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

Сhapter 4: Russia
Russia
Cultural Objects Export and Import, of April 15 1993, and approved by the Russian Ministry
of Culture in its Order No. 844 of August 7 2001, or by the opinion of a Rossvyazokhrankultura-certified
expert, if the customs house employs one full-time.
Not all customs houses have qualified experts on their staff. It is therefore suggested that
you find out well in advance whether the customs house you want to take your cultural
object through has any. Another option, before actually taking your object through the
customs, would be to approach Rossvyazokhrankultura with the relevant information (in
particular, an invoice, a foreign expert’s opinion, and so on), so they could issue you a
document certifying that your object really is a cultural good.
Once your cultural goods have been placed in bond for “release for domestic consumption,”
the customs send a registration slip to the Rossvyazokhrankultura territorial office,
along with a copy of all the documents (including a copy of the customs declaration)
produced by the person importing cultural goods into Russia.
People importing cultural goods into Russia for their personal use are offered significant
advantages. A traveller who bought some cultural goods in a foreign country and is now
crossing the Russian customs border (carrying them as checked or unchecked baggage),
and if he/she wants to use those items for his/her own needs (in other words, not for business
purposes), is given an exemption from customs duties and taxes by the customs
provided, however, that his/her cultural goods are shown in the written customs declaration
and registered specifically as such. The customs may, however, demand payment of
duties and taxes as security, if they are not certain about the object being a cultural good
(if there is no expert available to confirm this, or you don’t carry a document confirming
this status, etc). You will only get your security back after Rossvyazokhrankultura confirms
the claimed status of your object.
Exemption from customs duties and taxes is also foreseen for museums and other cultural
institutions that import cultural goods for their own collections, but only in cases when the
cultural good is received by a museum or a cultural institution as a gift and the museum or
the cultural institution itself is listed among the important cultural heritage repositories of
any of the Russian Federation’s peoples.
Cultural goods entering Russia for temporary import are required, under the Cultural Objects
Export and Import Law, to be inspected by the customs and registered accordingly.
You must remember this if you are, for example, a musician carrying an antique musical
instrument on your tour of Russia, otherwise you might face difficulties taking it back
home from Russia. Insert a reference to your instrument in your customs declaration and
see that the customs officer letting you through affixes a stamp to your declaration, stating
that your object is imported temporarily.
As a general rule, most cultural goods imported temporarily are brought to Russia to
be displayed at museums or other public cultural institutions. Another common example
is that of foreign musicians coming to Russia on tours. The country’s customs
laws allow them an exemption from the general rule requiring security to be deposited
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