On June 21, 2022 State Duma approved in the third hearing a draft law No. 127049-8 “On amendments to the article 18 of the Federal Law “On amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation”, which eliminates the possibility of civil, administrative and criminal liability for parallel import of goods.
As it is elaborated in the explanatory notes, the draft law was developed in order to decrease the growth of prices of imported goods, which might occur in connection to the imposition of economic sanctions against Russia.
The draft law implements changes into the article 18 of the Federal Law No. 46 – FZ of May 8, 2022 “On amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation”, which constitute that the usage of intellectual property, embodied in the goods that are included in the list approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, is not a violation of the rights of intellectual property owners.
The list of goods admissible for parallel import, which includes well-known brands of cars, home equipment, smartphones, etc., was approved by the Decree of the Ministry of Industry and Trade No. 1532 of April 19, 2022 “On goods admissible for parallel import, that shall not be restricted by art. 1359(6) and 1487 of the Civil Code”. It is not necessary to obtain the right owner’s approval of the usage of intellectual property in order to import the aforementioned goods to the territory of Russian Federation.