Release against security during a customs valuation check: can the goods be sold and how is the security recovered?

Article 121 of the EAEU Customs Code permits release before the review ends, generally subject to two main payment conditions: the amounts calculated from the declaration must be paid, and security must cover the potential additional liability arising from customs control. The security calculation serves the release process. It does not determine the final customs value, establish overdue debt or, by itself, amend the declaration. The specific security exceptions and other release conditions still apply.

Security for a payment obligation is the broader legal category. The EAEU Customs Code distinguishes cash, a bank guarantee, a surety and a pledge of property. Russian rules permit cash security, a bank guarantee or a surety for release under Articles 120–122 of the Code. A pledge of property is a separate instrument and is not available for the Russian release considered here. Enforcement against pledged property in other cases follows civil law.

The discussion below concerns cash provided as security for a particular Russian declaration. Existing customs advance payments are used for that purpose. Once customs accepts the amount, it acquires the specific status of cash security, governed by separate rules on the customs receipt, use, enforcement and return.

‘Customs issued a valuation adjustment and the company paid it’ can conflate several distinct steps. Customs requests documents, identifies grounds for doubt, calculates security, accepts the chosen instrument and releases the goods. An amendment may follow if the response fails to substantiate the declaration or the required documents and explanations are not submitted on time. The declarant may also submit an amendment itself. Check the goods declaration amendment (КДТ) and its financial consequences before sending it.

Article 121 release has limits. Security addresses possible additional payments; it does not replace compliance with prohibitions, restrictions or trade-defence measures. The mechanism is unavailable where customs identifies possible prohibitions, restrictions or trade-defence measures other than special, anti-dumping, countervailing or other duties, and compliance remains unconfirmed. Licences, marking and conformity-assessment documents must be considered under the rules for the particular measure, including any permission to confirm compliance after release.

Security is not always required. Exceptions include qualifying release of an authorised economic operator’s goods and cases under Russian law involving a customs representative or certain large declarants meeting specific conditions. A EUR 500 threshold also applies to security for customs duties and taxes. Do not automatically extend that exception to special, anti-dumping or countervailing duties; the grounds for exemption must be checked separately for each payment category. Simply using a customs representative, having a long compliance record or presenting a small invoice does not establish an exemption.

Can the goods be sold while the valuation review continues? Release under Article 121 does not, by itself, make them conditionally released goods. Goods released for domestic consumption acquire Union status unless they fall within conditional release or another special regime.

Where the unfinished valuation review was the only reason for Article 121 release, the goods may leave temporary storage, enter production or be sold. Before sale, check the release decision, declaration, relief used and compliance documents. The same shipment can be under valuation review and conditionally released for another reason, such as restricted relief or later submission of a permit. Any resulting restrictions on use or disposal remain despite the security.

Article 325 of the EAEU Customs Code does not impose one universal review timetable. Documents identified in the declaration and requested after registration under paragraph 1 must be supplied at least four hours before the applicable release period expires. Failure to supply them leads to refusal of release.

Additional requests under Article 325(4) for commercial, accounting and other documents, information or written explanations follow different deadlines. For information in the declaration and documents submitted with it, the deadline is at least four hours before the release period ends. Where customs is checking documents supplied following the initial request, the limit is two hours before that period ends if the information does not affect payments. Where it affects customs duties, taxes, special, anti-dumping or countervailing duties and the release period has been extended, submission is due at least one working day before the extended period ends.

The sixty-day period after declaration registration is not a general extension for all documents. After release, additional materials requested under Article 325(4) but not supplied within paragraph 7’s deadlines may still be submitted. This does not cover documents already identified in the declaration and requested under paragraph 1.

The sixty days run from declaration registration, not release. Days spent arranging security have already used part of that period. Customs must finish the review within thirty calendar days of receiving the materials. If none are submitted within the sixty-day period, the thirty-day review period runs from its expiry.

