According to the Bundesverband Güterkraftverkehr Logistik und Entsorgung (Federal Association of Road Haulage, Logistics and Disposal (BGL)), the Russian customs authorities (FCS) intends to impose a national Russian shipping procedure for TIR shipments from 14 August, in addition to the TIR cover of €60,000. The German logistics association now fears that the cost of shipping goods to Russia will increase as a result by thousands of euros. The infrastructure at Russia’s external borders is also at risk. There is a risk that it will now become overloaded. The consequence would be endless traffic jams that would make normal trade with Russia impossible.
Russian customs lays the blame on TIR guarantors
The Russian FCS justified the measure, according to the Internet portal eurotransport.de, on the grounds that in Russia, the chain of guarantors in the TIR procedure does not pay the customs duties for TIR shipping procedures that are not properly concluded on Russian territory. According to the BGL, however, the International Road Transport Union (IRU) has already countered these accusations. It claims that, on the contrary, the processing of damage claims under TIR in Russia runs extremely well. Of the 5 million TIR shipping procedures carried out in Russia since 2010, only a tiny proportion of 0.002 percent were the subject of claims for damages. Moreover, the vast majority of claims for payment of customs duties resulting from these cases had already been settled or ruled to be illegitimate by Russian courts.