The volume of parallel imports exceeded $20 billion

Since the start of the parallel import regime, its volume has exceeded $20 billion. According to the head of the Federal Customs Service (FCS) Vladimir Bulavin, these are mainly cars, machine tools and equipment. In total, 2.4 million tons of goods were imported.

“Parallel imports, it must be said, were originally conceived as a significant support measure for both business and our economy. During this time, 2.4 million tons of goods worth over $20 billion were imported. These are, first of all, cars, machine tools, equipment, production lines. But there are also light industrial goods. We believe that this also has a significant impact on price stabilization in our market,” Mr. Bulavin said on the air of the Rossiya-24 TV channel (quoted by TASS).

At the same time, the head of the FCS noted that parallel imports did not affect the growth in the volume of counterfeit products, since the parallel import mechanism is focused on the import of original products when the right holder, for one reason or another, does not want to take part in the generally accepted circulation of goods. “And we fought against counterfeiting, and we will continue to fight. And this year, more than 7 million units of counterfeit products have been seized,” he specified.

On March 30, the Russian government allowed parallel imports – the importation of goods into the country without the consent of the copyright holder – for certain types of products. The list of goods subject to parallel imports was published on May 6. November 30 at the Federal Customs Service reportedthat in the period from May to November 2022, 2 million tons of goods worth $17 billion were imported into the country.