Before completing the review, customs may make a further request if the materials or explanations of missing documents have not resolved its concerns. The response is due within ten calendar days of customs registering that request. The review-completion period is suspended while customs awaits the response.

A ten-day period tied to registration creates difficulty when the request appears late in the online account or is dispatched late. Actual delivery does not change the Code’s stated starting point, but it matters to procedural fairness and whether compliance was realistically possible. Record late receipt immediately, send the materials already prepared and explain what cannot be obtained in the time remaining.

Record declaration registration, the original and extended release deadlines, registration of each request, its actual arrival time, response dates and periods of suspension. ‘Sixty plus thirty’ does not account for further requests or time already elapsed.

The requirement to give reasons applies to an additional request under Article 325(4). Customs must identify indications of unsupported or potentially inaccurate information, list the documents sought and set a deadline. The scope should reflect the transaction, the goods and their intended use. An initial request for documents already identified in the declaration follows the different regime in Article 325(1).

Identify defects in an additional request in the response, but do not leave it unanswered. Supply available documents, explain what is missing and record attempts to obtain it. Declared customs value must rest on reliable, quantifiable and documented information. The company substantiates the transaction, price, delivery and payment terms and addresses customs’ specific concerns. Customs must assess all the material and give reasons for its final decision.

Related-party transactions require particular evidence. Once the relationship is established and customs identifies indications that it affected the price, the declarant must show otherwise. Invoices, bank documents and proof of actual payment may not be enough. Explain the pricing mechanism and why the corporate relationship did not influence the transaction price.

A substantial difference between the declared price and customs data for identical or similar goods may justify a review. The difference alone does not prove an inaccurate value. Requested documents should fit the ordinary commercial arrangement. Where that arrangement does not produce a particular document, explain this during the review and support the relevant fact with other evidence.

Holding documents back for court is risky. Supreme Court Plenum Resolution No. 49 proceeds on the basis that a court should not conduct the initial administrative review in place of customs. Late evidence requires an explanation of objective obstacles to earlier submission, or proof that customs did not provide a real opportunity to resolve its doubts. On transport costs, Supreme Court Thematic Review No. 9/2026 emphasises that there is no closed list of supporting documents: the contract and carriage arrangements determine what is needed. The documents must nevertheless substantiate the existence and amount of the costs.

Review the security calculation as well. Article 65(4) and (5) of the EAEU Customs Code apply to import duties and taxes. Article 75(5) and (6) apply to special, anti-dumping and countervailing duties. Both concern the potential additional amount resulting from customs control.

For a valuation review, customs may use values for goods of the same class or kind, calculate a possible value without a disputed discount or deduction, or include potential additions to the transaction price. That calculation fixes security for release. It is not a final valuation and does not replace subsequent application of the methods in Chapter 5 of the EAEU Customs Code.

Test the price source against the model, manufacturer, characteristics, quantity, commercial level, delivery terms, import period and included costs. Official database information may support a security calculation, but does not establish the value of this shipment or remove the need to assess comparability.

Check the arithmetic item by item, including the duty rate, VAT base and rate, excise duty, origin, relief, tariff preferences, special measures, exchange rate and amounts already paid. In Russia, security for duties and taxes also includes customs fees that remain payable and are not exempt. A difference between the importer’s calculation and customs’ figure may therefore concern fees rather than the estimated customs value.

The original security does not cap a later adjustment. It reflects information available at an intermediate stage. After further evidence and application of the appropriate valuation method, additional payments may be lower, equal to or higher than the security. Any unsecured balance is paid or recovered under the general rules.

Before using cash, compare it with a bank guarantee or surety. Cash may allow quicker release where the customs advance-payment balance is already sufficient, but it ties up working capital. A guarantee or surety may preserve liquidity, provided it meets the legal requirements and customs accepts it.

In Russia, cash security is provided by using customs advance payments. Within two working days of accepting it, customs sends a customs receipt to the provider. Before release, confirm acceptance, the amount and the link to the correct declaration. Keep the receipt with the calculation, release message and customs account records.

