Constitutional Court Of Russia Removes Ambiguity In Interpreting Customs Rules

Goods and transportation means imported to Russia with the violation of customs rules should not be confiscated from persons who did not know about the illegal nature of their import when they acquired them, says the ruling of the Russian Constitutional Court (KS) made public on Tuesday. The KS explained that the provision of the part one of article 380 of the Russian Customs Code should not be interpreted as "stipulating the possibility of confiscation of goods and transportation means imported with the violation of customs rules from persons who acquired them if they could not influence the procedure of customs registration in one way or another and did not know, and should not have known, about the illegal nature of their import when acquiring them. Permanent representative of the State Duma (the lower house of parliament) in the KS Valery Lazarev pointed out at the same time that at present the question of preventing customs violations has not been fully regulated legislatively. Lazarev believes that it is necessary to tangibly raise the responsibility of state organisations for observing the customs rules, in particular when registering transportation means.