The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation has published the list of goods allowed for parallel imports. The listed products can be imported into Russia without the copyright holder's consent.
The list of products allowed for parallel imports also includes electronics, game consoles, furniture, weapons and ammunition, Apple and Samsung products, watches, cars, ships, heating equipment, and nuclear reactors, RBC reports.
The 23-page list includes products and materials from hundreds of international brands, including Land Rover, Apple, Samsung, Bentley and more.
The ministry has thus allowed parallel imports of weapons and ammunition, heating boilers and nuclear reactors, furniture, bedding, vehicles, electronics, including XBox, Nintendo and PlayStation game consoles, smart watches, musical instruments, cameras, movie cameras and ships.
The ground transportation category includes, inter alia, the following brands:
Vehicles and components of such brands as Toyota, Volkswagen, Skoda, BMW, Renault, Audi, Mini, Nissan can also be imported without the permission of the copyright holder.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade also allowed imports of railway locomotives and rolling stock, trams, devices and equipment for railways, boats, live trees, seedlings and flowers. The list includes salt, sulfur, soil and stone, ores, ash and slag.
Parallel imports have been allowed for motor fuels, petroleum products and lubricants, including automobiles, isotopes, rare earth metals, chemical products, dyes, paste fillers, essential oils and toiletries. Rubber and rubber products, soap, detergents, candles, plasticine, adhesives, matches, explosives, plastics and plastic products have also been approved for parallel imports.
A parallel import is an option to import genuine, non-counterfeit products from another country without the permission of the intellectual property owner. Parallel imports are often referred to as gray product.
Parallel importing is based on the concept of exhaustion of intellectual property rights. When the product is first launched on the market in a particular jurisdiction, parallel importation is authorized to all residents in the state in question. Parallel imports are common in some countries and forbidden in others.