On March 10, 2025 the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosted a round table dedicated to the problem of determining the customs value of goods from Turkmenistan. The event is organized by the Council of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation on Customs Policy and the Association of Customs Lawyers. The event was hosted by Chairman of the Council Georgy Petrov and Chairman of the Board of the Association Pavel Safonenkov.

Opening the event, Georgy Petrov noted the complexity of the issue to be discussed. On the one hand, Turkmenistan is an important partner for Russia, and mutual cooperation is developing at all levels. At the same time, the peculiarities of legislation in this country create difficulties for the development of business relations.

Sergey Samsonov, lawyer and Chairman of the Moscow City Bar Association "Samsonov, Kamyshov and Partners", spoke in detail about the specifics and problems of confirming the customs value of goods shipped from Turkmenistan. He noted that market participants have been facing this problem for about 5 years. It is primarily related to the difference between the official and market exchange rates of the Turkmen manat against the US dollar, as well as the lack of a direct exchange rate between the manat and the ruble. At the same time, Russian importers are unable to purchase goods in Turkmenistan for manats, as they cannot open settlement accounts in manats. Textile products in Turkmenistan are sold only through placement on the state commodity exchange. To conclude transactions on the exchange, registration is required, for which it is necessary to have an account in manats. There is also no place for Russian foreign economic activity participants to purchase manats, as there is no conversion of other currencies into manats.

Lawyer of the Krasnodar Regional Bar Association "Yug", member of the Association of Customs Lawyers Marina Vlasova devoted her speech to the analysis of judicial practice in cases of challenging decisions of customs authorities by importers of Turkmen cotton products.

In her speech, the lawyer noted that despite the fact that goods are purchased for dollars, export declarations are issued by Turkmen sellers in manats at a different exchange rate. Thus, the actual contract value of the goods does not correspond to the value indicated in the export declaration. When checking the customs value indicated in the customs declaration when importing Turkmen goods to Russia, the Russian customs authorities use export declarations as a basis. And by identifying discrepancies in value, adjustments are made to the customs value, applying administrative, and in some cases criminal, liability measures to importers. Russian participants in foreign economic activity cannot confirm the difference between the exchange rates in Turkmenistan, since the Turkmen authorities do not recognize the existence of different rates. In this regard, the courts, without receiving official confirmations and convincing evidence, make decisions, as a rule, in favor of the customs authorities. However, some companies managed to collect the necessary evidence base and win the courts. According to M.According to Vlasova, in order to prove the illegality of the actions of the customs authorities, importers of goods from Turkmenistan need to take a number of actions, and in particular, provide documents similar to those submitted by companies that managed to win the courts, document that the dual exchange rate affects the formation of customs value for a particular transaction, ensure confirmation of the contract price and the presentation of calculations reflecting the actual applied exchange rate, etc.

The head of the Procurement Department of Primtex LLC, a member of the Committee of the Union of Textile and Light Industry Entrepreneurs (SOYUZLEGPROm) also took part in the discussion Oleg Nikolaev, Counselor at the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Turkmenistan Tatiana Psareva, Head of the Committee on Customs and Foreign Economic Activity of the CIS Business Center Danil Pokidov, experts and participants of foreign economic activity.

The participants noted that adjustments to the customs value of goods and additional charges of millions of customs duties are becoming an unbearable financial burden for enterprises in the textile industry, which in turn leads to the bankruptcy of a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises in this industry.

Following the discussion, an agreement was reached to prepare relevant appeals to relevant government agencies, as well as to hold a working meeting at the Federal Customs Service of Russia.

Recording of the event.

A source: The Council of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Customs Policy.