Starting from 14 September 2013 transporters of goods are not permitted to ship any goods into Russia or transit any goods through Russia with the use of TIR Carnets. The senders must provide another guarantee for payment of all customs duties and taxes, such as a bank deposit or bank guarantee.
According to the new rules, the use of TIR Carnets is not enough. The Federal Customs Service (FTS) will not accept the TIR guarantees without a supplemental financial guarantee. At the moment the guarantee may only be issued by the Federal State Unitary Enterprise of the Federal Customs Service – “ROSTEK”. The list of authorized sub-agents may be accessed at ROSTEK’s website.
The Federal Customs Service claims that the new rules are not a part of the “trade war” and that they will lead neither to queues of trucks at the Russian border, nor to any rise of prices for imported goods.
Russia is a member of the TIR Convention, 1975.
UPDATE: The suspension measure is only to be applied by the customs authorities belonging to Siberian and Far-East Customs Departments. For the rest of the country the measure is to be applied from 1 December 2013. This was clarified by the Letter of the Federal Customs Service of Russia No. 01-11/40499 of 13 September 2013.