Zero Import Duty on Titanium Waste and Scrap from 24 August 2026: What It Means for Your Shipment to Russia

1. What exactly changed

The amendment to the EAEU Common Customs Tariff is narrow: it affects a single commodity heading — 8108 30 000 0, titanium waste and scrap. For that heading the tariff footnote reference was replaced: "124C)" now applies instead of "89C)". The footnote itself sets the rate — 0% of the customs value.

The zero rate takes effect on 24 August 2026 and runs through 31 August 2028 inclusive. This is neither an open-ended concession nor a change to the base rate in the tariff schedule: the footnote mechanism means that once the period ends, the heading returns to the tariff regime unless a new extension is adopted by then. If you are negotiating supply contracts that run beyond the summer of 2028, price both scenarios into the schedule.

For the receiving side — processors and foundries that remelt titanium scrap — the effect is direct: the duty disappears as a cost line in the landed cost of the consignment. The indirect effect is that the import VAT base falls as well, because duty forms part of it. For you as the supplier that translates into a stronger commercial position on the same FOB price, and into a buyer who becomes noticeably more sensitive to the code your documents support and to the date the declaration is filed.

2. Before and after: comparison and where shipments go wrong

The change is easiest to keep straight in a table.

The rate is determined on the day the goods declaration is registered in Russia — not by the date of the contract, the payment, the bill of lading or the arrival of the cargo. The same consignment declared on 22–23 August goes through under the previous rules, and on 24 August under the zero rate. Two days shift the amount payable, and the only lever you control is how early your document set reaches the buyer.

The second source of problems is classification. The zero rate is tied to one specific code, and the customs authority will look at whether it is genuinely titanium waste and scrap in front of it, rather than semi-finished products, powders or used articles. A borderline consignment is far easier to defend in advance: with a composition report, photographs of the material as loaded, and a clear description of the origin of the scrap in the contract and the invoice. All of that is generated on your side of the border, not on the buyer's. Note also that a zero rate does not lift the other requirements applying to scrap metal imports — safety, carriage rules and supplier documents remain in force; how the process is arranged overall is described on our customs clearance page, and for metal raw materials specifically see clearance of raw materials.

Time-limited footnotes are a tool the Eurasian Economic Commission uses regularly across different goods. The logic is always the same: the regulator keeps a review point for itself, and everyone in the chain — you included — has to keep that date in the calendar.

3. How the duty is calculated and what a zero rate does not remove

The object of the customs duty is the goods moved across the customs border. The base depends on the type of rate: for an ad valorem rate, as here, it is the customs value. The calculation reduces to the customs value multiplied by the rate, and at 0% the result is nil. That does not eliminate payments altogether: customs processing fees remain, as does import VAT, which is charged on the customs value plus the duty. Because the duty is now zero, the VAT base shrinks too — so the saving your buyer books is slightly larger than the duty line alone.

One distinction is worth drawing clearly, because it is often confused in correspondence. Duty-free trade is not the same thing as a zero rate — it is a separate customs procedure under which goods are placed in and sold from duty-free shops to individuals leaving the customs territory. Your titanium scrap has nothing to do with it: the material is imported for domestic consumption, simply at a 0% rate. Formally the duty is assessed and equals zero. The declaration is filed in the ordinary way and the requirements for completing it are not relaxed in any respect — which is why a missing analysis certificate or a vague goods description costs exactly as much time as it did before.

Since everything hangs on the customs value, the delivery basis in your contract carries more weight than usual. CIF and CIP include carriage and insurance to the place of destination, meaning transport costs already sit inside the price and are supported by a single invoice. Under FOB or EXW, freight and insurance have to be added to the transaction price separately and evidenced with documents — and those documents will be requested from you or from your carrier, often while the cargo is already at the border. The structure differs by mode: sea freight, rail carriage and air delivery generate different sets of carrier invoices, and in one case the cost lands inside the commercial invoice while in another it arrives as separate billing that has to be reconciled to the consignment.

4. What your buyer in Russia will now ask you for

1. Confirm the classification before shipment. Describe the material precisely enough for it to map to 8108 30 000 0 and not to a neighbouring subheading of group 8108 — the zero rate covers one heading only. Give the buyer a technical description, the form of the scrap and its chemical composition.
2. Align the shipping schedule with 24 August 2026. If the cargo arrives in the last ten days of August, the consignee may deliberately hold the declaration until the effective date. That pause is manageable only if your documents are already in their hands — a consignment that arrives without a complete set cannot be filed on the day they choose.
3. Send scans ahead of the cargo. Commercial invoice, packing list, contract and specification, transport document, composition or mill analysis report, origin documents. Originals can follow; what stops a declaration is the absence of the data, not of the paper.
4. Keep the goods description identical across every document. Invoice, packing list, transport document and contract must describe the same thing in the same words. Discrepancies between them are one of the most common reasons a scrap metal consignment sits in temporary storage while the parties clarify what was actually shipped.
5. Cover the delivery basis. If you sell FOB or EXW, prepare freight and insurance documentation in advance — the customs value remains subject to verification even when the duty is zero, and with no duty at stake the scrutiny simply moves elsewhere.
6. Photograph the material at loading. Photographs of the scrap as loaded, together with the description of its origin, are the cheapest evidence available — and they are impossible to obtain once the container is sealed.
7. Put 31 August 2028 in the diary. For long-horizon supply contracts, include a clause covering a change in the tariff, and revisit the question several months before that date.

5. Frequently asked questions

If the duty is zero, does my buyer pay nothing at the border?
No. Only the import duty is reduced to zero. Customs processing fees and import VAT remain payable, and the declaration is filed in the ordinary way.

The cargo is already in transit and will arrive before 24 August — which rate applies?
The rate in force on the day the goods declaration is registered. The dates of shipment, payment or arrival do not determine the rate by themselves. In practice this means your consignee may choose to wait; make sure the document set is complete either way.

Does the zero rate cover the other titanium products I ship?
No. The amendment was made for code 8108 30 000 0 only — titanium waste and scrap. All other headings remain under their previous regime.

What happens after 31 August 2028?
Footnote "124C)" sets the 0% rate through that date inclusive. What applies afterwards will be determined by a separate decision, if one is adopted; it cannot be assumed in advance when quoting.

Does anything change in the paperwork I issue?
The required set does not change, but the tolerance for errors in it does. With no duty at stake, verification concentrates on the commodity code and the nature of the goods — that is, precisely on the description, composition and origin that come from your side.

Summary

From 24 August 2026 titanium waste and scrap under code 8108 30 000 0 are imported into the EAEU at a zero duty rate, and the relief runs through 31 August 2028 inclusive. The rate is applied by the date the declaration is registered, so the filing schedule — and therefore the speed at which your documents arrive — determines whether the saving is captured. The zero rate covers one heading only, so classification and supporting evidence should be settled before shipment. If you are shipping titanium scrap to Russia or other EAEU markets, send us a request and we will go through your specific consignment with you.

Send us your titanium scrap specification and we will confirm the EAEU commodity code and the exact document set your buyer needs before the declaration is filed.

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