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

Russia
Сhapter 4: Russia
Rossvyazokhrankultura is required to notify the applicant of its decision within three months
of the official request filing date. A favourable decision is followed by the issue of a certificate
authorising its bearer to export the cultural goods for a specified period of time (temporary
export certificate). An unfavourable decision may be appealed against in court.
I am a freelance artist. Do I need an authorisation to export my own works?
Yes, you do, under Article 40 of the Cultural Objects Export and Import Law: an artist leaving
Russia for a short time or permanently can export any number of his/her own cultural
goods with himself/herself, subject to meeting the requirements of the law.
Accordingly, the creator of cultural goods should follow the general rules in approaching
Rossvyazokhrankultura with a request for an authorisation to export the cultural objects
he/she has created and owns at the time of the request.
Under the Russian Federation Tax Code (Clause 9, Article 333.35), individuals who have
produced their own cultural goods are exempted from the stamp duty when they take their
own creations with cultural good status out of Russia permanently or temporarily.
I am a musician travelling abroad with my own instrument. Do I have to follow the regulations
on export authorisations?
Unique and rare musical instruments (including designer folk instruments made over 50
years ago), on the list approved by the Russian Federation Ministry of Culture in its Order
No. 844 of August 7 2001, are cultural goods and an authorisation is required from Rossvyazokhrankultura
each time they are exported from Russia, whether on a permanent or
temporary basis.
No authorisation is required for other instruments their owners want to take with them (for
more details, see the list referred to above), apart from stringed bow instruments (violin,
viola, cello and double bass) and bows, which require a registration certificate with an official
stamp. This registration certificate or pasport is a document intended for musicians
who live in Russia and travel often outside Russia on tours of foreign countries. If you
have bought an instrument in this class and want to take it back home (assuming you are
a foreign tourist or a professional on an occasional visit to Russia, where you do not live
or work) you have to obtain this registration certificate from Rossvyazokhrankultura, which
states that your instrument is not a cultural good.
I am a foreign tourist. If I buy a painting or another work of art, how can I take it back home
with me?
The first thing you must do is to find out whether your item is on the list of categories of
objects requiring an authorisation from Rossvyazokhrankultura if you want to take it out
with you (in other words, you have to be certain that your item is not a cultural good under
Russian law; for more detail, see the answer to the question, “Is it necessary to obtain
an authorisation…”). If it is, or if you have any doubts at all, you should go to Rossvya-
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