Crossing the border

As part of the execution of government guarantee № 1411п-П8 of 11.03.2015, the Council of the Eurasian Economic Union adopted and published the Resolution of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission №23 of 29.03.2019 “On Categories of Goods to Be Placed Under a Special Customs Procedure, Requirements for Placing of Such Categories of Goods Under a Special Customs Pocedure, and Customs Procedure Rules”, Resolution of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission №25 of 29.03.2019 “On Import (Export) of Goods in Order to Organize and Hold the WorldSkills Competition” and Decision №73 of the Collegium of the Eurasian Economic Commission of 14.05.2019 “On Amendments to the Paragraph 12 of the Instruction on Use of Transportation (Carriage), Commercial and (or) Other Documents as the Goods Declaration” on the official website.

Published resolutions were related to foreign goods imported to the Eurasian Economic Union and designed exclusively for delivering the WorldSkills Competition, and to placing such good under a special customs procedure, range of simplified procedures related to goods imported by accredited physical entities to the Competition, streamlining of customs declaring procedure, and re-export procedure.

Goods intended for the 45th WorldSkills Competition could have been placed under a special customs procedure. Such goods could have been re-exported after, or consumed/used during, the Competition. In addition, goods could have been disposed of if they had lost their application properties and found to be unsuitable for further use for the intended purpose.

Special customs procedure was not applicable to the following foreign goods:

• excise products;
• prohibited items;
• goods subject to compliant inspection procedure, excluding radio electronic appliances and high-frequency devices of non-military nature, encryption (cryptographic) tools, and goods subject to state sanitary and epidemiological supervision included in the 2nd section of the consolidated list.

Requirements for placing of goods under a special customs procedure were:

• provision of customs authorities with a written confirmation of the Competition Organizer including the information on the intended purpose of foreign goods;
• the goods should have been placed under the customs procedure for no more than 6 months following the end of the Competition.

When declaring and placing goods under a special customs procedure, as well as the re-export customs procedure, the declarant or customs representative (broker) could use transportation (carriage), commercial and (or) other documents as a goods declaration. A list of goods was also required.

Other aspects and requirements for placing goods under a special customs procedure were set forth in the published resolutions of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Union.

On the whole, the adoption of these regulatory legal acts by the Eurasian Economic Commission enabled importing foreign goods to Russia required for organizing and holding the Competition without paying customs duties and taxes and guaranteeing optimal conditions for importing foreign goods by members of delegations, teams, WorldSkills International Association, partners, and other suppliers, media representatives, and other accredited individuals.

In order to fulfill the Government’s guarantees, the next regulatory act was adopted – Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation No.703 of 3 June 2019 “On Relief of Customs Duties for Customs Operations Related to the Release of Goods, and Relief of the Obligation to Pay Customs Duties and Taxes with Respect to Foreign Goods Intended for the Preparation and Holding of the 45th WorldSkills Competition in Kazan”.

This decree of the Government of the Russian Federation enabled exemption from customs duties as part of the temporary import procedure (admission), as well as when placing goods under the re-export customs procedure. In addition, according to the decree, foreign goods imported to the WorldSkills Competition were exempt from customs duties and taxes as part of the temporary import procedure (admission); the exemption also applied during the transportation of goods through the territory of the Russian Federation in accordance with the customs transit procedure.

To apply such a preferential procedure, the organization was due to send an application request to the Ministry of Education of Russia and receive its confirmation certifying that the goods were imported for the purposes specified. The application for confirmation needed to be accompanied with a list of goods. The confirmation obtaining procedure was stipulated in the guide on shipping customs cargoes/toolboxes.