Letter of the Federal Customs Service of Russia No. 14-88/35479 dated 14.06.2018 on the issue of conditional release of goods in respect of which technical regulation measures are applied

• Explanation of the conditional release of goods in respect of which technical regulation measures are applied
• Clarification on the conditional release of goods for the purpose of labeling products with a single circulation mark on the EAEU market ("EAC")

In order to ensure uniform compliance by the customs authorities of the Russian Federation with the lawThe EAEUand the legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of customs, technical regulation, as well as reducing the time and minimizing the costs of participants in foreign economic activity when performing customs operations with respect to products subject to mandatory conformity assessment, the Department of Trade Restrictions, Currency and Export Control of the Federal Customs Service of Russia (hereinafter - UTOVEK) draws attention to the following.

Conditional release of goods in respect of which technical regulation measures are applied

In accordance with Article 53 of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union of 29.05.2014 (hereinafter referred to as the EAEU Treaty), products put into circulation on the territory of the EAEU must be safe.

Article 351 of the Customs Code of the EAEU (hereinafter -The EAEU TC) it is established thatcustoms authoritiesprovide and perform functions and tasks in the customs territory of the EAEU to ensure compliance with prohibitions and restrictions on goods transported across the customs border of the Union, as well as to protect the national security of the state, human life and health, flora and fauna, and the environment.

According to Article 7 of the EAEU Customs Code, goods are moved across the customs border of the EAEU and (or) placed under customs procedures in compliance with prohibitions and restrictions. Compliance with prohibitions and restrictions, which include technical regulation measures, is confirmed by submitting documents and (or) information to the customs authorities.

In accordance with Article 118 of the EAEU Customs Coderelease of goodsmade by the customs authority, provided that the person has complied with the conditions for placing goods under the declared customs procedure or the conditions established for the use of certain categories of goods that are not subject to placement under customs procedures in accordance with the EAEU TC, except in cases where such a condition as compliance with prohibitions and restrictions in accordance with the EAEU Treaty and (or) by the legislation of the EAEU member states, can be confirmed after the release of goods.

In accordance with Article 219 of Federal Law No. 311, upon a reasoned request of the declarant in writing or electronically, the customs authorities in writing or electronically allow the submission of documents on compliance after the release of goods.

According to UTOVEK, the declarant's motivated appeal may contain the following information:

1. objective reason for non-submission of conformity documents when declaring goods;
2. name and location of the recipient of the goods;
3. information about the qualitative, quantitative and other characteristics of the goods necessary for identification, for which there are no documents on compliance;
4. information about the country of origin (manufacture) of the goods;
5. the name and place, as well as the conditions of storage of goods with the indication of documents confirming the ownership or use of the premises (territory) intended for the storage of goods;
6. planned deadline for submission of documents.

According to paragraph 3 of Article 126 of the EAEU Labor Code and paragraph 2 of Article 219 of Federal Law No. 311conditionally released goods are prohibited for transfer to third parties, including through their sale or alienation in another way, and in cases where restrictions on the import into the customs territory of the Union of these goods are established in connection with the security check of these goods, they are also prohibited from their use (operation, consumption) in any form.
At the same time, the customs authorities have the right to require the declarant to submit an obligation to submit documents within the prescribed period, as well as an obligation to comply with restrictions, as well as to apply other measures to ensure compliance with such restrictions (paragraph 3 of Article 219 of Federal Law No. 311).

Declaration of conformity or mandatory certification of products is carried out according to the schemes established by the technical regulations of the EAEU (Customs Union).

Conformity assessment schemes for both batch and mass-produced products provide for testing of product samples in an accredited testing laboratory (center).
For the purposes of assessing compliance with the mandatory requirements of mass-produced products, its samples and samples must first be imported into the customs territory of the Union.

In respect of a batch of products imported into the Russian Federation in accordance with Article 17 of the EAEU Customs Code, sampling and (or) samples from it for testing is carried out by an authorized person with the permission of the customs authority, provided that this batch is under customs control. Separatecustoms declarationsamples and (or) samples of goods may not be submitted, provided that they will be indicated in the goods declaration when placing goods under customs procedures.

In accordance with Article 104 of the EAEU Customs Code, goods imported into the customs territory of the EAEU, including as samples and samples for research and testing purposes, are subject to customs declaration.
At the same time, the Regulation on the procedure for importing products (goods) into the customs territory of the Customs Union, in respect of which mandatory requirements are established within the Customs Union, approved by the Decision of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission dated December 25, 2012 N 294, determines that the customs authority is not provided with documents and (or) information confirming the conformity of products (goods) with mandatory requirements, when placing goods under the customs procedure if they are imported as samples and (or) samples for research and testing.

In accordance with Article 378 of the EAEU Customs Code, customs authorities use a risk management system to select objects of customs control and measures to minimize them.
When conducting customs control, customs authorities, within the framework of the risk management system, apply forms of customs control, as well as measures to ensure its implementation.
One of the forms of customs control is the verification of customs and other documents and (or) information. In accordance with Article 324 of the Customs Code of the EAEU, the purpose of applying this form of customs control is to establish the reliability of the information specified in the documents, the correctness of their filling and registration, compliance with the conditions of use of goods in accordance with the declared customs procedure.

