Review of legislation in the sphere of customs regulation of the Russian Federation and Estonian state border crossing procedure

Fundamental enactments

A fundamental normative legal enactment in the sphere of regulation of the legal procedure defining the routine and forms of the Russian Federation State border crossing is the Law of the RF of 01.04.1993 no. 4730-1 (version of 26.06.2007) ‘ON STATE BORDER OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION'. According to the article 9 of the stated law ‘the State border inland crossing shall be meant for persons and transport vehicles on international railway and highway communication lines or at other places defined by international agreements of the Russian Federation or decisions of the Government of the Russian Federation' at corresponding checkpoints which stand for the ‘territory (water area) within a railway depot, a highway station or a railway station, sea (trade, fishery, special-purpose), river (lake) ports, an airport, military airfield open for international communication (international flights), as well as other dedicated area in close proximity to the State border, where according to the legislation of the Russian Federation persons, transport vehicles, cargoes, goods and animals cross the State border', under immediate control of border guard authorities. Norms of the stated law define grounds for border crossing which, in particular, are valid documents giving right to enter Russia. In particular, the State border shall not be crossed by foreign citizens and stateless persons who according to the RF legislation are not allowed to enter our country, as well as persons forbidden to exit the RF according to the ruling passed in compliance with the RF legislation (for example if a person became a subject of a criminal case).

The content, the means and methods of control, the routine of its execution at State border crossing points, as well as the routine to establish, open, functioning (operation), reconstruction and closure of State border crossing points, the general requirements to construction, reconstruction, equipment and technical features of the corresponding premises, buildings and structures, necessary to organize border-crossing, customs and other types of control implemented at State border crossing points, shall be set by the Government of the Russian Federation. In particular, the Ruling of the RF Government of 02.02.2005 No. 50 ‘ON PROCEDURE OF APPLICATION OF MEANS AND METHODS OF CONTROL DURING THE RF STATE BORDER CROSSING BY PERSONS, TRANSPORT VEHICLES, CARGOES, GOODS AND ANIMALS' defines means (particularly engineering structures and obstacles, service animals etc) and methods of control (particularly inspection of documents, observation, oral enquiry, body search, getting explanations etc) which are used by subdivisions of federal executive authorities when executing border-guard, immigration, quarantine and sanitary, veterinary, phyto-sanitary and transport control at the RF state border-crossing points, as well as their application procedure.

Sanitary and epidemiological rules

According to the Ruling of the RF Chief state health inspector of 30.05.2003 N 108 ‘ON IMPLEMENTATION OF SANITATION AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL RULES SP 3.4.1328-03' (along with ‘SANITATION AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL RULES ‘SANITARY PROTECTION OF THE TERRITORY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION ТЕРРИТОРИИ SP 3.4.1328-03', adopted by the RF Chief state health inspector 25.05.2003) (registered in the RF Ministry of justice as of 19.06.2003 N 4754) (cl.4.1) The state border-crossing points provide for:

• appropriate sanitary state of the territory and objects within the territory;

• premises for temporary isolation of citizens with suspicion of disease, with access to a means of transport (marine or riverside wharfs, a landing field, a platform and an apron or a station) and a near-station area;

• allocation and equipment in marine and riverside wharfs, airports, railway and highway stations and stations open for international communication of ambulance wharfs, parking places, dead ends and sites for conducting sanitary-and-epidemiological (preventative) measures, including disinfection, disinsectization and rat destruction on transport means;

• protection of the transport organization territory and premises, structures and transport vehicles within the territory from penetration and contamination with rats, insects and conduction of measures aimed at fighting rodents, mosquitos and other decease-transmitting arthropods (hereinafter insects) according to normative documents;

• efficient system of disposal and decontamination of excrements, wastes, waste water, rejected food products and other substances dangerous for health;

• organization and conduction of disinfection, disinsectization and rat destruction on transport means in case of epidemic indications;

• obtainment according to the prescribed procedure from the state transport sanitary and epidemiological inspection or territorial department of state sanitary and epidemiological inspection a rat destruction certificate or a rat destruction relief certificate - for outbound sea-, fishing- and river-crafts <International health regulations 1969 > etc.

At the same time, according to cl. 4.2.7 the departure of transport vehicles on highway and railway stations, stops, and passages is allowed without quarantine and sanitary control if no other decision was adopted due to sanitary and epidemic indication.

