The conditions for exemption from payment of charges for temporary importation

In order to preserve the benefits for the vessel for full exemption from customs payments within the framework of temporary import, the vessel must be owned by a foreign shipowner, be transferred to the charter to a Russian charterer, who is obliged to operate it personally for international transportation. The transfer of a chartered vessel to a subcharter for international transportation deprives the vessel of the said benefit.

Resolution of the FAS of the Far Eastern District of August 12, 2011 No. F03-3790 / 2011 in case No. A51-13804 / 2010 established that the transfer by a Russian charterer of a ship to the third party conditionally released under the “temporary importation” procedure to the third party deprives the ship of the exemption for full exemption from customs payments, and such payments are paid by the declarant of the vessel in full. Such a transfer is not equated with the performance of international shipments by a ship for the purposes of granting privileges, since the main type of activity of the Russian charterer is the delivery of the ship to the subcharter.

The plaintiff appealed to the court for the cancellation of the decision of the customs service on the calculation of customs duty in respect of the temporary imported vessel. The reason for the accrual is the fact of the transfer of the imported ship to the subcharter to a third party identified by the results of the inspection for international shipments by the ship. According to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of June 21, 2002 No. 448 “On exemption from customs duties and taxes on sea-going ships temporarily imported into the customs territory of the Russian Federation”, ships of over 1,000 tons gross tonnage owned by foreign persons and chartered by Russian persons under a time contract charter or bareboat charter, subject to their use in international transport of goods and passengers, are temporarily imported into the customs territory of the Russian Federation from the floor th exemption from customs duties and taxes for the duration of these contracts. The plaintiff believed that while the ship, in fact, carries out international transportation, the conditions for granting the ship privileges on full exemption from customs payments are complied with. The court investigated the conditions of the sub-time charter, concluding that it was impossible to qualify it as a contract of carriage by sea, as a result of which the benefit in respect of the vessel was lost. The exclusive contract for the carriage of goods in international traffic, concluded by the Russian charterer, retains the exemption from customs duties on the vessel.

Under these circumstances, the courts came to the correct conclusion that the society did not comply with the conditions for exemption from customs payments provided for by the RF Government Resolution No. 448 of June 21, 2002, and therefore the customs authority had grounds for issuing a claim for customs payments.

St. Petersburg Law Offices "Inmarine" Pressing Service, 2019.