Local and foreign companies in Russia that perform international business activities should draw their attention to the latest amendments to the currency regulation which will come into effect on May 14, 2018.

Main changes:

1. When making foreign trade contracts Russian companies will be obliged to include the following provisions:

• payment terms (including advance payment),
• period for performance of service,
• period for performance of other obligations.

2. The conditions under which an authorized bank can reject a currency transaction have been changed.
3. Administrative penalties have been toughened and now include disqualification for up to 3 years for company officials.

Other legal amendments that became effective earlier in 2018

On March 1, 2018 the Central Bank of Russia introduced a new instruction, which applies both to legal entities (residents and non-residents) and to Russian individual entrepreneurs. Key amendments:

1. Companies and entrepreneurs entering into foreign trade contracts are no longer required to provide a transaction passport; instead, all contracts are registered by an authorized bank and assigned a unique ID (within 24 hours) on provision of the full set of required documents. Registration of an foreign trade import contact or loan agreement is obligatory when the price of the contact is equal to or exceeds RUB 3,000,000, and RUB 6,000,000 for an export contract (previously the limit was set at $50,000).
2. If the price of a contract with a non-resident doesn’t exceed RUB 200,000, the resident will only need to submit the currency transaction ID to the bank. A full set of confirming documents is now submitted only upon an additional request from the bank.

Our recommendations:

If you perform currency transactions, we strongly recommend paying special attention to the new requirements for foreign trade contracts. Specialists at Awara will be happy to assist you with checking your current contracts to ensure full compliance with the latest changes in currency regulation.

Our Contacts

Sergey Minyailo
Sergey.Minyailo@awaragroup.com