Establish whose advance payments will be used before providing the money. While the amount remains cash security, it is returned to the advance-payment balance of the person who provided it. Security supplied by a customs representative or another person does not automatically return to the declarant. Agree the settlement arrangements with the customs representative in advance.

Interest does not accrue merely because customs holds cash security. A specific rule applies where refundable security has not yet been credited to the payer’s advance-payment balance when the payer submits an instruction to use that balance. Interest then runs from the instruction date to actual credit under Article 67 of Law No. 289-ФЗ. A separate entitlement arises where customs misses the deadline for returning advance payments to a bank account.

Late-payment interest follows a different rule. For an obligation secured in cash on release under Article 121 of the EAEU Customs Code, it does not accrue up to the cash-security amount. The exemption does not automatically cover bank guarantees, sureties or an unsecured balance where the final assessment exceeds the cash provided. Check interest on that balance under Article 72 of Law No. 289-ФЗ and any other grounds for non-accrual. Total late-payment interest cannot exceed the payments on which it is charged.

Where no security was provided because of the EUR 500 threshold, the cash-security exemption from late-payment interest cannot apply: there is no cash security. Other provisions of Article 72 must be considered, including a sufficient advance-payment balance and authority for customs to use it.

An application to offset cash security and the special three-year period concern a different situation: the secured obligation never arose. After a favourable valuation review, the obligation has generally arisen and been properly paid; it is the possible additional amount that was not substantiated.

Overdue liabilities may restrict the return. If customs payments, special duties, late-payment interest or other interest remain unpaid, the corresponding part of the security is not returned. Even after credit to the advance-payment balance, outstanding debt may prevent transfer to a bank account.

If the review has ended but the money has not reappeared in the customs account, establish when it became refundable. Check the customs receipt, provider, movement of funds and outstanding debt. Once the five-working-day period has expired, seek the credit and an explanation for the delay. Continuing inaction can be challenged through an administrative appeal or in court.

Returning advance payments to a bank account requires a separate application by their owner under Article 36 of Law No. 289-ФЗ. The three-year application period depends on the last instruction to use the advance payments or, if none was given, the last receipt or credit of funds. Consideration, decision and transfer must together take no more than ten working days, counted from the day after the application is received.

A declaration, КДТ or another document correctly identifying the customs receipt may constitute an instruction to use cash security when submitted by or on behalf of its provider. Check the КДТ before submission. Including receipt details can both amend the declaration and direct payment of the assessment, even before the company has decided whether to accept or challenge the adjustment.

Once cash security is used or seized to pay an assessment, that part is no longer returned under the cash-security rules. If the adjustment is later cancelled or reduced, the rules for overpaid or excessively recovered charges apply. Any unused balance remains security and is returned under Article 69 of Law No. 289-ФЗ.

The overpayment must be recorded in a КДТ or another customs document. Its registration date is treated as the date the overpayment was detected. The amount must be credited to the advance-payment balance within three working days, counted from the day after detection.

Article 67 of Law No. 289-ФЗ determines who receives that credit, not the original source of the security. Where the payer or customs representative paid the charges during declaration, the overpayment is credited to the payer’s advance-payment balance. The same applies to amounts recovered from the payer or the representative that handled the declaration. Where another person’s funds were seized for someone else’s unpaid obligation, the credit goes to that person. Once security has become a payment, trace the entitlement to the money afresh.

Interest on excessively recovered amounts runs from the day after recovery until actual credit or return and is paid on application. Use of security on its provider’s instructions does not, by itself, produce the same entitlement. However, an operation’s label does not always determine its legal nature. Payment made after a customs decision or demand may be compelled where there was a real threat of enforcement. Assess the sequence of documents, deadlines and actual conduct.

After release, retain the security calculation, customs receipt, account records, release message, requests, responses, final decision and documents recording use, return or enforcement of the money. Keep a separate valuation evidence file: the contract, specifications, invoices, payment and transport documents, discount correspondence, related-party materials, royalties, intermediary payments and other price components.