To the Perseverance of the Brave We Sing a Song! Commentary to the Resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of 28 April 2023, No. 22-P “On the case of verification of the constitutionality of paragraph 2 of Article 235 of the Federal Law “On Customs Regulation in the Russian Federation and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” in connection with the complaint of the limited liability company Easy China Corporation (Easy CC)”

The article comments the Ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of April 28, 2023 No. 22-P “ On the case of verification of the constitutionality of paragraph 2 of Article 235 of the Federal Law “On Customs Regulation in the Russian Federation and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” in connection with the complaint of limited liability company “EASY CHINA CORPORATION” (hereinafter also - LLC “Easy CHINA CORPORATION,” company). It was established that the company applied to the Chelyabinsk customs with a statement on familiarization with the materials of the office customs inspection carried out against it, as a result of which the customs body adopted a number of decisions on adjustment (increase) the customs value of goods imported by the company. In response to this appeal, the company agreed on the date and time of familiarization with the materials of the specified customs inspection and also informed about the inadmissibility of making extracts or copies (including photocopies). The company disagreed with such a restriction of its rights and appealed to the Arbitration Court of the Chelyabinsk Region, which met the above requirements and declared the customs authority’s decision unlawful in this respect. The Court of Appeal and the Court of Cassation did not agree with the decision of the Court of First Instance, and the decision of the Court of Appeal was overturned, the claims filed were rejected, the final decision was left unchanged, and the Company’s appeal to the Court of Cassation was not granted. By decision of the Judge of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the Company was denied transfer of the cassation appeal for consideration by the court session of the Economic Disputes Division of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The company appealed to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. After considering the arguments of the parties, the Constitutional Court found that the disputed clause of the Federal Law was inconsistent with the Constitution of the Russian Federation.