Last summer a law that legalized parallel imports for the entire year of 2022 was signed in Russia. The mechanism of parallel imports will be extended throughout 2023, and it is intended to provide Russian citizens with foreign scarce and original goods under external sanction pressure. Nonetheless, the adopted law does not apply to all goods automatically. Products under particular brands may be both included or excluded from the list of goods that may be supplied to Russia without authorization of the trademark owner. In order to exclude a brand from the list of products that are allowed for parallel imports it is necessary to approach the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia with the respective request.

According to a recent announcement of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, it does not support the inclusion of all brands in the list of parallel imports. According to the ministry, this measure should work only in those niches, where domestic production is not yet able to fully replace imports. Head of the Ministry – Mr. Denis Manturov – has repeatedly stated that the Ministry “will take a balanced approach” in forming the list of goods for parallel imports. This measure allows filling the Russian market with necessary goods, but it does not mean that the same approach would be applied to all brands.