Re: Announcement

Dear Member,
With reference to the letter sent to our Chamber by TOBB, the text of the announcement entitled "Problems Experienced by Our TIR Drivers in the City of Magaramkent, Russia" made by the Directorate General of International Trade in Services of the Ministry of Trade is as follows.

"The information received from our Commercial Counsellor's Office in Moscow states that some of our drivers carrying passenger car loads from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan via Russia have been held for some time in the city of Magaramkent of the Republic of Dagestan, located near the Russia-Azerbaijan border.

In the meetings held by our Counsellor's Office with the parties to the matter, it has been learned that;

• For some passenger cars exported from China to Azerbaijan, transit declarations were submitted in Kazakhstan, which is within the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), but it was determined that the declared means of transport and the vehicles actually carrying out the transport were different,
• The Federal Law on Administrative Offences dated 30.12.2001 and numbered 195-FZ, applied by Dagestan Customs, contains provisions on the penalties to be applied in cases where goods carried under the transit regime are not presented to the customs office of destination, the carrier is changed without the permission of the customs office, transit goods under customs supervision are lost, or the commercial documents and transport documents relating to the transit goods are not presented to the customs office of destination,
• Pursuant to the said legislation, a penalty decision of 310,000 Roubles (approximately 3,500 US Dollars) was issued per declaration subject to the regime violation,
• If the penalty is paid within 20 days, it can be paid with a 50% discount,
• The penal action is applied not to the carrier but to the holder of the transit declaration.

As a result of the consultations held by our Counsellor's Office with our drivers, it has been understood that the drivers had no information about the customs status of the vehicles loaded in Kazakhstan, that they were not given any customs declaration or any of the documents replacing the declaration, that they were told the necessary documents would be delivered to them at the exit stage from Russia, and that transport had previously been carried out in this way many times without any problems.

In this context, our Counsellor's Office has also stated that, so that our drivers carrying out transport within the EAEU customs territory do not
encounter similar problems again;

• They should strictly comply with the provisions of the EAEU customs legislation and transport legislation,
• They should check that the commercial, transport and customs documents required for international road transport are complete and correct,
• They should observe transit routes and periods,
• They should act in line with the instructions of the customs administrations,
• In cases where the goods cannot be presented to the customs office of destination due to force majeure, they should immediately inform the customs office and act with the knowledge and approval of the customs office, and that it may be useful to exercise the utmost care in this regard."

Kind regards,
Elazığ Chamber of Commerce and Industry