The only way is wnDirect...well certainly for those wanting to ship to Russia- just watch what your customers spend!
Apr 03, 2014
You may remember that, back in January, we reported how legislative developments in Russia had come into effect which would make sales in this region much more difficult for retailers. From that point forwards all B2C traffic entering Russia would come under more stringent ID checks. Due to the systems we had already put into place wnDirect was, and still is, the only carrier who is able to process and clear Russia customs.
Following on from these developments, and in our bid to keep you up-to-date and operating in this region, we now have some more news to share. As of the 31st March 2014 the Russian Customs Authorities made further changes which will see Russia Customs starting a formal monitoring process of customer spend. They will subsequently start to impose charges on orders which exceed €1000 or 31kg across all imported eCommerce goods during that month.
We have on good authority from our partner in Russia, SPSR that the duty and tax will be calculated at 30 per cent of the amount exceeding €1000, based on the value of goods and not the CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight). For customers who do not exceed the €1000 threshold but exceed the weight threshold they will be charged €4 per kilo for every kilo they are over. For those that exceed both the allowed weight and value the charge applied will be whichever is greater. The duty allowance will be based on a calendar month.
At the moment we are not 100 per cent sure of the impact this will have in terms of associated delays. We anticipate that for the period following the change there will be a delay in customs clearance but this may also be seen at the end of each 'month' period as they are consolidating their information. SPSR believes that a delay of 2 days is likely to be incurred for all parcels for the first two weeks after the change is implemented.
SPSR remains in regular dialogue with Customs and ourselves and we will continue to update you accordingly.
