Russian Labeling System

About the Compulsory Label Application of the Russian Federation.

Dear Member,

In a letter received from the Turkish Exporters Assembly, with reference to a letter received from the Ministry of Commerce, it is stated that, through the Government Decree signed by the Russian Federation (RF) in December 2017, with the aim of reducing informality and establishing equal competition conditions by taking into account consumer welfare, As part of the transition to the digital economy, it is planned to establish the "Unified Product Labeling and Tracking System" in order to label all the products imported from the Russian Federation and monitor the process from their entry into the country until they reach the final consumer, and in this context, firstly on the fur coat product on 12.08.2016. It is stated that the pilot application was started and the said application started for various tobacco products on March 1, 2019.

The article continues by stating that the Customs Consultancy of the Moscow Embassy will implement compulsory labeling of shoes, medicine and tobacco products in Russia as of July 2020, and that the Government of the Russian Federation has set deadlines for the fulfillment of mandatory labeling requirements for four different types of goods in addition to those mentioned above in 2020. It is stated that the . The list of topics is given in the table below.

On the other hand, the following issues are reported by the Consultancy in question;

-According to the procedure approved by the Customs Union Commission Decision No. 257 dated 20.05.2010 regarding the rules for filling out the customs declaration, information regarding the identification of marked goods within the scope of the relevant customs regime must be specified in column no. 31 of the declaration.

-After the mandatory labeling practice comes into force, the absence of information about the identification means for marked goods in the goods declaration may result in the goods not being allowed to enter free circulation, according to the legislation of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEA) and the Russian Federation.

-In accordance with the 2nd paragraph of Article 158 of the EEU Customs Law, goods can be subject to the customs warehouse regime for the preparation of goods for sale and transportation, including labeling of goods, with the permission of the customs administration. However, the legislation of the Russian Federation does not currently provide such an opportunity.

-The possibility of marking goods under customs control in other places, including temporary storage, is not provided by the EEU Customs Law.

In this context, the updated information note regarding the mandatory labeling application within the scope of the establishment of the Unified Product Labeling and Tracking System, prepared by the aforementioned Consultancy on the subject, is attached.

We present it for your information.