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The customs authorities began to massively check the country of origin of some categories of imported goods. Representatives of several importing companies and customs lawyers told Vedomosti about this. The trend was confirmed by the business association Delovaya Rossiya. If customs discovers that the product was manufactured in the United States or the importer could not confirm its country of origin, the duty is charged at an increased tariff, the interlocutors say. Vedomosti sent a request to a representative of the Federal Customs Service.

Increased import duties are regulated by Government Decree No. 788 "On Approval of import Customs Duty Rates for Certain Goods whose Country of Origin is the United States of America." It was adopted back in 2018 under the government of Dmitry Medvedev. The meaning of this decree is a response to the US imposition of restrictions on the import of Russian steel and aluminum. The Americans then imposed protective duties on imports of steel (25%) and aluminum (10%) from Russia and a number of other countries.

Increased rates are set for goods from the United States with certain HS codes (82, 84, 87, 90). These groups include goods produced primarily from metal: construction machinery, equipment and work tools. As a general rule, duties are applied to such goods at the rates of the unified customs tariff, averaging 3–5% of the customs value, however, if their country of origin is the United States, then duties are charged at a rate of 25 to 40%.

According to one of the interlocutors of Vedomosti, representing an importer of road construction equipment, his company encountered the first cases of application of duties under resolution No. 788 back in 2023, when customs authorities began to require certificates for all imported equipment, "even for Iranian excavators." 

Business Russia is now receiving massive requests for advice from customers who previously imported goods without a certificate of the country of origin of the goods and have never faced a requirement to provide it, a representative of a public organization told Vedomosti.

If earlier the customs sent a request with a request to provide confirmation of the country of origin in about one out of ten cases (despite the fact that there is already a lot of information in the documents for customs clearance indicating the original country), now this happens with each delivery of goods from resolution No. 788, the head of the customs and logistics operator "KW service" notes Julia Shlenskaya. 

However, increased duties on these groups of goods were accrued earlier, the interlocutors of Vedomosti admit. However, this practice has become widespread only since February 2024. Moreover, the increased "American" duties apply not only to goods produced in the United States, but also to those whose country of origin the importer could not confirm. The document that customs officers request to clarify this fact is a special certificate issued by an authorized state body or organization of the country of origin of the goods.

Why have controls been tightened

Strengthening customs control over the origin of goods is related to the decision of the EEC Council No. 3 dated 01/26/2024 (entered into force on 02/8/2024), which amended the so-called non-preferential rules for determining the origin of goods, partner B1 Wilhelma Shavshina told Vedomosti. The key innovation, according to her, was the introduction of the concept of "retaliatory measures", under which the goods from resolution No. 788 fell. 

Now the customs authorities require the provision of a certificate of origin to confirm that the country of origin of these goods is not the United States, explains Shavshina. And in the absence of a certificate or the presence of errors, incomplete or incorrect information in it, the customs authorities apply the rate of increased import customs duty in accordance with Resolution No. 788.

Previously, the FCS rarely requested certificates, because the previous version of the non-preferential rules did not mention retaliatory measures as a basis for requiring a certificate, the representative of Delovaya Rossiya agreed. Until February 2024, a certain practice was formed, which the declarants adhered to.

With the entry into force of the decision of the EEC Council, the mechanism for calculating increased import duties will gain momentum, Vladislav Varshavsky, managing partner of the law firm Varshavsky and Partners, expects.

Thoroughness in checking the supply of American goods may be associated with a stressful scheduled task for collecting customs payments, said Alexander Kirilchenko, head of the practice of Customs law and International trade at BGP Litigation. 

In 2023, the Federal Customs Service transferred 6.6 trillion rubles to the budget, exceeding the plan by 158.6 billion, the agency reported. According to the head of the Federal Customs Service Ruslan Davydov, the planned figure of budget revenues for 2024 is almost 14% higher and amounts to 7.4 trillion rubles.

How this will affect importers 

Philip Filippenko, Import, Procurement and Analytics Manager at Heli-Drive Logistics, notes that his company currently has no serious difficulties confirming the origin of the goods. However, if the country of origin of the goods is an EU member, it is now impossible for a Russian importer to obtain a European certificate, he admitted. You have to issue a document in a third country through which the purchase is made, for example in Turkey. Such proof of origin, according to him, until recently satisfied the requirements of the Russian customs.

Difficult times have come for importers who use transit countries, Varshavsky added. Some jurisdictions that importers use to transport goods to Russia refuse to issue certificates of origin, citing the fact that their national legislation does not provide for this, he notes. There is no certificate – there is practically no way to confirm non-American origin, he concluded. So far, importers have no choice but to adjust to the new rules, says a representative of Delovaya Rossiya. At the same time, according to him, there will be a number of difficulties that may become insoluble for importers. He expressed the hope that when the "critical mass of identified problems" is reached, the procedure for applying the norms will be adjusted so that the business can continue to function.   

Source: https://www.vedomosti.ru/economics/articles/2024/03/07/1024143-tamozhenniki-nachali-massovo-proveryat-tovari-na-amerikanskoe-proishozhdenie