Customs Procedures in Russia: What Your Buyer Declares and What They Will Need From You

14 June 2026Trade Pulse

In short. When your Russian buyer says the goods will be "placed under 40", that is not office slang for paperwork — it is the legal regime the cargo will live in after the border. The EAEU Customs Code lists exactly seventeen such procedures, and each one changes what is paid, how long the goods stay under customs control and, most importantly for you, which documents the buyer's declarant will ask you to issue. Below: the procedures that actually occur in trade, the document set behind them, and where shipments from abroad usually get stuck.

What a customs procedure really is
The procedures your shipment may fall under
How the procedure changes the money — and your invoice
The core set the buyer will request from you
Conformity documents and marking
What holds cargo at the border
What to do before you ship
Frequently asked questions

What a customs procedure really is

A customs procedure is a set of rules defining what may be done with the goods after they cross the border, which payments fall due and which restrictions apply. The list is fixed in Article 127 of the EAEU Customs Code, and there are seventeen of them — from ordinary release for domestic consumption to rarities such as abandonment to the state.

Why an exporter should care. The procedure sets the economics of the whole delivery. The same machine can be brought in permanently with full duty and VAT, temporarily for an exhibition with partial payment, or placed in a customs warehouse so that payments are deferred until the goods are sold. One machine, three completely different cash flows on your buyer's side — and three different document packages requested from you.

The procedure also fixes the status of the goods. Foreign goods physically sitting in a warehouse in Russia legally remain under customs control: they cannot be freely sold or used. They become Union goods only after release for domestic consumption. This is worth remembering when you agree payment terms or acceptance dates: "arrived in Russia" and "available to the buyer" are two different events, sometimes weeks apart.

The procedures your shipment may fall under

Out of seventeen procedures, five or six appear in everyday trade. The table below reads from the shipper's side: what happens to your cargo and what the buyer will ask you for.

Procedure	What it means for the shipment	What the buyer will need from you
Release for domestic consumption	Goods become Union goods, all payments made in full	Full commercial set plus a technical description supporting the HS code
Customs transit	Movement under customs control to an inland office, no payments yet	Clean transport documents, seals and package counts matching the papers
Temporary admission	Goods stay in the EAEU for a set period, payments partial or none	Serial numbers and identifiable descriptions, so the same items can be re-exported
Customs warehouse	Storage under customs control, payments deferred, release in batches	Packing lists and invoices split by lot, so partial releases are traceable
Inward processing	Raw material enters without payments against an obligation to export the product	Specifications and consumption norms linking your material to the finished product
Export	Goods leave the EAEU permanently, no import duties	Relevant when unsold goods return to you as re-export

Release for domestic consumption is procedure number one for any importer. In the declaration it carries code 40 — hence the professional shorthand "IM40" and "the fortieth". After release the goods can be sold, processed and moved anywhere in the EAEU without restriction.

The other procedures are tools for specific situations, and several of them directly affect how you ship. Exhibition samples can come in and go back out without being cleared as ordinary imports. A large seasonal batch can sit in a customs warehouse while your buyer releases it piece by piece against real sales — which is often why a distributor asks for one big shipment instead of four small ones. Fabric can enter, be sewn into garments and leave again as an export without duty on the input material.

Customs Procedures in Russia: What Your Buyer Declares and What They Will Need From You

The customs procedure your buyer chooses decides which papers you must issue and how long the cargo waits at the border

How the procedure changes the money — and your invoice

Money is the real difference between the procedures. On release for domestic consumption everything is paid: duty according to the HS code, VAT at 22 percent (or the reduced 10 percent for some goods) and the customs fee. Under transit and customs warehouse no payments are due while the goods remain under the procedure — but deferred is not forgiven: customs normally requires security, in practice a bank guarantee, a cash deposit or a surety.

Temporary admission is the most interesting case. Some goods are fully relieved of payments; for the rest partial payment applies — 3 percent per month of the duties and taxes that would have been due on ordinary import. For equipment needed for half a year that is several times cheaper than full clearance, which is why buyers ask for a loan or lease contract rather than a sale contract for such items.

All of this rests on your documents. The customs value is built from your invoice, the contract terms and the payment records, so a price that does not reconcile with the delivery terms or with the money actually transferred is the classic trigger for an additional value check — and for a cargo standing still while it runs. Choosing and switching procedures is exactly where an experienced customs broker saves the buyer noticeable sums, and saves you the follow-up emails.

The core set the buyer will request from you

Whatever the procedure, the core of the package is the same, and almost all of it is issued by the shipper.

Foreign trade contract with all annexes and specifications;
invoice showing the price, delivery terms and full details of both parties;
packing list with weights, number of packages and type of packing;
transport documents: bill of lading for sea, CMR for road, air and rail waybills;
payment documents for the goods and the freight;
technical description: composition, purpose and characteristics, used to confirm the HS code.

