«The law is drastic, but it is the law» says customs officials, who seized the car of Lithuanian woman for 1-hour and 1-minute delay in a temporary import. 

          The woman was driving her Mazda 6 through Belarus to Lithuania, but due to errors in BelToll system and bad weather conditions she arrived at the border 1hour later than the rules required. Is it was impossible just to give a ticket?

          The reporter of AutoGrodno.by interviewed the owner of Mazda. On 26 December 2016 the woman went from Lithiania to Moscow to spend holidays. The woman together with her friends drive in the territory of Customs Union through Latvian-Russian border crossing Terehova-Burachki. At the entrance point temporary importation of the car for four days was processed, that is, she was to return in Lithuania not later than 01/01/2017. 

          “As explained to me the Sebezh customs officer of the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation, in the case of infringement of the temporary import period established in my declaration, any difficulties in the exportation of the car to Republic Lithuania would not arise. According to customs officer, it became clear to me that all interested services, including the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation, the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Belarus, the State Automobile Inspectorate are aware of the temporary importation periods in the EAЕU,” the woman says.

          The woman said that she went from Golitsino (Moscow region) to Vilnius on 01/01/2017 at 13:00. She had to drive 818 kilometers to the Kamenny Log checkpoint in the Grodno region, the estimated travel time was 8 hours and 50 minutes.

         Weather conditions and difficulties with BelToll system hindered on the way.

          “We planned to arrive at the border until 10 p.m. and, taking into account the queues, have time to pass the border until midnight. But weather conditions and BelToll system made their own adjustments. Firstly, on the territory of Russia and Belarus it rained and sleeted, it got dark early because of overcast sky. The roads were not illuminated, it was foggy in some areas. Secondly, on the territory of Belarus, I had to visit the first point of the Electronic Toll Collection System for the "BelToll" fare. But the part of the road where BelToll should be located was poorly lit, there were no signs. We had to stop twice and question the drivers,” recalls a Lithuanian citizen.

          Finally, the woman found the point “BelToll”, but spent about an hour there. According to her words the system did not work correctly, the printer also did not work. The worker of this service point restarted system several times.

         “In the result we arrived at the Kamenny Log checkpoint at 1:00 a. m. on 02/01/2017 and, therefore, I delayed the temporary importation of the car for one hour and one minute. Because of this, a report on the administrative violation was drawn up against me, and the car was placed in the customs control zone. Also, my money in the amount of 115 Belarusian rubles was seized to ensure the execution of the penalty in the form of a fine. The very procedure at the checkpoint lasted more than an hour,” explains the resident of the neighboring country.

         When the Lithuanian car was seized, the woman began to look for an opportunity to return the car.

         A court was held recently. It was decided to return the car to a Lithuanian citizen paying a fine for violation of the temporary import terms. According to the decision, Mazda 6 will be returned on January 24.

         Grodno lawyer Sergei Kalabukhin (justus.by) commented on the situation:

         From the story of the Lithuanian citizen follows that, anyway, she violated the temporary import, even for an hour, but violated it. Having transferred money in the amount of 115 rubles under arrest, she had already paid the fine and admitted guilt in committing an offense under part 2 of the article 14.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus. The sanction of this article, as it is known, provides for a fine with or without the confiscation of a vehicle. However, the customs officials had a real opportunity not to start an administrative process against the woman, follow the current standards of the EAЕU, and let a vehicle out. In particular, Part 2 of Art. 358 of the Customs Code of the Customs Union provides that foreign individuals may temporarily import vehicles registered in the territory of foreign states for the period of their temporary stay, but not more than one year, into the customs territory of the customs union for personal use.

         Regulations on the procedure for performing customs operations with respect to goods for personal use transported by individuals across the customs border and the recognition of such goods as not being under customs control, approved by the Decision of the Commission of the Customs Union on June 18, 2010 No. 311 provides that customs declaration of vehicles for personal use, registered on the territory of a foreign state and temporarily imported into the customs territory, with their re-exportation by individuals outside such territory shall be carried out by the declarant by means of submission to the official of the authorized customs body of a declaration issued upon the temporary importation of such vehicles.

         It also follows from the Regulations that in the event of the exportation by individual a temporarily imported vehicle for personal use from the customs territory upon the expiration of the period of temporary import established by the customs authority but within the maximum period provided by paragraph 2 of Article 358 of the Code, the decision of the customs authority to let out the vehicle is also a decision to extend the period of its temporary importation from the day following the expiration day of the established period to the day of exportation of transport vehicle.

         Taking into account a minor infringement, the customs official decided to initiate an administrative process in relation to the citizen. In this situation, the customs officer had the right to take the decision provided by the Regulation to put into the section "For official marks" of the declaration a record "Export" with the date and imprint of the personal number seal of the official, returning the declaration to the citizen and releasing the car.

         It should be noted that in this case the customs body taken action (money seizure), indicating the creation of artificial conditions that allow making a conclusion about the formal recognition of the citizen's guilt, active repentance. This circumstance, for example, does not allow to stop the administrative process for insignificance, since once the money is paid to secure the so-called fine, then there is no need to stop the case.

http://autogrodno.by/22-news/2/11444-mazda6-konfiskaciya.html