About
Clients often contact me after receiving a request, inspection report or decision from Russian customs. I examine it alongside the declaration, contract, payment records and earlier correspondence. Those records help explain the disagreement; the relevant dates need to be checked before assessing the time available to respond or appeal.
Reasons to get in touch
A request for documents can mean different things. It may ask for a missing item or raise a substantive objection to a declaration. The wording, attachments and date of receipt help establish what the company needs to address.
I match each question in the request to the records that could answer it, then compare the declaration with the contract, invoice, payment and transport records. Where figures or descriptions differ, the response needs to explain why. Sending an undifferentiated file of documents leaves those discrepancies unresolved.
Start with the request, its date of receipt and the company's earlier responses.
A held shipment may involve a physical inspection, expert examination, security for customs payments, a document check or a decision already issued. I establish the reason before considering what could help the shipment proceed, whether further records are needed or whether there are grounds to challenge customs' actions.
The relevant records are the document explaining why the goods are being held and the customs declaration number.
A calculation alone may not explain an additional assessment. I compare the decision with the company's declaration and supporting records, including customs' reasons for rejecting them. Some disputes concern a particular calculation; others require a challenge to the reasoning in the decision as a whole.
The review requires the decision, the calculation and the records the company has already relied on.
I first establish when the decision was received, then put the company's earlier explanations in date order. An appeal needs to address that existing record. Earlier correspondence does not disappear because the dispute has moved to an appeal or court proceedings.
First, provide the complete decision and evidence of when it was received.
Before private practice
I began as an inspector and finished my service as head of a customs post at a maritime border crossing. I saw how records were examined, findings reported to management and decisions prepared. That experience informs how I read a customs request and identify the facts it seeks to establish.
Fourteen years in the customs service, ending as head of a customs post at a maritime border crossing. Retired lieutenant colonel of the Russian customs service.
My work covers customs valuation, tariff classification, origin of goods, customs payments, administrative proceedings and appeals. These matters require attention to the transaction as well as the customs issue: the parties' arrangements, payments, transport and correspondence.
My TKS.RU column includes a biography and articles on customs regulation. The profile gives details of my education and customs service; the articles show the subjects I cover and how I approach them. Candidate of Legal Sciences is a Russian academic degree in law.
Read the profile and column
Document review
A request, notice, inspection report, decision or formal procedural record needs to be considered on its own terms. I examine the complete document and attachments, how it was delivered and the event from which any response or appeal period is calculated.
I compare the wording with the declaration, contract, invoice, payment records and transport documents. I also identify information the company does not hold and may need to request from its supplier, bank, customs representative or carrier.
Where an earlier response conflicts with other records, I establish the reason before drafting a further explanation. The aim is to account accurately for the discrepancy, not to replace the earlier account without addressing it.
The records help determine whether a further explanation may be sufficient, more information is needed from the supplier, or an appeal or court submission should be prepared. A general description alone is not enough to choose between those options.
Sources you can read
TKS.RU publishes my biography and author column. The case section gives court case references and identifies the documents on which the courts based their findings.
I write about customs transit, valuation, origin of goods and international trade documents.
Read the column ↗Court decisionsEach analysis explains which records the court examined and how they informed its reasoning. It also identifies why a finding about another shipment may not apply to yours.
Browse cases ↗ResourcesArticles examine the records relevant to a particular issue, what additional material may be needed and how a company's response can affect a later dispute.
Read the articles ↗VideosVideos cover customs checks, valuation, tariff classification and other international trade issues.
Open YouTube ↗Before making contact
The company can assemble its records before seeking advice. Drafting its response is a separate task: the explanation should be checked against those records before it is sent.
Work your team can do
Gather the declaration, contract, invoices, payment and transport records, and correspondence. Arrange them by date, note discrepancies and request missing items from the supplier, bank, customs representative or carrier. A routine request supported by consistent records may be something your team can answer without a lawyer; a substantive disagreement needs separate consideration.
Before sending a response
A response merits legal review when customs disputes the price, tariff code or origin, requests records the company does not have, or identifies contradictions in earlier correspondence. Expert examinations, demands for security for customs payments and an approaching appeal deadline also need attention. Seeking advice should not mean overlooking a deadline.
Andrey Bernev · contact
You do not need to send the entire file with your first message. Identify the document, its date of receipt, the goods or transaction concerned and any response already sent. We can then discuss which records to share.
After the initial exchange, we can identify the relevant attachments and discuss whether a call would be useful.
Use Telegram to describe the document and when you received it. Explain what has been held, changed or additionally assessed; we can agree which records to share in the conversation.
Open Telegram ↗02Email can be used for contracts, calculations and a detailed chronology once we have agreed what to share. In the subject line, identify the matter and any approaching deadline.
Write an email ↗03Begin with the name of the document, its date of receipt and a paragraph explaining the issue. Relevant attachments can be discussed in the conversation.
Open chat ↗04Work is primarily remote. A call can be arranged once we have agreed what to discuss and which records to have available. In-person meetings are also by arrangement.
Discuss a meeting time ↗