“He’s been driving like this for three years, and he’s got nothing for it.”
Dmitry: “I recently started thinking about buying a car. I looked for a suitable option in Russia, where on average the market is cheaper than here. My housemate encouraged me to buy it in the Russian Federation. Three years ago, he drove a car from Moscow with Russian license plates (not transit ones).
I ask him, what about the traffic police? Do you have any questions? So he says that he has been driving like this for three years and he gets nothing for it. I want that too. So what? If an inspector stops me, I’ll pay the fine and move on. In the Vitebsk region we have plenty of such “cars” with Russian license plates. What kind of negative consequences could there be if I ride in Belarus with a Russian registration? Well, except for fines, for example.”
What needs to be done to register a car with the traffic police?
Before registering a used car to a new owner, it must be deregistered by the previous owner.
Previously, this was done at the place where the car was registered. But from January 21, 2021, according to Council of Ministers Resolution No. 747, you can deregister a car at any branch of the MREO traffic police throughout the country.
For new, unused vehicles, in some cases a manufacturer's confirmation document is required. When purchasing a car from a dealer in Belarus, all necessary documents are prepared in advance.
When independently importing a car from abroad, incl. from Russian territory, additional documents will be required from customs or from Russian registration authorities.
But this issue deserves separate consideration, just like purchasing a car not through sale and purchase, but through other means.
The legal basis for registering a car to the new owner is the car purchase and sale agreement. Instead of a contract, an invoice from a legal entity or can also be used.
How should it be by law?
Let's start with the basics for every driver, namely the traffic rules. In accordance with paragraph 194.5 (Chapter 26), participation in road traffic of a vehicle that is not registered in the manner established by the Council of Ministers of Belarus is prohibited. And since we are talking about cars from Russia, registration of such a car is possible only after it is deregistered in the Russian Federation.
In accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, a vehicle that is exported outside of Russia for sale to a foreigner must be deregistered. To do this, the Russian owner provides the traffic police with a list of documents listed in Article 15 of the law: application, civil passport, car documents, insurance, receipts for payment of state duties. When exporting a car, for example to Belarus, it is mandatory to provide a purchase and sale agreement with the buyer, a citizen of our country. A traffic police inspection (reconciliation, if we say so), transit “numbers”, a registration certificate with a mark of deregistration in the Russian Federation, where the foreign buyer will already be entered, will be issued only after all the procedures. Moreover, the certificate is issued to the buyer upon presentation of a passport of a citizen of the Republic of Belarus. So our reader Dmitry, if he decides to legalize his car, will have to travel to a neighboring country.
Can a Russian drive in Belarus with a Russian driver's license?
“Is it possible for a Russian citizen, having an international Russian driver’s license, to drive through the territory of Belarus in a car registered in Belarus? What documents do you need to have with you? Do you need a power of attorney from the car owner? Olga Olshevskaya, Minsk.”
Igor Shakun, acting head of the main department of internal affairs of the Minsk City Executive Committee:
– According to Article 5 of the Law of January 5, 2008 “On Road Traffic”, people temporarily staying or temporarily residing in Belarus have the right to drive motor vehicles, self-propelled vehicles on the territory of Belarus if they have a valid driver’s license issued by a foreign state that meets the requirements of the Convention on road traffic, signed in Vienna on November 8, 1968, or a valid driver’s license issued by a foreign state and drawn up in one of the official languages of Belarus, or a valid driver’s license issued by a foreign state and accompanied by a duly certified translation of the text of the driver’s license into one of state languages of Belarus.
People who have moved for permanent residence to Belarus and have a valid driver's license issued by a foreign state are considered not to have the right to drive mechanical vehicles, self-propelled vehicles on the territory of Belarus after 90 days from the date of issue to such people of a passport of a citizen of Belarus or a residence permit until they receive driver's license in Belarus.
According to paragraph 12 of the Traffic Rules, the driver of a power-driven vehicle is required to carry with him and submit for inspection to traffic police officers:
- 12.1.1. driver's license;
- 12.1.2. certificate of registration of a motor vehicle or vehicle passport;
- 12.1.3. permission to admit a vehicle to participate in road traffic;
- 12.1.4. a document confirming the conclusion of civil liability insurance of the owner of the vehicle (Green Card agreement), with the exception of cases of concluding an internal insurance agreement in electronic form;
- 12.1.5. permission from the communications authority to use radio and satellite communications equipment, if available on the vehicle, in cases provided for by law (with the exception of an operational vehicle).
And also, according to paragraph 14 of the Traffic Rules, foreign citizens and stateless people temporarily residing in our country, when driving a motor vehicle, are required to have:
- 14.1. documents specified in subclauses 12.1.3 (in the case of driving a vehicle registered in Belarus), 12.1.4 and 12.1.5 of clause 12 of the Rules;
- 14.2. a national driving license that meets the requirements of the Convention on Road Traffic, signed in Vienna on November 8, 1968, and in case of non-compliance with the requirements of the Convention - a national driving license with a certified translation into one of the official languages of Belarus;
- 14.3. a vehicle registration certificate that meets the requirements of the Convention - in the case of driving a vehicle that is not registered in Belarus and is temporarily located on its territory;
- 14.4. on the vehicle registration plates issued by the competent authority of the state in which it is registered.
