Non-Tariff Screening Before Shipment to Russia: What Your Buyer Will Ask You For

Why your buyer screens the goods before you ship

Non-tariff measures are the permit side of import: technical regulations, licences, notifications, sanitary registration and intellectual property records. They are checked at the moment of customs clearance, not before and not after. If the required document is missing, the declaration cannot be completed — and the cargo waits at the border while somebody tries to obtain a paper that normally takes days or weeks.

That is why the screening is done against part numbers before booking, not after the truck is loaded. Almost every requirement on the list below is satisfied with information that only the manufacturer has: technical descriptions, datasheets, details of built-in radio modules or encryption, composition of materials. Your buyer cannot invent them, and customs will not accept a guess.

Answers that hold the shipment back

These verdicts mean the goods either cannot be imported as they are, or the item must be clarified before anyone commits to a delivery date.

1. Certificate under TR CU 004 or another technical regulation (EAC marking required) — a certificate of conformity has to be issued, and it starts at RUB 100,000. The testing body will want your technical documentation and samples, so your involvement is unavoidable. We issue such documents ourselves through our certification service.
2. Declaration of conformity (EAC marking required) — cheaper and faster than a certificate: from RUB 10,000 and a few days. The declaration is registered by the Russian company, but the EAC mark still has to end up physically on the packaging of your goods.
3. Customs IP register, TROIS (authorisation letter from the rights holder required) — the brand is recorded in the customs intellectual property register, and import needs a written permission from the rights holder's representative in Russia. If you are the brand owner or an authorised distributor, that letter is something you can arrange faster than anyone else in the chain.
4. RES licence — a licence for radio-electronic equipment. Very hard and very slow to obtain.
5. VChU licence — a licence for high-frequency devices. Same story.
6. FSB notification required — applies to goods with encryption. Difficult but realistic: from RUB 20,000 and about two weeks. The application is built on the manufacturer's description of the cryptographic functions.
7. SGR required — a state registration certificate confirming that the product meets unified sanitary and hygienic norms. It may already exist in the register; obtaining a new one is hard but possible.
8. Precious metals — clearance is only performed at specialised authorised customs posts. This changes the destination point of your delivery, so it has to be known before the route is booked.
9. Air freight not allowed — because of fire hazard the goods may travel by air only separately and under special conditions. In practice this means rerouting to road or sea, and rebuilding the schedule around it.
10. Datasheet or description required — the goods and their characteristics cannot be identified from the part number alone. This is the most common answer and the easiest to fix, and it is fixed only by you.

Where EAC marking is required, the label is printed and glued onto the product packaging — and it is far cheaper to do that at your factory than after the cargo has reached the border. A pallet that arrives unmarked does not become compliant on its own.

What each answer requires from the shipper

For electronics and home appliances several lines of this table usually apply to one and the same item at once — radio module, encryption and a technical regulation together.

Answers that clear the way

The other half of the verdicts means the goods may be imported, and often that nothing at all is expected from you.

• Notification RU0000015558 (the number varies) — somebody has already registered a notification for this product, so it can be imported as is.
• Covered by the RES/VChU exceptions — the item falls under the exceptions to radio equipment licensing and needs no licence.
• Declaration of conformity, not for customs — the declaration is needed for further sale inside Russia, but customs authorities are not authorised to check it, so it does not hold up clearance.
• Certificate is ours (EAC marking required) — the certificate already exists on our side. All that remains is to print the EAC mark and apply it to the packaging.
• No (EAC marking not required) — nothing is required for import at all.

Note the difference between the last two answers and the first section: an existing certificate removes the paperwork, not the marking. The label still has to be on the boxes when they arrive.

What the exporter should do

1. Send the buyer a complete item list with manufacturer part numbers before the order is confirmed, not after production.
2. Attach datasheets and technical descriptions straight away — that alone removes the most frequent screening answer.
3. Disclose radio modules, frequencies and any encryption honestly: these determine whether a licence or an FSB notification is needed, and a surprise found at the border is far more expensive than one found in the office.
4. If your goods are branded and you are the rights holder or an authorised distributor, prepare the authorisation letter for import into Russia in advance.
5. Agree who prints and applies the EAC marking, and build the labelling into your packing process where it is your responsibility.
6. Check transport restrictions before booking: fire-hazard goods and precious metals dictate both the mode of transport and the customs post.
7. Re-run the screening whenever an article changes — a new revision of the same part may fall under different requirements.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly do you need from us to run the check?
The list of goods with manufacturer part numbers. If the answer comes back as "datasheet required", it means the part number alone does not identify the product and a technical description has to follow.

Can we ship first and sort out the documents afterwards?
No. Permit documents are checked at the moment of clearance, and until they exist the declaration cannot be completed. The cargo waits, and the waiting is paid for.

Our product contains a radio module — does that always mean a licence?
Not necessarily. Many items fall under the exceptions, and many are already covered by an existing notification. That is exactly what the screening establishes.

Who applies the EAC marking?
Technically it is printed and glued onto the packaging, so either side can do it. In practice doing it at the factory before dispatch is faster and cheaper than handling it once the goods are already at the border.

Резюме

A non-tariff screening turns a list of part numbers into a clear answer: ship as is, ship with an EAC label, or do not ship until a document exists. Almost every requirement it uncovers depends on information only the manufacturer holds, so the fastest way to protect your delivery date is to hand over technical documentation early. Run the check before booking, and build certification and marking time into the production schedule rather than into the border queue. Оставьте заявку на консультацию, and we will review your specific consignment.

Send us your part numbers and we will screen them against EAEU non-tariff measures before you book the shipment, and handle certification if it turns out to be required.

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