While monitoring compliance with the sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU) against Russia and Belarus, the Customs Department of the State Revenue Agency (SRS) found violations in 3040 cases from March to mid-December 2022 and banned the export, import or transfer of certain types of goods in transit to or from these goods countries, the LETA agency has been informed by representatives of SRS.
In nine months this year, customs officials carried out around 120,200 documentary checks and more than 3,400 customs physical control measures. As a result of the checks, more than 3,000 violations were prevented, preventing the export or import of goods from Russia and Belarus to Latvia from the EU, the export or import of which is prohibited under the current sanctions rules .
In customs control measures, the export ban applies to goods suitable for use in transportation, energy, telecommunications and other industries, namely multifunctional machines, transformers, spare parts of equipment, vehicles, turbojet and various mechanisms.
Attempts to take medical equipment, chemicals, spare parts for cars, fire-fighting equipment, loads of paper, cardboard and other goods out of the EU were prevented. In addition, the Customs has banned the export of some luxury items that exceed the specified threshold value, such as cars, motorcycles, coffee machines, watches, shoes and other goods.
In accordance with the regulations, individuals may export banknotes of the official currency of any EU member state to Russia and Belarus in proportionate quantities only for personal travel needs. During the monitoring of compliance with these rules, attempts to illegally withdraw cash from the EU were detected in 194 cases.
The import ban, on the other hand, applies to loads with sanctioned goods such as wood products, furniture, wood pellets and wood briquettes, steel products, vehicles and their spare parts, paper, plastic products and loads of other goods.
More often than not, Customs has detected attempts to evade sanctions by using inappropriate Combined Nomenclature (CN) product codes or by indicating a reduced value for luxury goods. In several cases, it was found that double sets of accompanying documents were prepared for the goods with different information on the consignee and delivery address, which confirms that the goods are indeed exported to Russia.
Many violations are related to non-compliance with the rules of the transition period – the sanctions provided for Belarus and for Russia still provide for some exceptions for specific groups of goods for the completion of transactions started by a certain date, if the contract for such an operation ended before the determination of the relative sanctions.
Upon detection of a violation of the sanctions, the customs procedure is suspended and the goods are sent back to the sending country. The SRS customs administration sent risk information to other EU member states in 768 cases, drawing attention to cargoes rejected by the Latvian customs service and a possible attempt to cross the external EU border into another country.
If, as a result of control measures, a possible criminal offense is revealed, the further movement of the goods is not allowed and the SRS Customs Administration transfers the case materials to the SRS Customs and Tax Police Administration for a decision on the initiation of criminal proceedings. Until December 22 of this year, the SRS Tax and Customs Police Department initiated 114 criminal cases under Article 84 of the Criminal Law “Violation of Sanctions Imposed by International Organizations and the Republic of Latvia”.
Along with other tasks, enforcement of sanctions is one of the top priorities of the SRS customs authorities this year. It has created a significant increase in job opportunities, SRS representatives point out. Customs carries out control measures mainly for the implementation of sectoral sanctions, but also ensures the implementation of financial sanctions against individuals and companies.
The EU has imposed broad sectoral sanctions, for example, the lists of goods which generate significant revenue for Russia and which are banned for import include around 600 CN codes, while the export ban applies to goods which could contribute to the increase in Russian industrial capacity – about 1,200 CN codes.
This year, on December 16, changes to the sanctions imposed on Russia entered into force, which also provide for changes to the lists and conditions of assets subject to sanctions, therefore the SRS invites entrepreneurs to check whether this affects the transactions they have started and plan.
Representatives of the SRS remind that every company must carry out a complete and effective check before cooperating with any cooperation partner in order to avoid cooperation with a person against whom national sanctions have been imposed by Latvia, the EU, the Council of United Nations Security or the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control.
