the Process of a Special Customs Revision
1. Goods may be subjected to sequester or withdrawal in the process of a special customs prevision procedures in the following situations:
[1] upon detection the imported goods without any special marks, symbols, or other facilities applied in accordance with this Customs Code, other federal laws, legal statutes and regulations of the Russian Federation for identifying said goods thereby certifying the legality of their importation to the customs territory of the Russian Federation, or the goods featuring counterfeit markings;
[2] the commercial documents of the person under special revision contain no details validating the goods release by the customs authorities provided the applicable legal statutes of the Russian Federation require the entry of such details as a mandatory provision for releasing said goods for free circulation in the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as in the instances when the customs authorities deem such entries fictitious or the commercial documents where such entries are made are missing;
[3] upon discovery of the facts of utilization and/or disposal of the conditionally released goods for the purposes other than those in for said goods were partially or completely exempted from the customs duties and taxes.
2. The sequestered goods are transferred for stowage to their owner or any other person who has proper powers with regards to said goods. The place of storage of such goods acquires the status of the customs control zone (Article 362). Usage or disposal of the sequestered goods may only be permitted by the chief of the customs office responsible for the performance of the special customs revision or by the person duly authorised by him (her). In such situation, transfer of the sequestered goods to other persons, their waste, alienation, or disposal of by any other means will be prohibited.
3. In case pursuant to the Russian legislation, the sequestered goods are prohibited for importation to the customs territory or circulation in the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as in the instance when the customs authorities have serious grounds to suppose that sequester of such goods would not provide sufficient guarantee of their preservation, they resolve to confiscate such goods.
The withdrawn goods are therefore stowed at the temporary-storage warehouse or at any other place with the status of a customs control zone.
4. Withdrawal or sequester of goods may be unnecessary in case the person, at whose premises such goods are discovered, presents a payment guarantee for the customs duties and taxes that may be charged on said goods, except the instances when law of the Russian Federation prohibits importation of such goods to the Russian Federation or their circulation therein, or when the goods were subjected to quantitative restrictions at the instance of their importation pursuant to the law of the Russian Federation on measures for protecting economic interests of the Russian Federation in foreign trade.
Computation of customs dues and taxes with the view to determining the amounts of requisite payment guarantees thereof shall be made in accordance with Article 248 of this Customs Code.
5. Withdrawal of goods and their sequester shall be executed based on a motivated resolution in that regard passed by a customs officer in charge of the special revision procedure in the presence of the person at whose premises said goods were discovered, or his (or her) representative, as well as in the present of two witnesses.
Whenever required, an expert may be invited for performing goods withdrawal or sequester (Article 356).
Prior to initiating the goods withdrawal or sequester procedure the customs officer in charge shall be obliged to produce to the person, whose goods are subject to withdrawal or sequester, the order mandating the withdrawal or sequester of said goods.
6. The fact of goods withdrawal and sequester shall be recorded in a formal report containing, as an attachment, the inventory of withdrawn or sequestered goods including the goods detailed description, their quantities and specific features. Said report shall be signed by the customs officer in charge of the withdrawal or sequester, the person whose goods have been withdrawn or sequestered or his (or her) representative, and the witnesses. A duplicate copy of said report shall be handed to the person at whose premises said goods were discovered, or his (or her) representative.
7. The return of withdrawn goods to their owner and their release from a sequester thereon is effected no later than on the date of termination of the special customs revision, except in those instances when said goods may be confiscated, used as material evidence or as the source of collection of the outstanding dutiable payments. The costs of stowing withdrawn goods at the temporary-storage warehouse shall be borne by the person whose goods have been withdrawn.
In case the special customs revision has not revealed any infringements on the customs legislation of the Russian Federation, the withdrawn goods shall be returned to their owner or the sequester thereon effected immediately whereas all the expenses incurred by the goods temporary storage shall be recompensed from the federal budget.
8. The disposal of withdrawn or sequestered goods shall be specified in the special customs revision report as per Item 8 of Article 376.
9. Disposal of unclaimed withdrawn goods shall be effected upon the expiry of two months following the termination of the special customs revision procedures in the order stipulated by Chapter 41 of this Customs Code.
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