Car owners block the city’s center in Vladivostok in a move to force the customs officials to delay introduction of new duties on imported cars.
Photo: Fedor Zemskov
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The Catalog Alarm
In the Far East, the regional authorities stepped in Monday in an attempt to reconcile the Far East Customs Department and car owners. The drivers oppose new methods for calculating the value of used cars imported to Russia, as the cost of the Asian cars goes up one and a half as a result. After the meeting at governor’s, the officials announced temporal suspension of new regulations, which may still be applied to the next consignment of cars imported to the Far East.
The Far East Customs Department announced October 5, 2005, the value of Toyotas and Mitsubishis (and of other foreign cars later on) will be calculated according to a mini-catalogue and depend on the make, model, modification, type and volume of the engine and on the make of the body and the year of the car’s manufacture.
The new regulations set the drivers abuzz. The protest rally started Saturday, when around 300 cars with headlights switched on crossed Vladivostok. On Monday, around 100 cars blocked the road to headquarters of the Far East Customs Department in the center of the city and staged a mass meeting near the premises of the customs office. The tricky point is that the mini-catalog actually doubles the prices for mass cars, as the better part of all drivers buy them at special auctions, where the prices are materially lower than on the secondary market.
Once the regional authorities got involved in the conflict, the customs officers pledged all imported cars would be cleared under the old regulations. Nevertheless, it appears introduction of the new regulations is just a matter of time, as the customs office is not willing to abandon the mini-catalog idea.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 11, 2005
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