New obstacles to cross-border online trading without prior notification were introduced by the Federal Customs Service. Since December 7, for the passage of customs control, Russians receiving parcels from foreign Internet retailers will need to provide not only a scan of passports, but also TINs and screenshots or links to each product in the order.

This is an "experiment", which the FCS decided to hold from December 7 to July 1, 2018. It is aimed at "improving the effectiveness of control" and will touch on goods for personal use that deliver express delivery services to Russia. The corresponding order was signed by the head of the FCS Vladimir Bulavin on November 24.

The largest express carriers - SDEK and SPSR - have already warned their customers: all necessary materials should be provided by the buyers themselves. Otherwise, the parcel will not pass customs clearance and will be returned to the sender.

The purchases made by citizens of the Russian Federation during the November sales are under the blow: no difficulties at customs can be avoided, because both carriers and shops will take time to adapt to the new rules, the director of the international sales department of the DPD / SPSR Andrey Lukin told Vedomosti .

A number of the requirements of the FCS, in principle, can not be fulfilled in practice: for example, at an eBay auction, a reference to the goods required by customs officers becomes invalid shortly after its purchase, he recalls.

From the same series - the requirement to confirm the price of the goods, the director of Boxberry International Marat Artuganov points out: on some sites, for example, Chinese, prices can change hourly and even in a few minutes.

Plans to tighten the rules of cross-border Internet trade Russian officials have been hatching for several years. According to ACIT, the volume of orders from foreign online retailers since the beginning of 2017 has grown by 49%, and Russian - only by 8%.

To support them in the draft budget for 2018-20, the Ministry of Finance laid the possibility of a drastic reduction in the duty-free entry threshold: now, without charges in favor of the state, you can buy goods for 1000 euros a month and weigh up to 31 kg. Since July, this limit can be reduced to 20 euros, and in addition - foreign stores may be required to register with the Federal Tax Service for the payment of VAT.

According to the amendments to the Law on Information, which were proposed by ACIT in September, Roskomnadzor will be able to block pages of shops that refused to pay tax.