Russian Federation

• Labeling Requirements
• Required Documents
• Licensing
• Import Procedures
• Taxes/Tariffs
• Contacts

Please note:

It is strongly suggested that exporters arrange to have their products imported by an experienced Russian importer as regulations in the Russian Federation are subject to change quite frequently, as well as to ensure that shipments have all their required documentation.

LABELING REQUIREMENTS

All products are required to have labeling and relevant information in the Russian language.  Russian law requires that the following information be placed on the label, depending on the product:

Wines:

• Product name
• Manufacturer's name and location
• Bottling facility name
• Bottling or registration date (for champagne produced in bottles, for vintage and collection wines)
• Volume
• Manufacturer's trademark (if any)
• Ethyl alcohol content (% of total volume)
• Sugar content (if applicable)
• Storage conditions
• Name of flavors, spices and dyes (for brandy, premixed wine beverages and cocktails)
• Harvest year (for wines with the indication of place of origin, collection and vintage wines, old seasoned wines of the same grape harvest)
• “Use by” date for wine drinks, cocktails and other wine products having a percentage volume of ethyl less than ten percent
• Food additives, flavors, biologically active food additives, ingredients of unconventional food products
• Reference to the regulatory document or technical specifications the product complies with and can be identified by; and
• Certification information
• Health Warning (in Russian): “Alcohol is not for children and teenagers up to age 18, pregnant and nursing women, or for persons with diseases of the central nervous system, kidneys, liver and other digestive organs”.

Beer:

• Name and type of beer
• Manufacturer's name and location [in-country legal address, and if this physical location does not coincide with its legal address, the label should provide the producer's address] and the address of the organization duly authorized by the manufacturer for accepting claims from consumers on the territory of the Russian Federation (if any)
• Manufacturer's trademark (if any)
• Extractability of original wort
• Minimal percentage volume of ethyl alcohol ("alcohol not less than … % v.")
• Bottling date
• Basic source composition used for brewing
• Names of major ingredients influencing the product's flavor and taste (list of major ingredients is determined by the manufacturer)
• Food additives, flavors, biologically active food additives, ingredients of unconventional food products
• “Use by” date
• Storage conditions
• Volume
• Nutritional value
• Reference to a regulatory document or technical specifications that the product complies with and can be identified by, and
• Certification information
• Health Warning (in Russian): “Alcohol is not for children and teenagers up to age 18, pregnant and nursing women, or for persons with diseases of the central nervous system, kidneys, liver and other digestive organs”.

Packaging:

Product information must be placed directly on the package in a convenient location.  The bottling date of transparent colorless liquid products that are bottled in colorless containers may be marked on the reverse side of the label.

When the package cannot accommodate the complete text of the required information, the manufacturer can, at its discretion, place all or part of the product information on an insert that accompanies each product unit or on a group package.  Consumer information shall also be supplied with each unit of group consumer packaging used to retail food products in sets.

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REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

The importer is required to provide the customs office with the following documents:

• Product Certificate issued by the relevant Russian certification entity.  This document (a notarized copy is acceptable) has to be submitted to the customs office when wine crosses the border.  To get this certificate, the importer has to provide the relevant service with the following documents (faxed copies are accepted):
• Contract signed between the exporter and importer,
• Certificate of Origin,
• Certificate of Quality, and
• Certificate of Analysis along with the wine samples (three bottles per each name).
• Import license of the importer;
• License of the customs warehouse (where wines are to be cleared);
• Excise stamps documents set; and 
• Certificate of Origin, Certificate of Quality, and Certificate of Analysis.

Also useful are:

• Commercial invoice
• Delivery Contract
• Bill of Lading
• Freight customs declaration
• Bill of lading or airway bill
• Packing list
• Inspection certificate

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LICENSING

Importers are required to have an import license.  Various “certificates” are also required for food items and alcoholic beverages.

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IMPORT PROCEDURES

Hygiene Certificates are issued by the local department of the State Committee on Sanitation and Epidemic Control (Goskomansanepidemnadzor).  Samples are taken for this process, and evaluated for compliance with sanitary and hygiene regulations. 

A Certificate of Conformity (called GOST-R), issued by the Russian Research Institute for Certification (VNIIS) requires testing done by the Testing and Certification Center (Rostest).  As with hygiene certificates, these can also be issued in the United States through Control Union Inspection, Inc. or the U.S. Testing Company, Inc, of New Jersey. These firms can also give further information relating to certification necessary to conform to import requirements and the costs of testing.

Testing of products is also done in order to issue a Certificate of Safety, issued by the State Standards Committee of Russia (Gosstandart).

A Certificate of Origin is also required.  This certificate is used when determining tariffs, and can be obtained from the local department of the State Sanitary Epidemiological Inspection, which also issues the Hygiene Certificate.

Customs clearance is usually done by the customs office at destination. This procedure takes 2 - 4 days. All customs documentation should be written in Russian. Customs duties, fees, VAT are usually paid in advance in order not to delay the clearance procedure.

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TAXES/TARIFFS

Customs duties, fees and taxes depend on the type of the product and are calculated based on customs cost of the product, i.e.: cost of the product plus transportation expenses.

Please note: Each bottle of wine is required to carry an excise stamp before it can be sold in Russia.

For the most current tariffs and taxes applied to imported products for this country, please visit the Online Tariff Database provided by Tariffic at: http://www.tariffic.com/ITA/, and click on “On-The-Fly Tariffeed”.  Please ensure you have a 10-digit HS classification code in order to obtain tariff information.  Also see the Census Bureau’s Schedule B search function (http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/schedules/b/index.html), which allows you to classify your product according to United States export codes. Simply click "Search" and enter the keyword (i.e. beer) that best describes your product.

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CONTACTS

Most of the information in this guide was obtained from direct contact with various governmental organizations and embassies, as well as online sources.  The FAS Attaché reports at: http://www.fas.usda.gov/scriptsw/attacherep/default.asp served as the primary (online) sources used for this report.

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