The new rules for calculating the recycling fee have led to numerous complaints from car importers to the prosecutor’s office. The situation with compliance with legal requirements in this area was taken under control by the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation. The intervention of supervisory authorities is unlikely to change the situation with the collection of this payment, experts and lawyers say. Details are in the Izvestia article.
Under special control
The General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation has taken control of the situation with the collection of recycling fees in relation to vehicles imported by individuals. This is stated in the message, published on the official website of the supervisory agency. The interest of prosecutors is related to the entry into force of Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 17, 2023 No. 1722.
“Due to numerous requests from citizens about problematic issues that arise when customs authorities collect recycling fees, the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation has taken control of the situation and requested the positions of authorized departments on this problem,” says the press service of the supervisory agency.
As Izvestia previously reported, According to government decree No. 1722, if a car was imported into the EAEU by a legal entity and then delivered to Russia by an individual, then it is not subject to the reduced coefficients for paying the recycling fee provided for “physicists”. For such a vehicle, a recycling fee is charged at the rates applicable to legal entities.
This information confirm at the Ministry of Industry and Trade. A statement from the ministry’s press service notes that “payment of a recycling fee at the full rate is established for cars imported into the territory of the EAEU by legal entities and subsequently imported into Russia by individuals.”
In addition, at the beginning of July, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution increasing the recycling fee rates. However, for individual importers, the previously existing preferential coefficients were retained (0.17 for new cars and 0.26 for models older than three years). Taking into account the base rate of 20 thousand rubles, when importing a car, individuals must pay 3.4 or 5.2 thousand rubles, respectively.
For importing legal entities, since August of this year, tariffs have become significantly higher: from 81 thousand rubles for a new car with an engine capacity of less than 1 liter and up to 1.28 million rubles for a used car with an engine capacity of more than 3.5 liters. At the same time, “physicists” can now take advantage of the preferential recycling fee rate only once during the year. In addition, this benefit will only apply if the car imported by the citizen remains in his ownership for at least a year. If at least one of these conditions is not met, he will have to pay a recycling fee at the rates in force for legal entities, the Ministry of Industry and Trade notes.
You will have to pay extra
Despite the fact that Ministry of Industry and TradeAnd Federal Customs Service At the end of October – beginning of November, they published detailed explanations regarding the rules for calculating the recycling fee, as well as the conditions under which benefits for individual importers do not work; for many people, the need to pay a fairly decent amount came as a surprise.
As one of these buyers, Ilya (name changed), told Izvestia, he purchased a used car in Armenia with an engine capacity of more than 3.5 liters. He decided to first repair the car and only then deal with its customs clearance.
— I didn’t manage to pay the recycling fee before October 29. Now they tell me: “You need to pay more than 1 million rubles.” I bought the car for myself, I don’t resell it. Now I don’t know what to do,” Ilya told his story.
In a similar situation turned out to be and other buyers who did not manage to register the car before the new rules came into force and now, as a disposal fee, they need to pay additional amounts comparable to the cost of the car itself.
Legally
From a legal point of view, customs officers who offer individual importers to pay additional recycling fees are acting within the framework of the law, lawyers and experts say.
— In this case, they comply with government regulations that established the rules for calculating the recycling fee, as well as the conditions for applying preferential rates for its payment. The intervention of the Prosecutor General’s Office in this case will not affect the situation in any waysays Anton Shaparin, vice-president of the National Automobile Union.
He notes that according to the “legal entity – purchase and sale agreement – individual” scheme, the vast majority of cars are supplied to Russia through Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and other EAEU countries, including parallel imports. At the same time, in fact, all problems associated with paying recycling fees and customs duties fall on the end consumer, the expert emphasizes.
Sergei Radko, lawyer for the Freedom of Choice movement, agrees with him. He also believes that in the current situation, customs authorities only implement decisions taken by the Cabinet of Ministers. At the same time, he does not rule out that the intervention of the Prosecutor General’s Office could still lead to changes in legislation regarding the calculation of recycling fees and the rules for applying preferential rates.
– IN government decree No. 1722 contains a footnote, according to which the requirement to fully pay the recycling fee for vehicles imported into the EAEU countries and then brought to Russia applies to vehicles imported after August 1, 2023. That is, in fact, in this case we can talk about the retroactive force of the document. After all, a person who bought a car from a legal entity in Kyrgyzstan or Armenia in August or September did not know and could not know that at the end of October new rules would be adopted that would deprive him of benefits for paying the recycling fee, Sergei Radko told Izvestia.
If the Prosecutor General’s Office sends a proposal to the government or the Supreme Court to cancel or change this clause of the document, then for buyers who are now faced with the need to pay an additional disposal fee, the situation may change for the better, the lawyer thinks.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation could not promptly respond to Izvestia’s request regarding the prospects for sending such a submission.
Check everything
In order not to be faced with the need to pay an additional recycling fee when purchasing cars from the EAEU countries, the vice-president of NAS recommends that potential buyers check all documents as carefully as possible and pay special attention to the issues of paying the recycling fee.
“There are already a lot of advertisements where sellers assure that this fee has been paid and there will be no problems with it in the future. You definitely shouldn’t trust such promises. On the contrary, you should carefully check who paid it and in what volume. If in doubt, you should avoid the purchase or be aware that in the future, depending on the engine size, you will have to pay up to 1.28 million rubles“, Anton Shaparin noted in a conversation with Izvestia.
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