Seizures of cars with Russian license plates in Germany bewilder German lawyer

German lawyer Eugen Heinrich considers the seizure of private cars with Russian numbers in Germany to be unlawful. In an interview with Deutsche Welle (a foreign media agent), he explained that the country’s official authorities misinterpret EU legislation.

German customs services began to confiscate from Russian citizens their cars with Russian registration and license plates. Official authorities, including the German Finance Ministry, refer to the EU sanctions regime introduced against Russia back in 2014. We are talking about sanctions regulation 833/2014. Cases of seizure of cars from citizens of the Russian Federation have already been recorded in Hamburg, Kiel and Lübeck.

According to the lawyer, the German version of the regulation specifies a ban on “import”, while using the term “Einfuhr”, which is interpreted as “delivery”, “delivery” or “movement”. However, other language versions of this regulation, such as the English one, clearly refer to “import”. This causes different interpretations and creates confusion.

Lawyer Heinrich notes that when drafting the German version of the regulation, they probably focused on understanding the terms “Einfuhr” and “Verbringen”, adopted in business use in German. For German businessmen, especially those involved in foreign trade, “Einfuhr” certainly means “import”.

According to the legislation of the European Union, when cars enter its territory, they are not subject to customs declaration, as a temporary use regime is applied.

Thus, only imported cars from the territory of the Russian Federation, which undergo the procedure of “customs clearance”, can seize the German customs.

“Therefore, from my point of view, European legislation provides for a ban on the import into the EU of cars either produced in Russia or exported from there, but not a ban on crossing the EU border on such cars,” the lawyer emphasized.