The requirement is not volume of paper but consistency. The weight on the packing list must match the transport document, the invoice value must match the contract terms and the payments, the descriptions must match what is actually inside the cartons. Mismatches between documents — not missing documents — are what most often set off queries, physical inspections and value checks.

Release does not close the file either. Under Article 310 of the EAEU Customs Code customs may audit the transaction for three years after release, so the buyer keeps the full set for at least that long — and will come back to you for a copy of an invoice or a specification issued a year and a half ago. Keep your own archive per shipment; a document nobody can find turns routine post-clearance control into a serious problem for your customer.

Conformity documents and marking

On top of the core set, many goods need permits. For products in the lists of Russian Government Decree No. 2425 that is a certificate or declaration of conformity; for certain categories such as parts of cosmetics and food supplements, a state registration certificate. These are issued before the cargo arrives — otherwise the consignment stops at the border. They are also issued on the basis of real testing, which means samples and technical documentation from your side, sent early enough to matter. The whole block is easiest to close in advance through turnkey certification, and samples themselves can be shipped under clearance for samples and catalogues.

In 2026 a second layer was added: Chestny Znak marking. For goods in the list of Directive No. 792-r the marking codes are now stated in the customs declaration, and for most categories the accounting is per item. At the same time conformity certificates came under close scrutiny — Rosaccreditation is suspending documents issued without genuine testing on a large scale. For an exporter that has a very practical meaning: a cheap certificate obtained by someone on your behalf is not a saving, it is a suspended document and a stopped container. Agree in advance who applies the marking codes and at which point of the route — at your plant or at a warehouse before the border — because after arrival the options narrow sharply.

What holds cargo at the border

In practice shipments are delayed not by exotic problems but by the same everyday mistakes, and most of them originate in the shipper's office. Weight and package counts that differ between documents. An invoice without delivery terms, or with a price that does not reconcile with the payments. Generic wording instead of a precise description, leaving the HS code unconfirmable. Permits remembered when the container is already in port. Missing translations, which customs is entitled to request.

The document set is prepared before shipment, not while the container is at sea. While the goods are still with you, any paper can be corrected or reissued in days. Once the cargo reaches the border, every mismatch turns into storage days at a temporary storage warehouse — and the buyer will come back to you for that bill.

Good practice: before shipping, send the full set to whoever will declare the goods in Russia. A fresh pair of eyes catches discrepancies that the person who drew up the papers has already stopped seeing.

What to do before you ship

Ask the buyer which procedure the goods will be placed under — ordinary import, temporary admission, customs warehouse or processing. The answer changes the contract wording and the invoice.
Send a draft of the contract, invoice and packing list for a pre-check while the cargo is still with you.
Reconcile weights, package counts and product names across all three documents, and give a technical description detailed enough to support the HS code.
Send samples and technical documentation for certification early, so the certificate or declaration exists before the cargo arrives.
If the goods fall under marking, agree who applies the codes and where, before production is packed.
Archive the complete set for each shipment for at least three years — the buyer may be asked for it long after release.

Frequently asked questions

How many customs procedures are there?

Seventeen, listed in Article 127 of the EAEU Customs Code. In everyday trade the ones you will meet are release for domestic consumption, export, customs transit, temporary admission, customs warehouse and the processing procedures. The rest apply in special situations.

What is IM40 and release for domestic consumption?

It is the main import procedure: after duty, VAT and the customs fee are paid, the goods obtain Union status and can be freely sold and used across the EAEU. The procedure code in the declaration is 40, hence the designation IM40.

Which documents does my buyer need from me?

The core set: contract, invoice, packing list, transport and payment documents and a technical description of the goods. For many categories a certificate or declaration of conformity is also required, and for goods in the marking list, Chestny Znak codes stated in the declaration.

Can the procedure be changed after the goods have arrived?

Yes. Goods placed under one procedure may be placed under another: temporary admission can be completed by release for domestic consumption with the balance of payments made, and unsold goods in a customs warehouse can leave again as re-export. Each transition is formalised by a new declaration — and usually by a new set of documents from the shipper.

Summary: the procedure decides the paperwork

Seventeen procedures exist, but the choice between them is made on the Russian side and its consequences land on yours: the wording of the contract, the level of detail in the invoice, the certificates that must exist before arrival, the marking codes that must be applied before the border. Get the set checked before shipment and the cargo moves through clearance as a routine matter. Leave it until the container is in port, and every correction is paid for in storage days. If you are not sure which documents your shipment to Russia needs, request a consultation and we will go through your specific delivery.

Send us your document set before the container leaves — we will check it and handle certification and clearance on the Russian side.

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