Customs don’t greenlight — 500 parcels with counterfeit revealed in Tatarstan
Almost 5,500 forbidden medicines and commercial consignments of toys and spare parts tried to import in parcels into the region
The volume of counterfeit goods, which passengers import to Tatarstan or send in parcels, is not reducing. Since the beginning of the year, customs officers have initiated 588 administrative cases against violators of the importation rules at the airports Kazan and Begishevo. Some types of drugs, commercial shipments of goods, as well as weapons — brass knuckles and knives — are banned. Head of Tatarstan Customs Office Albert Mavlikov told about the importation rules at a press conference in the Tatarstan Customs. Read the details in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
Brass knuckles and exotic animals are banned for import
The number of flights this year in Tatarstan has decreased by 8% compared to the previous season when the republic hosted the World Cup. Despite this, passengers haven’t become fewer, on the contrary, their number has increased by 12% due to that Rossiya airline began to transport Tatarstan citizens to Turkey on the double-deck aircraft Boeing-747 with a capacity of more than 500 people. According to the head of the Tatarstan Customs, Albert Mavlikov, with the growth of passenger traffic, the load on his subordinates is growing.
From May to September, at the airports Kazan and Begishevo, customs officers examined more than 4,700 international flights, by which more than 905,000 passengers travelled. As noted by the head of the Tatarstan customs, the number of offences during luggage importation is not decreasing. Since the beginning of the year, 588 cases of administrative offenсes have been initiated against passengers who violated the customs rules at Kazan and Begishevo Airports. Most often, passengers exceeded the norms of importation of alcohol and tobacco products. They brought brass knuckles, knives, clubs, fishing nets with cells of the size prohibited in the Russian Federation, commercial consignments of goods, for example, various spare parts, under the guise of personal use. Vacationers often do not declare large sums of money. It also happens that they bring from exotic countries the animals that are threatened with extinction.
Albert Mavlikov reminded that the passenger's luggage can include no more than 5 kg of fruits or vegetables and no more than 3 bouquets of flowers. When exceeding the norm, it is necessary to pass phytosanitary control and receive a certificate. One adult is allowed to carry up to 3 litres of alcohol, the excess is taxed, more than 5 litres of alcohol is considered a commercial consignment. The passenger can have 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, 250 grams of tobacco in the luggage, everything else is subject to declaration. When passenger's products are withdrawn, an administrative case is initiated. Until a court decision, customs officers keep the goods and then transfer them for destruction or shipment to its destination.
Parcels with a trademark are returned to senders
With the appearance of the Kazan postal customs post in 2017 in Tatarstan, they began to detect counterfeiting in postal parcels. In Russia, Tatarstan customs takes the 4th place out of 19 in the detection of counterfeit mail. Since the beginning of the year, the service has checked about 8 million small packages and parcels. 495 counterfeit parcels with 5,500 units of medicines, children's toys, spare parts have been returned to the senders. Most of the goods were sent from China (82%), India (7%), Hong Kong (5%), as well as Singapore, Finland, USA, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Taiwan and UAE. At the same time, customs officers prevented possible damage by 18 million rubles.
“We are obliged to take measures in respect of copyright. If a passenger has a product for personal use with a trademark, we cannot forbid it to import. But if the parcel contains such product, then ask permission from the rights holder. If he sees a violation, we send the goods back to the sender. Therefore, when sending goods, we recommend checking the presence of a trademark,” explained the head of the service.
According to Albert Mavlikov, digitalization of customs is an established fact. With legal entities, the service has long been conducting document flow in electronic form. Travellers now also have the opportunity to go to the customs website through their personal account, see the list of prohibited goods, learn about the restrictions on products and, if necessary, fill out a declaration while still at home.