If your company is planning to sell any electronic device to Russian customers, you should keep in mind that this type of consumer goods has its own non-tariff measures in Russia. Non-tariff measures of imported goods are realized by customs during registration. Actual laws of electronic devices’ non-tariff regulation in Russian Federation state two basic parameters:
- Radio transmission and radio-reception facilities.
- Encrypting and decrypting facilities.
It is clear, that most of modern gadgets have at least one of those functions. But if we are talking about latest PC’s, whether it is smartphone or a tablet, almost each of them is capable of wireless transceiving, as well as encrypting/decrypting data. More and more often international sellers face difficulties while selling electronics to Russian consumers due to lack of knowledge about proper non-tariff regulations. In order to avoid these problems, let us examine rules of non-tariff regulations.
If product has radio transceiving facilities, it is classified as radio-electronic equipment. Import of such goods to Russia is ruled by item 2.16 of
Single list of goods subject to prohibitions or restrictions on import or export by the Customs Union member states within the EurAsEC when trading with third countries. If device is imported by natural person,
RadioFrequency Compliance certificate (RFC certificate) is needed. Artificial person has to get
EurAsian Conformity license (EAC license) of the Russian Federation, which is also based on
RFC certificate. Exceptions are made for standard devices with GSM/GPRS, EDGE, UMTS/WCDMA, LTE, Wi-Fi, WiMax, Bluetooth, GNSS (GPS/GLONASS/GALILEO/COMPASS), some types of RFID and wireless microphones which can be imported without
EAC license. Full list of exceptions is described in enclosure 2 of item 2.16 of
Single list of goods subject to prohibitions or restrictions on import or export by the Customs Union member states within the EurAsEC when trading with third countries. Thus it's important to check devices’ radio-electronic facilities with standards, allowing to simplify procedure of import with no
EAC license needed.
If product has encrypting or decrypting facilities, it classified as cryptographic equipment. Import of such devices to Russia is ruled by item 2.19 of
Single list of goods subject to prohibitions or restrictions on import or export by the Customs Union member states within the EurAsEC when trading with third countries. In this case any customer needs to get a copy of registered
Federal Security Service notification (FSS notification), regardless of buying as natural or artificial person. If device was never imported to Russia before and there is no information about it in the FSS database - the manufacturer need to register
FSS notification first. That is why it's necessary to have a registered
FSS notification for all cryptographic devices targeted to Russian market.
If equipment is radio-electronic and cryptographic at the same time, both non-tariff measures apply to it. For example, to buy a cryptographic broadcasting station as an artificial person, your Russian customer will need
EAC license, which he can get only with a
RFC certificate and
FSS notification.
It is important to have qualified business contacts between manufacturer (or seller) of the goods and customer, because
RFC certificate and
FSS notification procedures foresee that. It usually takes producer’s signature on power of attorney or other documents and delivering it to customer. Also it is significant to adjust all the documents correctly, so that whole procedure will not draw out.