Border-crossing arrangement patterns

The sequence of the necessary types of state control - border-guard, sanitary and quarantine, customs, migrational, veterinary, and quarantine phytosanitary - in respect of persons, vehicles, cargoes, goods and animals crossing the RF State border on the international railways is regulated by the Decree of the RF Ministry of Communications no. 26 of 29.05.2002 (RF Ministry of Justice ref. of August 14, 2002 no. 3691) ‘On establishment of typical RF State border-crossing arrangement patterns for persons, vehicles, cargoes, goods and animals on the international railways'. In particular, according to the Letter of the RF State Customs Committee of 26.04.2001 no. 01-06/16540 ‘On the execution by the customs agencies of the decree by the Russian SCC of 15.12.2000 ‘On export and import of alcohol and spirits-containing food products' (RF SCC letter version of 06.06.2001 no. 01-06/22193, amended by RF SCC letter of 03.07.2002 no. 01-06/26228) and in accordance with the Russian SCC Decree of 15.12.2000 no. 1170 ‘On export and import of alcohol and spirits-containing food products' (RF Ministry of Justice ref. of 27.12.2000, no. 2511) the customs agencies permit import (export) to (from) the RF customs territory of alcohol and spirits-containing food products only to those organizations, which hold license to perform activities, stipulated in articles 18 and 21 of the Federal Law of 22.11.95 no. 171-FL ‘On state regulation of production and sales of ethyl alcohol, and alcohol and spirits-containing products' (Federal Law Edition of 07.01.99 no. 18-FL). Customs agencies immediately inform the Russian SCC HAFTR on all cases of violations. In the event customs agencies of the region hosting RF customs border-crossing points discover facts of non-observance by organizations importing alcohol and spirits-containing food products of requirements of clause 1 of Russian SCC Decree of 15.12.2000 no. 1170, in particular importers lacking a correctly certified (notarially) license copy, such products shall become subject to either export beyond RF borders, or placement into a temporary storage warehouse, located within the region of the acting customs agency. Alongside with this, Russian SCC Decree of 27.11.2000 no. 1070 (RF Ministry of Justice ref. of 09.01.2001, no. 2522) established the list of border-crossing points, which are allowed to throughput alcohol production and individual brands of spirits-containing food products.

Activity near or on the border

Agricultural, trade or other activity connected to the State border crossing or otherwise affecting interests of the RF or foreign states and carried out by Russian and foreign legal entities including joint activity directly on the State border or nearby in the RF territory (within the area of five kilometers) shall not:

• damage health of the population, harm environmental and other safety of the Russian Federation, adjacent and other foreign states or pose a threat to such damage;

• create obstacles to the State border maintenance and task fulfillment by border authorities;

Border violators

Foreign citizens and stateless persons not residing in the RF territory who crossed the state border from a foreign state and showed in their activities elements of crime or administrative violation shall be subject to the liability under the RF legislation.

In events no criminal or administrative cases may be filed against the violators of the State border, and such violators do not exercise the right for political refuge, in accordance with the RF Constitution the border guards shall officially transfer them to the authorities of the state from whose territory they have crossed the State border. If such transfer of violators to the authorities of a foreign state is not provided for by a relevant agreement between the RF and the state in question, the border guard service convoys them beyond the RF borders to areas identified by the border guard service. Of such convoying of foreign citizens and stateless persons beyond the RF borders through border-crossing points notification shall be given to the authorities of the state, to (or via) whose territory such convoying is undertaken, in the event this is stipulated in the agreement between the RF and the state in question.

Loss of documents

RF citizens arriving at State border-crossing points having lost documents permitting their entry into the RF during their stay abroad are retained at the border-crossing points for the time necessary to identify them, yet such time shall not exceed 30 days.

Vehicle parking

Parking lots and periods at State border-crossing points for transboundary vehicles are identified by administrations of airports, airfields, sea and river (lake) ports, railway and motorway stations and stops, as well as other transportation enterprises, as agreed by the border guard and customs services.

Access of persons to and on board transboundary vehicles in duration of customs and other types of control is restricted or prohibited when necessary.

Passenger boarding on to vehicles when exiting the RF and alighting upon arrival to the RF, as well as loading (unloading) of luggage, mail and cargoes is performed on permission by border guard and customs services.