When checking customs and other documents and (or) information, in accordance with Article 325 of the EAEU Customs Code, the customs authority has the right to request additional documents and (or) information.
The documents confirming the information stated in the declarant's motivated appeal, the obligation to submit documents within the prescribed period and the obligation to comply with restrictions may include:

1. for mass-produced products:
   - a test report containing information on the confirmation of conformity of products with mandatory requirements, if the document of conformity is not registered in the unified register of conformity documents located on the official website of Rosaccreditation;
   - documents confirming the civil relations between the applicant and the accredited person (a copy of the contract with the certification body (accredited testing laboratory (center));
   - a letter from an accredited testing laboratory (center) confirming the quantity (weight and volume) of imported products (goods) required for the purposes of research (testing);
   - documents confirming the importation of samples and samples of products into the Russian Federation for the purpose of conducting research and testing (customs declaration).
2. for products imported in a separate batch:
   - documents confirming the civil relations between the applicant and the accredited person (a copy of the contract with the certification body (accredited testing laboratory (center));
   - a letter from an accredited testing laboratory (center) confirming the quantity (weight and volume) of imported products (goods) required for the purposes of research (testing);
   - permission of the customs authority for sampling and (or) samples;
   - the act of sampling and (or) samples.

If the declarant fails to submit the specified documents and (or) information, the customs authority has the right to refuse to release the goods (Article 125 of the EAEU Customs Code).

Information about goods released conditionally is entered by an official of the customs authority through the KPS "Logs - registration" in the register of customs authorities of conditionally released goods under customs control, approved by Order of the Federal Customs Service of Russia No. 74 of 13.01.2011.

In addition, information about each case of conditional release of goods should be sent to the division after the release of goods and the division of prohibitions and restrictions of customs and regional customs administration for analysis and control of such goods. Control over compliance with the conditions related to the restriction on the use of conditionally released goods is carried out after the release of goods using forms of customs control.

The grounds for the application of customs control forms in accordance with Article 310 of the EAEU Customs Code are the existence of risks of violation of the EAEU law and the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Such risks may include the following:

• prior to applying to the customs authority for conditional release of goods, the declarant was brought to administrative responsibility for administrative offenses in the field of customs affairs provided for in Chapter 16 of the Administrative Code;
• information about the declarant is contained in the form of statistical reporting 35-TNR "Information on identified cases of submission of invalid documents confirming compliance with prohibitions and restrictions", approved by Order of the Federal Customs Service of Russia dated March 31, 2015 N 589;
• in relation to the manufacturer of conditionally manufactured products, the unified register of compliance documents located on the official website of Rosaccreditation contains information about canceled (terminated) compliance documents;
• in relation to an accredited person (certification body, testing laboratory) with whom the declarant of conditionally manufactured products has concluded a contract for conformity assessment, the unified register of accredited persons posted on the official website of the Federal Accreditation Service contains information about violations in the field of conformity assessment of products;
• the place of declaration and the place of actual placement of goods are located in different customs authorities.

Confirmation of compliance with prohibitions and restrictions after the conditional release of goods is carried out by submitting the relevant permits to the customs authority, as well as by submitting information about permits in column 44 of the goods declaration by making amendments and additions.

An official of the customs body carrying outcustoms operations related to verificationDT, control is carried out for the presence in the unified automated information system of customs authorities of information about the permit document specified in column 44 of the DT, obtained through the system of interdepartmental electronic interaction (hereinafter - SMEV) with Rosaccreditation.

If, in response to a request for a permit document sent automatically to Rosaccreditation, an error notification or a notification in the form of the words "No information found" was received, it is recommended that the official of the customs authority carrying out customs operations related to the verification of DT check the availability of information using the Internet information and telecommunications network about the authorization document on the official website of Rosaccreditation (www.fsa.gov.ru ) and (or) the Eurasian Economic Commission (www.eurasiancommission.org ).

Conditional release of goods for the purpose of labeling products with a single circulation mark on the EAEU market ("EAC")

According to the Procedure for Applying a Single Product Circulation Mark on the EAEU Market (hereinafter referred to as the Single Circulation mark), approved byBy the decision of the Customs Union Commission No. 711 of 15.07.2011, manufacturers, persons authorized by the manufacturer, importers of products have the right to label it with a single circulation mark if the products have passed all conformity assessment procedures established by the relevant technical regulations of the EAEU, which is confirmed by the documents provided for the relevant forms of conformity assessment of products.

Considering that the application of a single circulation mark on products should be carried out before the release of goods by customs authorities into circulation, according to UTOVEK, its marking with a single circulation mark is possible after receiving a document of conformity (certificate of conformity, declaration of conformity) in the following cases:

1. by a foreign manufacturer - mass-produced products must be marked at the place of their production;
2. by a person authorized by the manufacturer - if the mass-produced products were not marked with a single sign of treatment by a foreign manufacturer at the place of its production, its marking may be carried out on the territory of the Russian Federation at the will of such a person after placing the goods under the customs procedure of a customs warehouse or in other places after their placement under the customs procedure of release for domestic consumption conditionally;
3. importer - in respect of products supplied by a separate batch, its labeling may be carried out on the territory of the Russian Federation at the will of such a person after placing the goods under the customs procedure of a customs warehouse or in other places after placing them under the customs procedure of release for domestic consumption conditionally.

At the same time, goods subject to marking with a single circulation mark, but not marked with it at the place of production, may be released by the customs authority conditionally if:

• the declarant has not been brought to administrative responsibility for administrative offenses in the field of customs affairs provided for in Article 16.20 of the Administrative Code for one year prior to applying to the customs authority;
• the declarant submitted a reasoned appeal for the release of goods conditionally in order to prevent the submission of invalid documents on compliance and (or) information about them (not related to the goods) due to the absence of a single circulation mark on the goods, as well as an obligation that the goods will not be transferred to third parties, including through their sale or alienation in any other way or be used in any form;
• the declarant is a person authorized in accordance with the EAEU law to apply toproducta single sign of address.

Confirmation of compliance with prohibitions and restrictions after the conditional release of goods is carried out by submitting to the customs authority the relevant permits, the statement of information about permits in column 44 DT by making changes and additions, and can also be carried out with the simultaneous submission of accompanying documents for products marked with a single circulation mark.