The Federal Customs Service (FCS) of Russia may add between 300 and 500 new employees before the end of the year to help deal with the growing number of parcels sent to Russia from abroad. The Ministry of Communications, also charged with reforming the inefficient Russian Post, requested this staff expansion for the Customs service in August 2013.
Currently only 409 Customs Officers work directly with the Russian Post, and Nikolai Nikiforov, Minister of Communication, hopes to increase this number to nearly a thousand this year.
The small number of customs officers working directly with parcels from abroad has led to major backups recently. For example, in April up to 500 tons of parcels massed up at Moscow’s airport, an example of the congestion caused by increased cross border sales.
Adding new customs officers is an essential step, but more profound action may be necessary. “In our view, to prevent a collapse, systemic changes are needed. For example, decentralization so that parcels are not only send Moscow. To do so the construction of new IMPCs (International Mail Processing Centers) and their hosting by regions is necessary,” according to Andrey Belyaninov, the Head of the Federal Customs Service.
As EWDN’s report on Russian e-commerce reveals, from Amazon and eBay to a myriad of niche retailers in virtually every market, foreign retail players selling directly or indirectly to Russia report yearly growth of up to seven-fold. Russian consumers appreciate foreign retailers’ diversified assortment and enjoy virtually tax-free purchases, but this trade has resulted in frequent slowdowns at customs checkpoints that have motivated this push for more employees even at time of overall cutbacks in public sector employment.
Source: Izvestia
RUSSIAN E-COMMERCE AND CROSS BORDER SALES REPORTS – The total volume of Russian online retail is expected to reached more than 16 billion this year, up from $13 billion in 2012, not including $3 billion for cross border sales. In partnership leading universities and consultancies, EWDN has published an in-depth research on this industry.
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