The Ministry of Industry and Trade published a list of goods for “parallel imports”: they can be imported without the permission of the copyright holder

The Ministry of Industry and Trade published a list of goods for parallel imports that can be imported into the country without the permission of their copyright holder.

The list of about 60 points, which includes the entire range of products produced, including the following categories:

• living trees and plants, bulbs, roots and “other similar” parts of plants, cut flowers and decorative greens;
• building materials, paints, ores and products from them;
• fuel and chemical products, including pharmaceuticals, explosives and cosmetic products;
• plastic, rubber, as well as products from these and other materials;
• textiles and shoes, as well as materials and devices for their creation;
• Nuclear reactors, boilers and other equipment and mechanical devices (or their parts) are the widest category where the products have come not only for the nuclear industry, but also the products of technical, automobile and computer companies of a wide profile;
• A wide range of electronic devices - from sound recording equipment and cameras to “smart” watches and game consoles;
• ground and water vehicles, including rolling stock and wagons, vessels and boats, their parts, as well as track equipment, devices for tracks and mechanical signaling equipment;
• musical instruments;
• weapons, ammunition and their units;
• household goods, including cutlery, furniture, bedding and lighting equipment, toys and sports equipment.

Each item is attached to the codes of goods or other means of individualization. So, in some categories, specific trademarks are listed. The list includes most automobile brands (for example, Mercedez-Benz or Maserati), a wide list of cosmetic and chemical companies (for example, Bonderite or La Roche-Posay) and electronics manufacturers (including Samsung, Apple or Siemens).

Often brands are duplicated in different categories. So, Land-Rover products fall into lists of furniture and lighting devices, ground transport products, glass products and other materials and electronic devices.

The Russian government legalized the parallel import of March 30. The products included in the list for parallel imports will apply the international principle of “exhaustion” of the rights to the trademark, that is, after the first sale of the original product, they can be imported into Russia without the permission of the owner. This differs from the usually national principle of copyright, when the copyright holder controls all deliveries, can prohibit their import and demand up to 5 million rubles of compensation in case of violation of the conditions of import.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin substantiated this measure "the need to satisfy the demand for goods containing the results of intellectual activity." Although the FAS proposed to legalize parallel imports back in 2018, it was introduced only with the beginning of tough sanctions after the invasion of Ukraine.