“Evaluation of each car was required”

Parallel import of cars has become the main channel for ensuring model diversity in the car market of the Russian Federation after the onset of the crisis. In an interview with Kommersant, the deputy general director for technical regulation of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise NAMI spoke about how imports are controlled, about its volumes and the reasons for refusing to issue conclusions for such imports Sergei Anikeev.

— How does the parallel import of cars work now? What documents are required to import a car into the Russian Federation for a legal entity / individual?

— Import of cars by individuals for their own needs has always been possible: the procedure is regulated by the technical regulations of the Customs Union on the safety of wheeled vehicles (TR CU 018/2011). The car must be submitted to the laboratory, where it will be evaluated, and then a certificate of structural safety, the so-called SBKTS, and on the basis of this, a vehicle passport should be obtained.

But this procedure is not available for cars under three years old imported by legal entities. Actually for new cars. In general, for such vehicles, it is necessary to obtain a vehicle type approval (OTTS). Since the automobile concerns of unfriendly countries have left our country, they do not give permission to obtain such a document. To solve this problem, the government adopted Decree No. 855 on May 12, 2022, where it established a procedure for assessing the conformity of such vehicles. These cars are not purchased directly from the factory, but in various markets around the world, where requirements can be very different from Russian ones. Therefore, it was necessary to evaluate each car no longer as a type, but as each specific one. Because it is not clear from which country it was brought and what requirements it actually meets.

– That is, now there are no cases at all when the current OTTS is suitable for cars imported from another market?

– No. To obtain OTTS, the manufacturer prepares a special modification that meets the requirements of the Russian Federation. And this modification is being tested, and the Russian certification body is auditing the enterprise and confirming that it is capable of producing such cars.

When we talk about parallel imports, this procedure does not work, because cars are bought in different markets, and their factory makes them according to the requirements of that market, so each car is evaluated and OTTS is not applicable here. It is possible that separate documents on individual safety indicators are applicable, but there is no comprehensive document.

– How is it assessed? That is, is it possible to supply exactly the same machine as under OTTS?

– Such options are possible – as a rule, these are cars from the European market, because our Russian requirements are close to those of the EU after harmonization. Therefore, cars imported from these countries are specially marked and pass the evaluation procedure with the least amount of time. The set of documents is minimal.

If we are talking about a vehicle imported from other markets, for example, the UAE or China, then in order to obtain a conclusion on the technical assessment of the vehicle, the applicant needs to contact an accredited laboratory. For example, to our laboratory, where specialists will study the car. No destructive testing takes place – this is an expert assessment using some stands, for example, a braking agent. The safety of the car is checked according to the indicators specified in the government decree, a test report is issued, on the basis of which we prepare a conclusion.

If a batch of identical cars is imported, then one of this batch is subject to testing, the rest receive exactly the same expert assessment, and again a conclusion is drawn up for each car. But one car is being tested. This difference is just significant for importers – it is much more efficient.

– That is, one car is being checked from the batch that is being imported right now … And then, if from the same region, similar cars?

– If they are absolutely the same, then the protocol is already there, we have evaluated and we know that they are the same. If they differ, then again it will be necessary to send the car for examination to the laboratory.

– Is there a high load on the laboratory due to the new import procedure?

– We deal with everything. Laboratories evaluate the car, they get the report and bring it to us. And we, as an expert organization, are engaged in issuing conclusions according to the decree.

Obtaining OTTS takes a year and a half trials initially. There, the nomenclature of requirements is much greater than for obtaining an opinion. The average term for issuing opinions does not exceed five working days.

– But basically the concerns used the fact that they certified everything in Europe, and then re-read it. Is that a year and a half too?

— No, less.

– Do you see a mass practice when legal entities import cars through individuals? It’s supposedly cheaper, easier…

– There are such cases, but this is not a massive problem. The cost of the procedure is incomparable: we have the cost of the conclusion established by the resolution – a little more than 9.5 thousand rubles.

— And SBKTS?

– According to my information, the average cost of registration of SBKTS is about 25 thousand rubles.

— Does changing the list of brands for parallel import introduce any difficulties?

“There is no difficulty for us. The task of NAMI is certification and issuance of conclusions, and the list of goods for parallel import regulates the import of products without the permission of the manufacturer or copyright holder.

– Some Chinese brands and their dealers say that cars are brought through parallel imports in order to check whether there will be a demand for this model in the Russian Federation …

– Now this is possible. We work within the established procedure adopted by the government. Today, they can use a simplified procedure, that is, a number of Chinese marks can be evaluated under Decree No. 855. However, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has already prepared a draft amendment to the resolution, which provides for a ban on the import of cars under a simplified procedure from June 1.

— Are you somehow involved in the process of importing spare parts?

– No.

— What about agricultural and special equipment?

– Special equipment, if it is on a car chassis, goes through the same procedures. To them is added the need to assess the safety of this special superstructure on the car. If this is agricultural equipment or some other equipment that does not fall under the technical regulations of TR CU 018/2011, then such equipment is assessed not within the framework of Decree No. 855, but within the framework of Government Decree No. 353 on the conformity declaration procedure.

— As part of the parallel import of cars, have you seen cars that are objectively unsafe? That is, cars for which no conclusions were issued?

— There were cases when they tried to bring cars of low ecological class to us — for example, from the UAE. They have allowed cars on the market starting with Euro-2. They tried to declare such cars to us. But we were forced to refuse them.

— But this is still not about safety anymore, but about the requirement of technical regulations.

– No, no, about safety, about environmental safety directly.

– And the rest is nothing outstanding?

– Well, if so for memory, cars from the USA that have red turn signals will not be able to get documents. Ours are yellow.

– That is, it is impossible to transport such a car from the auction from the USA?

– If she has red turn signals and she is not older than three years. Our procedure applies to cars no older than three years.

— Do cars really come from the USA?

– Yes.

– What other countries? Is it mostly China?

— Most of the cars come from China. But they are also brought from Europe, the USA, the UAE. And from Japan, but only those cars that are intended for European markets (not right-hand drive).

— Are there any problems that you identified in the extradition process itself?

— No, everything works. Applicants were initially not very clear about the structure as they did not encounter these technical requirements. We are actively conducting explanatory work – we explain to everyone, we help.

In general, certification is the sphere of specialists in this field. And now market dealers are starting to do it. Therefore, they initially had, of course, questions about where to get this or that information to fill out documents. We explained everything, advised, prompted.

– In my opinion, cars for parallel import appeared at dealers in a noticeable amount in October-November 2022. According to your estimates, when did legal entities actively start issuing opinions?

— Well, in September we issued quite a large number. Then, due to the introduction of the need to install ERA-GLONASS from October 1, there was a certain decline until importers purchased these devices and began to install them on cars. And now the volume is only growing.

– According to OTTS, some of the tests were carried out, including by Russian automakers in Europe, because some specific weather conditions are needed there for a long period. Then they started shipping to China last year, as I know. Is it really impossible to conduct a series of tests in Russia?

Well, a number of tests – for example, braking tests – require certain weather conditions. In Russia, this is the spring-summer and autumn period.

– If you get to this period, can you make it in time or not?

– This period is quite enough to carry out the necessary tests that require the necessary weather conditions. However, in case of special need, applicants have the opportunity to carry out a number of tests of vehicles in other countries of the 1958 Geneva Agreement.

Interviewed by Olga Nikitina