FAQ:FSS notification

Issuing notification

Which documents regulate importation of cryptographic equipment into Russia?

Decision of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission No. 30 of April 21, 2015, in particular, section 2.19 of Annex No. 2 and the Regulation on import of encryption (cryptographic) means to the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union and their export from the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union (Annex No. 9 to the Decision).

See also: Regulation on Notification (excerpt from Annex No. 9).

Who can be an applicant for a notification?

According to clause 3 of the Regulation on notification manufacturer of the product or their authorized representative may be an applicant for a notification.

If the notification is not submitted by the manufacturer, the applicant will need a legalized power of to represent manufacturer’s interests in the competent state authority.

Can an individual submit a notification?

An individual may apply for a notification provided that they have a legalized power of attorney from the manufacturer to represent them in the FSS.

Can I consolidate several items into a single notification?

Yes, you can, if the following conditions are met:

products are of the same type (for example, you cannot list a tablet and a phone in one notification, but you can list 2 different phone models);
cryptographic characteristics of the products must be identical (algorithms, protocols, lengths of the encryption keys, etc.).

Which expiration date can I specify?

Article 6 indicates the expiration date of the notification in the format dd.mm.yyyy. The only requirement to this date is that the manufacturer must keep the cryptographic characteristics of the item (model) unchanged before the expiration date. There are no other restrictions on the minimum or maximum period of validity of the notification in the law.

A product contains an encryption-capable module (Bluetooth/Wi-Fi) that can be shipped both within the product and separately. Can I submit a notification for the module only?

If the module will be delivered separately and declared at customs as a separate item, then a separate notification will have to be submitted.

As an option you can submit a single-item notification (i.e. notification for the product with one or many different encryption modules) and indicate after the name of the product "and spare parts".

Power of attorney

What should the power of attorney from the manufacturer look like?

The power of attorney should be drawn up in English or in any other official language of the producer's country. The following information should be specified in the text of the PoA:

Manufacturer’s name;
Manufacturer’s head office address;
Full name of a company representative that has capabilities to issue such power of attorney;
Name of the Russian legal entity or a person that is authorized to represent manufacturer’s interests in FSS;
For applicants represented by legal entities: legal address and tax ID;
For applicants represented by persons: passport details.

A power of attorney should be notarized and legalized in the manufacturer's country.

A notarially certified translation of the PoA into Russian must be made before submitting it to the Russian Federal Security Service.

What are the key points of the notarization of the PoA?

The notary should certify two facts:

The signature of the manufacturer representative (the notary confirms that the company representative mentioned in the power of attorney has indeed signed the document in his presence);
The capabilities of the manufacturer representative (the notary confirms that the representative has capabilities (powers) to issue and sign such power of attorney on behalf of the manufacturer).

What is legalization and what kinds of legalization exist?

The legalization procedure allows a document issued in one country to be used for legal purposes in another country.

All documents signed by a representative of a foreign company must be legalized before submitting to the Federal Security Service or other State authorities of Russia.

There are 2 options for legalizing a document: apostille and consular legalization.

Apostille is an international standardized form for the legality of a document to be presented on the territory of countries that acknowledge this form of legalization.

Consular legalization is a multi-staged procedure of confirming the legality of the document issued by government bodies of a country in another country. This way of legalization is similar to the apostille, but is used for documents from the states that are not parties to the Hague Convention.

China specific: can certification by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade be used instead of notarization?

Previously (until 2016) the FSS accepted the Chinese power of attorney certified in the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. However, in 2016 the FSS changed its attitude towards this type of document processing and insisted on a notarial certification of the PoAs from China with their subsequent consular legalization.

Is it necessary to make a notarial translation in Russia if the power of attorney and notarial certification were translated in the producer's country?

Such a document would have to be translated in any case. Even if a notary in the country of the producer translates the PoA or issues it in Russian language, the Apostille will still be drawn in the official language of the country.

If some parts of the power of attorney (such as the Apostille stamp) are not translated, the FSS does not consider this as a full PoA translation.

Registration

How are the documents submitted to the FSS?

The originals of the documents should be sent to the Center for Licensing, Certification, and Protection of State Secrets of the FSS[1] by mail or directly to: Moscow, Yartsevskaya str., bld. 30 by the authorized representative of the company.

How long does it take to obtain registered notification?

The FSS registers the notificaion (or refuses to do that) within 7 working days.

After that, within 10 days, the information about the registered notification is included in the Common register.

Where can I find a list of registered notifications?

A list of registered notifications, both valid and expired/abolished, is available at the Eurasian Economic Commission website: Common register.

How is the notification presented to Customs?

Notification registration number is specified in the field 44 on the customs declaration.

According to the Regulation the notification is valid from the date of its inclusion into the Common register. Thus, according to law, customs should confirm the release of goods after the notification appears in the Common register.

Can the notification registered in Kazakhstan or Belarus be used for the import/export of goods to/from Russia?

Yes, it can. A notification registered in any of the five member countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia) and listed in the Common register of notifications, is in force throughout the entire EAEU territory.

Is it possible to find out who submitted particular notification?

The applicant of the notification is not mentioned in the Common register. In other words, this information is almost impossible to find out unless you get a copy of the notification.

Miscellaneous

How do customs know whether the imported product is an encryption mean or not?

The Customs inspector is guided by the note to section 2.19, which reads as follows: "For the purposes of this section, both the EAEU HS code and the name of the goods should be used". Thus, the inspector must make sure that both conditions are met. Not meeting any of them means that there is no need to obtain notification or provide information from the Common register in the Customs declaration.

In practice, however, if product’s HS code is in the section 2.19, the customs inspector usually requests a notification or a confirmation that the item does not actually contain any cryptography.

What can be done if my product has no encryption functions, but its HS code is in the list from section 2.19?

1. The importer may provide the Customs authorities with official technical documentation for the good, that clearly states that the good does not have any cryptographic functions.

If such documentation is available only in a foreign language, a notarial translation should be made.

2. The importer may submit an official letter from the manufacturer of the product confirming that the product does not have cryptographic functions.

If the manufacturer is a foreign company, such letter may need legalization and notarial translation too.

3. The importer may obtain a conclusion on the absence of encryption. This conclusion is issued by an organization which has a certificate for testing cryptographic devices.

In this case, the customs may also require documents (certificate) confirming the competence and authority of the organization issuing the conclusion.