What do you expect a business meeting to be? Well, unless you deal with 80-year old ex-KGB people, you should get ready for just vodka. The creative class born in the 60's will mix, howether they like classics too. Young ones mix the most. Unfortunately.
понедельник, 30 июля 2012 г.
понедельник, 9 июля 2012 г.
Back to work
Today, I will be submitting the same customs declaration for the 5th time! Comment for details.
суббота, 7 июля 2012 г.
Russia enters the WTO: now what?
At last, our holy motherland is entering the WTO. So wto? err... So what?
Let's take a look at what the Russian public expects of the WTO, shall we?
First of all, there is a strong public concern about domestic industry. WTO will destroy Russia's agriculture, flooding the market with GMO from all over the world and the government will not be able to do anything! Then, all the Russian factories will close down! Every business will ruin, people will get less money etc... Yeah, that means, commies are still strong round here.
Well, here come my conclusions for that:
- The key factor, preventing foreign goods from dominating the russian market is the Russian Customs service. Trouble is, the market HAS ALREADY BEEN TAKEN BY IMPORTS. We import all the electronics, most cars (though there is a number of foreighn brands manufactued in Russia from imported parts), cosmetics, pharma, construction materials etc. Why does it happen today when there is no WTO in Russia? Well, there is no local competition. There are about 1,5 companies in Russia manufacturing cosmetic creams, while there are more than 30 brands imported from Andalusia of Spain alone. Due to the internal conditions fo business, going into manufacture is considered a mad idea. So, with WTO-style (he-he) customs, all the changes we may get are: quicker deliveries, slightly lower prices. I believe, neither will occur actually.
- The Russian manufacturing facilities boast hordes of stubborn working class people. Semi-government owned factories of huge industial scale, these behemoths were constructed to employ entire cities. Literally. Their problems are: they often lack moden equipment, modern finance and modern thinking. Being what they are, such "city-forming plants" become political institutions, pressuring local authorities to subsidize them and the government to provide orders for them to complete. The most striking example of this is in the mili-production plants. Yeah, this goes like "We don't want to fire 50 000 people before the elections, so please, do order 5000 tanks, thank you very much". What is going to happen is Russia will still subsidize them, no matter what WTO courts have to say about this.
Well, finally. Private businesses. As I said, there are few mad men, who invested into manufacture. Nearly everyone either sells or re-sells. Well, with an opportunity of slightly lower prices, everyone will prosper, unless the government will invent something against that.
Let's take a look at what the Russian public expects of the WTO, shall we?
Well, here come my conclusions for that:
- The key factor, preventing foreign goods from dominating the russian market is the Russian Customs service. Trouble is, the market HAS ALREADY BEEN TAKEN BY IMPORTS. We import all the electronics, most cars (though there is a number of foreighn brands manufactued in Russia from imported parts), cosmetics, pharma, construction materials etc. Why does it happen today when there is no WTO in Russia? Well, there is no local competition. There are about 1,5 companies in Russia manufacturing cosmetic creams, while there are more than 30 brands imported from Andalusia of Spain alone. Due to the internal conditions fo business, going into manufacture is considered a mad idea. So, with WTO-style (he-he) customs, all the changes we may get are: quicker deliveries, slightly lower prices. I believe, neither will occur actually.
- The Russian manufacturing facilities boast hordes of stubborn working class people. Semi-government owned factories of huge industial scale, these behemoths were constructed to employ entire cities. Literally. Their problems are: they often lack moden equipment, modern finance and modern thinking. Being what they are, such "city-forming plants" become political institutions, pressuring local authorities to subsidize them and the government to provide orders for them to complete. The most striking example of this is in the mili-production plants. Yeah, this goes like "We don't want to fire 50 000 people before the elections, so please, do order 5000 tanks, thank you very much". What is going to happen is Russia will still subsidize them, no matter what WTO courts have to say about this.
Well, finally. Private businesses. As I said, there are few mad men, who invested into manufacture. Nearly everyone either sells or re-sells. Well, with an opportunity of slightly lower prices, everyone will prosper, unless the government will invent something against that.
