DESTROYED?

BEHIND THE WHEEL

The protest action of motorists, united in the "Freedom of choice" movement, this time did not turn out to be all-Russian. The more noticeable are the failures and successes of individual regions, through the prism of which one can understand the mechanisms of the formation of natural...

The protest action of motorists, united in the "Freedom of choice" movement, this time did not turn out to be all-Russian. The more noticeable are the failures and successes of individual regions, through the prism of which one can understand the mechanisms of formation of spontaneous social unrest.

Reports from the battlefield this time resemble dry telegraph lines, behind which, however, there is much.

Novosibirsk. 100 cars. The traffic police blocked the streets for passage, but the matter did not come to a confrontation.

Magadan. 25-30 cars. Traffic cops, who received the order to disperse the protesters, influenced them exclusively verbally. As a result, the picket passed peacefully.

Ekaterinburg. 50-70 cars. The action took place despite the fact that the protesters were detained both before and after the picket.

Ufa. Nothing happened. The pressure from law enforcement agencies turned out to be too tough. And in Bashkiria, they know how to put their threats into action.

And now - for contrast - Neryungri (Yakutia). 120 cars! The traffic cops not only did not interfere with the action, but also winked their headlights in a friendly manner.

And, finally, the epic Vladivostok with its 4,000 motorcade and the actual storming of the customs department by protesters, which led to the cancellation of changes in the rules for customs clearance of cars. (See "New" No. 75, 76.)

One does not need to be a statistician to trace the growth of popular indignation from west to east. Moscow in this system assumes the functions of an information and analytical center that "digests" information about the causes of protests and tries to convey it to the federal authorities.

For example, last week, members of the Freedom of Choice movement voiced their vision of changes in the rules for customs clearance of cars and new imperious raids on right-handers.

Recall that during the live broadcast, the president promised that there would be no ban on right-hand drive cars, but for some reason he tied the story of the death of the Altai governor Yevdokimov to this, and the next day the country's chief traffic cop, General Kiryanov, said that cars with right-hand drive are an obvious road safety hazard. Of course, anything can be said. But there are statistics, and even official ones. (See graph.)

Thus, according to information posted on the site of the traffic police itself, in 2004 the average number of deaths per traffic accident in the Far Eastern Federal District was lower than the national average. If you consider that more than 90% of the vehicles in this district are right-hand drive, then it turns out that they are at least as dangerous as anything that drives in other parts of the country. Moreover, more often than usual, people die in accidents in the Southern Federal District, where the brainchild of the Russian car industry dominates. That's who Kiryanov had to "run into"!

However, let's not succumb to the temptation to manipulate the statistics. In fact, the accident rate does not depend on which side the steering wheel is located on, but on who is sitting behind this steering wheel. If you had the imprudence to ride with taxi drivers along mountain serpentines on the Lazarevskoye-Adler stage, then you will understand what I am talking about. About the culture of driving. That's what the traffic police should do. And not groundless raids, the only result of which may be an artificial redistribution of the market.

The mini-catalogue introduced by the customs officers, which caused a wave of protest in Vladivostok, could lead to the same consequences. The point is the following. If earlier customs clearance was carried out at the transaction price in Japan, the data on which was indicated by the owner of the car, now the customs officers decided to take the price in Japanese catalogs as a starting point. And everything would be fine, only this contradicts the main departmental document - the Customs Code (TC).

Let's listen to Roman Rastorguev, a member of the Freedom of Choice movement: “The Labor Code provides for determining the value of goods cleared through customs using the so-called reserve method. This is if the customs officers are sure that they are trying to deceive. Let it be. But in paragraph 2

Art. 24 of the Labor Code clearly states: “As a basis for determining the customs value of goods for a reserve product, <...> d) an arbitrarily established or not reliably confirmed price of goods cannot be used.” This is the tastiest thing! Any catalogs referred to by customs officers are not an official document. These are commercial publications that exist for profit. They can be arbitrarily popular and authoritative, but they are not certified by either the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the exporting country or any other official body. Simply put, with a certain amount of money, I can publish any catalog at any price. What kind of reliability and validity can we talk about here?

It is difficult to argue with the logic of motorists. This is probably why, according to statistics, they win 80% of litigations with customs officers. But then why, one wonders, is it necessary to force people to go to court, to waste nerves and money? Representatives of the "Freedom of choice" are sure that in this way the state receives a free loan, because the money is returned no earlier than two months after the court decision.

Like it or not, is not so important. It is important that in Primorye we see the following logical chain. The actions of officials violate the law - people take to the streets - officials at least temporarily change their mind. By decision of the conciliation commission, which included representatives of human rights organizations, the customs service and local deputies, the operation of the notorious mini-catalogue was temporarily suspended. Such is street democracy.