The European Fee has confirmed that entry into EU international locations with automobiles registered in Russia is prohibited. Private belongings of Russians crossing the border, resembling smartphones, jewellery and laptops, are additionally liable to confiscation.
“It doesn’t matter whether or not the automobile is used for personal or business functions so long as it falls underneath the customs codes listed in Annex XXI (together with code 8703) and originates in or has been exported from Russia,” the European Fee stated in its new clarifications. Customs code 8703 covers passenger automobiles and different automobiles designed to hold lower than ten folks.
Final summer time, some Russians touring to Germany of their automobiles confronted arrests at customs. In early July, as RBC wrote, German customs confirmed that the import of passenger automobiles from Russia is prohibited underneath Article 3i of Regulation 833/2014, which defines the embargo in opposition to Russia, and that any motion of products, even for private, non-commercial functions, falls underneath it.
This interpretation has raised questions amongst attorneys, since Article 3i prohibits the import or switch to EU international locations of products listed in Annex XXI that “generate vital earnings for Russia” (ie, the sale of products could also be implied). Particularly, Russian jurists pointed to such conditions as the results of abuse by officers of the chief department or misinterpretation of German customs laws concerning the distinction between importation and entry into the nation by non-public automotive. The place of the pan-European regulator was unclear.
On September 4, the Russian Embassy in Germany reported continued remoted instances of detention by German customs officers of Russian-owned automobiles registered in Russia and quickly imported for private functions or transit. “The arguments that on this case we aren’t speaking in regards to the import of products meant on the market, however of personal property used for private functions and quickly imported into the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany on a authorized foundation, will not be taken into consideration,” the embassy stated.
Now the European Fee is clarifying the ban by confirming it. The interval for which a automotive with Russian license plates is imported and the customs regime used for this (for instance, admission to free circulation or non permanent importation) are irrelevant, the European Fee emphasised.
Photograph: A map of the present members of the European Union/ https://europe.unc.edu/toolkits/chapter-3/