среда, 4 июля 2012 г.
суббота, 30 июня 2012 г.
четверг, 28 июня 2012 г.
Russian "shit happens" day coming soon
So it seems, that July the 1st will bring a lot of surprises...
Rospotrebnadzor will bring into being its new requirements - a million page long "Technical requirements" for every type of products. They will also make everyone acquire "Declarations of conformity" to the new requirements. That shit is gonna cost... In cosmetics, it is surprisingly close to the European technical requirements of 1976, but it has a separate tests for any cosmetics, marked as Nano.
Customs will begin integrationg with the WTO....Oh, that is going to be about tons of papers.
Every government institution is preparing a set of something nice and refreshing.
The results to expect: Higher costs, a period of nightmare, when nobody knows what to do, a lot more paper work.
Na zdorovje!
Rospotrebnadzor will bring into being its new requirements - a million page long "Technical requirements" for every type of products. They will also make everyone acquire "Declarations of conformity" to the new requirements. That shit is gonna cost... In cosmetics, it is surprisingly close to the European technical requirements of 1976, but it has a separate tests for any cosmetics, marked as Nano.
Customs will begin integrationg with the WTO....Oh, that is going to be about tons of papers.
Every government institution is preparing a set of something nice and refreshing.
The results to expect: Higher costs, a period of nightmare, when nobody knows what to do, a lot more paper work.
Na zdorovje!
How to find business partners in Russia
Well, here I am writing this thing. Funny, because I am actually a Russian, looking for foreign business partners. so yes, pick me! Pick me! Ok, right, first you have to think...
I have gained most of my experience in the b2b products sector, so I will be looking into the key issues of the sphere.
The main boundaries, Russian partners might help to pass are the following: certification, customs clearance issues, various internal regulations, regional markets.
Unfortunately, Russia is a very dynamic bureocratic state. So, if you are looking for effective partners, you need to make sure, the people you are going to work with have recent (not older than 6 months) expertise in the field. Remember, Russia is permanently on an italian strike. You may master the laws and regulations, but unless you work with the internal order of government institutions, all this knowlege will do little. The situation regarding the certification of some items is a good example. You can only acquire certificates for some products in Moscow, even though, the regulation allows them to be certified country-wide. This seems to be an inside-institution agreement, but the inner workings might be as complicated as one's imagination allows.
Strictly speaking, you should check the reputation of your partners. Russian courts find it hard to cope with trademark ownership issues of lesser brands, so "mimic private labelling" is not a too rare occasion. So, there is a chance that a strong and well-connected company might jst stop buying the goods one day, while increasing sales on and on. As anywhere in the world, it is very important to estimate the opportunities and capabilities.
Just remember: Russia is a country of wonders.
I have gained most of my experience in the b2b products sector, so I will be looking into the key issues of the sphere.
The main boundaries, Russian partners might help to pass are the following: certification, customs clearance issues, various internal regulations, regional markets.
Unfortunately, Russia is a very dynamic bureocratic state. So, if you are looking for effective partners, you need to make sure, the people you are going to work with have recent (not older than 6 months) expertise in the field. Remember, Russia is permanently on an italian strike. You may master the laws and regulations, but unless you work with the internal order of government institutions, all this knowlege will do little. The situation regarding the certification of some items is a good example. You can only acquire certificates for some products in Moscow, even though, the regulation allows them to be certified country-wide. This seems to be an inside-institution agreement, but the inner workings might be as complicated as one's imagination allows.
Strictly speaking, you should check the reputation of your partners. Russian courts find it hard to cope with trademark ownership issues of lesser brands, so "mimic private labelling" is not a too rare occasion. So, there is a chance that a strong and well-connected company might jst stop buying the goods one day, while increasing sales on and on. As anywhere in the world, it is very important to estimate the opportunities and capabilities.
Just remember: Russia is a country of wonders.
How to import to Russia?
Modern Russia is a bureocratic country, that's for sure. Here is a short summary of the actions, necessary for conducting import and export customs operations.
