A guide to the export and import of cultural goods between Russia ...

Сhapter 4: Russia
Russia
fee for taking cultural goods out with me?” in this section). The amount of the stamp duty
is fixed after the expert has inspected the object.
Rossvyazokhrankultura makes a decision on the possibility of exporting the goods on the
basis of the expert’s report and after checking official lists or rosters of cultural goods
(such as, for example, lists of stolen cultural goods).
On the whole, the procedure between the moment of the application and the moment of
Rossvyazokhrankultura´s decision lasts no more than 30 days. In practice, in many cases
the term is much shorter. In a handful of more complicated cases, the mentioned 30-day
term can be extended for a maximum of another 30 days.
If the decision is positive, the applicant is given a certificate for the right to export cultural
goods from the territory of Russia. It is necessary to present this certificate to customs
upon leaving Russia, together with the customs declaration.
If the expert establishes that your object is not a cultural good, Rossvyazokhrankultura
issues the relevant reference document or spravka. Such document can be requested by
the customs official when you leave Russia.
How can I find out if an object has a special value and whether it can be exported from
Russia? Is there a State Register or list of such objects?
The Cultural Goods Export and Import Law provides a number of categories of cultural
goods that are banned from export (for details, see our answer to the question, “Are there
any restrictions on classes of objects to be exported? What other special rules do I need
to know about?” in this section):
Movable objects, whenever they were created, that are protected by the state and entered
in rosters and registers of state-protected objects, cannot be exported from Russia. This
category includes, among other things, objects for which an export authorisation was
requested, but the subsequent expert opinion led Rossvyazokhrankultura to enter them in
public rosters and registers.
Movable objects that form part of the cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian
Federation are included by federal authorities in a special State list or code (called svod),
which is deposited at Roskultura.
Museum exhibits and collections that form part of the Museum Stock of the Russian
Federation have been registered in the Public Museum Stock Catalogue, which is also
maintained by Roskultura.
Documents kept in the Archives of the Russian Federation are looked after by Rosarkhiv,
which also keeps a Public Register of unique documents of the country’s Archives (go to
the end of this section for Rosarkhiv´s contact details).
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