It is ironic that while Russian customers have long been willing to buy some of the cheapest personal computers in the world, the best known brand name personal computers, spare parts and comsumables are a minimum of 30% more expensive than identical models sold in the US. Outside the Russian capital, prices are considerably higher. The personal computer price wars have not yet really shaken the Russian market. This has very little to do with the pricing policies of suppliers. It is the result of the percentage cut taken by various Russian Federation government bodies at the point of entry of every computer legitimately brought into the country. Extraordinarily high customs duties apply for computers brought into Russia for business use or for re-sale. The import tariff is 15% of the declared value of the equipment, and all commercial importers must pay an extra 25% value-added tax on imports of computers or components. The only way to avoid this tax is to bring in equipment as personal baggage. The Russian solution is typically straightforward. Despite the existence of dozens of very professional Moscow suppliers, most small Russian companies, given the opportunity, will buy their computers in the West and carry then into Russia by hand. Since the duty on electronic components is only 5%, the same principle is often applied with these. A suitcase full of microprocessors brought into the country can save an assembly company thousands of dollars in unpaid value-added tax. This July another organisation joined the border payments bandwaggon.

Safety regulations

Newly-enforced Russian safety regulations demand that all imported computers, peripherals and components need a safety certificate approved by the Russian Standards Committee, Gosstandart. Goods without one can be held up indefinitely at customs. From July 1, all imported equipment has been liable for an extra 0.1% levy to finance this new bureaucratic invention. The measure was apparently in response to floods of low quality goods (including computers) coming into Russia, and subsequent complaints by Russian consumers. Special certification by Russian authorities in Russia is demanded for cheaper computers with less than 2Mb RAM and hard disk space less than 40Mb running at speeds under 25MHz and monitors with screen size under 14. But as is almost always the case in this country, the remedy is more damaging than the illness. The new rules came into force on January 1, but exempted products imported under contracts signed before January 1st 1993. If a shipment comes to Russia without quality documents, the local customs official contacts a local Gosstandart office to initiate the certification procedure and in the meantime provides charged storage of the shipment. If a new Russian certificate is necessary then the equipment must be taken to special Gosstandart-approved testing laboratories which work at negotiable prices. The process can last between 30 and 60 days. It was chaos at Moscow Sheremetievo airport in July as many firms found themselves unable to release their equipment. At customs terminals, a lack of clear definitions created enormous discrepancies over what required and did not require a licence. In one case, officials were demanding safety certificates for software. What caught many suppliers off guard is an apparent disregard for recognised international standards. If goods are imported with an existing foreign safety certificate then in practice it appears that this certificate must first be approved at an organisation called Rostest, the Russian Centre of Testing and Certification. In the original legislation, it was written that if a product meets quality and safety standards of specified international organisations, then the certificate provided by these organisations is valid for Russia. Just before the July deadline, Seiko-Epson Corp organised to have all of its existing certificates approved, and now inserts its newly granted Russian language certificates at its plant in Japan. According to head of representation, Mr Kasai, Rostest validat

ed all of the company’s existing quality certificates and the process for the entire Epson range sold in Russia cost just $800.