All the goods, imported to Russia are subject to customs clearance. The procedure normally takes place before the goods can be picked up, which creates some security concerns for the importers. Exceptions are made for imports and especially exports, transferred by pipeline.
In order for everything to work fine, the system should work in the way, described below. I will describe it based on air freight imports. Procedures for marine \ land freights are almost the same, though vary in some details.
For goods, delivered for distribution inside the country, the following issues are to be arranged for the recieving company:
- Signed contract with the supplier with all the latest changes and additional agreements.
- Distribution agreement with the supplier (supports the right to sell inside the country)
- Bank's approved Contract Passport
- All the necessary certificates (only issued in Russia\ the Customs union countries).
- Company registration papers, Company codex, Taxation information etc.
All these documents must be presented for every customs clearance procedure. Copies, approved by the company's stamp.
For every batch of products, there must always be:
- An invoice
- An airwaybill
- Packing list (never required, but appreciated)
All these documents MUST BE travelling with the plane's crew, so that they can be given to the customs officials by the captain. Attention! Transport documents, clipped to the pallet are normally ignored, and the cargo is assigned the "Missing invoice" status. This prolonges the customs clearance by at least one week, with an inevitable complete search of the entire cargo and possible customs price correction.
To complete customs clearance, the recieving company must present a customs declaration in a special format, accompanied by copies of all the above mentioned documents.
Documents, created specifically for customs clearance:
- Invoice translation
- Documents, supporting the price, which is declared. These include price lists and copies of the export declaration of the Seller.
- The declaration itself, prepared using customized software, developed solely for the purpose of creating customs declarations for the Russian Customs.
It is strongly recommended to use the services of a brokerage firm, still there are several surprises:
- Brokerage firms almost never work officially with assorted cargos. You will be offered to declare the goods yourself. This is standard practice. The thing is, fines for brokerage firms are exceedingly high. Thus, they might be obliged to pay a 45000 euro fine for an extra pair of gloves in a 2-ton batch of clothing.
All the goods, imported to Russia are subject to customs clearance. The procedure normally takes place before the goods can be picked up, which creates some security concerns for the importers. Exceptions are made for imports and especially exports, transferred by pipeline.
In order for everything to work fine, the system should work in the way, described below. I will describe it based on air freight imports. Procedures for marine \ land freights are almost the same, though vary in some details.
For goods, delivered for distribution inside the country, the following issues are to be arranged for the recieving company:
- Signed contract with the supplier with all the latest changes and additional agreements.
- Distribution agreement with the supplier (supports the right to sell inside the country)
- Bank's approved Contract Passport
- All the necessary certificates (only issued in Russia\ the Customs union countries).
- Company registration papers, Company codex, Taxation information etc.
All these documents must be presented for every customs clearance procedure. Copies, approved by the company's stamp.
For every batch of products, there must always be:
- An invoice
- An airwaybill
- Packing list (never required, but appreciated)
All these documents MUST BE travelling with the plane's crew, so that they can be given to the customs officials by the captain. Attention! Transport documents, clipped to the pallet are normally ignored, and the cargo is assigned the "Missing invoice" status. This prolonges the customs clearance by at least one week, with an inevitable complete search of the entire cargo and possible customs price correction.
To complete customs clearance, the recieving company must present a customs declaration in a special format, accompanied by copies of all the above mentioned documents.
Documents, created specifically for customs clearance:
- Invoice translation
- Documents, supporting the price, which is declared. These include price lists and copies of the export declaration of the Seller.
- The declaration itself, prepared using customized software, developed solely for the purpose of creating customs declarations for the Russian Customs.
It is strongly recommended to use the services of a brokerage firm, still there are several surprises:
- Brokerage firms almost never work officially with assorted cargos. You will be offered to declare the goods yourself. This is standard practice. The thing is, fines for brokerage firms are exceedingly high. Thus, they might be obliged to pay a 45000 euro fine for an extra pair of gloves in a 2-ton batch of clothing.
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