Parallel imports: what it is and how it works

The Workshop on Specifics of Product Imports to Russia in 2022. Parallel Imports has taken place today within Mir Detstva 2022 and CJF – Child and Junior Fashion 2022. Autumn. The event was organised by EXPOCENTRE AO in partnership with Kiryukhin & Partners.

In his opening speech, Vadim Kiryukhin, lawyer, member of the Public Council under the Federal Service for Accreditation, deputy chairman of the MCCI Committee for Designing a Healthy Living Environment, expert of the Council under the Commissioner for the Protection of Entrepreneurs' Rights in Moscow, noted that parallel imports were now legal in this country. Products are freely imported into Russia, but one can run into problems selling them.  

Fantina Martirosyan, patent lawyer and head of Legal Practice at Kiryukhin & Partners, spoke about solutions to these problems. 

"Parallel imports are exclusively made up of goods which are made with the consent of a right holder or by a right holder himself. If a product is made in China or in the Moscow region under a foreign brand name, it cannot be attributed to a product that is supplied to Russia as part of parallel imports. It is a counterfeit," the speaker said. The Federal Antimonopoly Service and the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade unanimously supported the rights holders, noting that counterfeit products should not be allowed on the Russian market.

Referring to Government Resolution No. 506 of March 29, 2022, she emphasized that in April 2022, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade had agreed on a list of brands allowed for parallel imports. This year, Russian companies will be able to import goods from the limited list into the country without the permission of brand owners and bypassing their official dealers in this country. The government adopted this measure in order to provide citizens and domestic manufacturers with the necessary goods, parts and components.

Fantina Martirosyan explained what was meant by allowing the import of original goods without the consent of a right holder, in which countries this practice was officially allowed, and how the list of original goods allowed to be imported without the consent of a right holder was formed.

The speaker drew attention to the risks of importing original goods containing intellectual property without the consent of the right holder and to the prohibitions and restrictions that are currently in place.