Aelita Syulzhina, “SB. Belarus today”, February 17, 2021
What if you “score”?
A driver who purchased a car in Russia and drives local “transits” in Belarus will, after 10 days, face liability under Part 5 of Article 18.12 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of Belarus.
Article 18.12. Violation of vehicle operation rules
Driving a vehicle for which a permit to participate in road traffic has not been issued or which is not registered in accordance with the established procedure shall entail a warning or a fine in the amount of one to three basic units.
If the “numbers” are ordinary Russian (not transit), then do not forget that the owner of such a car remains a Russian. This means that if this owner - a citizen of Russia - has debts to the bank or to pay fines and other skeletons in the closet, the car can be arrested and confiscated by a court decision.
They will be looking for the car, and the presence of information in the database of wanted vehicles does not bode well. If it turns out that the car is located in Belarus, then, in accordance with the Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters, the decision to arrest or confiscate property is subject to execution on the territory of our country. So you can lose both the car itself and the money paid for it
Owners of cars with Russian license plates save on passing inspection and paying fees for participating in road traffic in the Republic of Belarus. But they are required to insure civil liability - buy a “green card”.
In the situation of selling a car without re-registration, the Russian seller also takes on the risks. The actual owner of a Russian car needs to know that if he enters Belarus in another car and is stopped by the Belarusian traffic police, he will be fined for speeding, recorded by photo cameras, if the current owner has committed such violations. "Mobile Inspector" works properly. And even without such meetings, no one has canceled the responsibility of the owner of a source of increased danger for the harm caused, and this legislative principle works both here and in Russia.
From May 1, they began to charge a fee for leaving Belarus by car. What happens near the border
- 13990
- 02 May 2021, 09:11
- borderBruzginalogreport
On Saturday, May 1, the decision of the Grodno Regional Council of Deputies to introduce a local tax in the region when leaving the country came into force. Those who cross the border by car must pay it. TUT.BY went to the Bruzgi checkpoint on the Belarusian-Polish border and looked at what was happening there. Spoiler: nothing and a fox.
The decision to introduce a local fee for vehicles crossing the border at checkpoints in the Grodno region was made on March 30 of this year. It came into force on May 1 and the measure will be in effect until January 1, 2023. The collected funds, the deputies promised, would be used to fight the coronavirus.
The fee applies to all cars that belong to organizations or individuals, including those registered as individual entrepreneurs, and whose maximum weight does not exceed 5 tons. In this case, it makes no difference how many passengers are in the vehicle: one car - one basic one (29 rubles).
Drivers traveling to funerals of family members and close relatives will be exempt from the fee. Also, WWII veterans, disabled people of groups I and II, as well as persons accompanying them, participants in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, people traveling to sanatorium-resort institutions for treatment, and some others will be able to cross the border free of charge. They must have supporting documents.
On the afternoon of May 1, near the Bruzgi checkpoint, it was deserted, quiet and deserted. Only from time to time, trucks appear on the road leading to the checkpoint from Grodno, and drivers occasionally walk back and forth in the parking lot for heavy trucks. The only thing that brings excitement to the parking lot is the appearance of a fox near the trash cans.
Truckers film the predator on their phones. And the animal, not expecting such close attention, runs back into the forest.
That, in general, is all that is happening at the border.
Sometimes cars come to the parking lot near the cafe to take out “domestic” insurance and pick up those returning from abroad.
Workers are bored in the building where insurance companies are located. They say that “everything here at the border is gradually falling into disrepair” and complain that no one removes the bicycles that were left in the parking lot nearby.
“Everything changes, but the bicycles remain,” the workers sigh.
They don’t know how border crossing works in practice under the new rules. They say that people sometimes call them about issuing these receipts, but insurers cannot help.
Near the checkpoint in the building of the logistics center there is an exchange office of Belarusbank. They say that you can pay the new fee from them, you just need to know the necessary details. The ticket office here is open until 19.30.
- What to do at night, for example? “Everything is still unclear,” insurance company employees shrug their shoulders.
In fact, you can pay the new fee either at the checkpoints when crossing the border, or in advance - so if you go in the evening, keep this in mind.
The document confirming payment of the fee must indicate the name of the payer (or the name of the organization), the amount, date of payment, and vehicle registration number. If the payment is made, for example, through Internet banking, then you must present the check card in paper or electronic form to the border guard.
If an individual entrepreneur or organization has paid a fee from their account, then they will need to present an additional copy of the payment instruction with the bank’s mark at the border.
Border guards who inspect cars at the checkpoint say that their duties do not include checking receipts for traveling abroad. This is done inside the checkpoint.
In general, cars rarely appear on the road leading to the border now. Do you remember how they used to take a place in the “rut” at night? Now it’s good if two cars pass per hour, and even then on weekdays.
TUT.BY journalists stayed near the checkpoint for almost two hours - during this time a half-empty regular minibus passed by.
// TUT.BY
Our verdict
Let’s summarize: this scheme for purchasing a car is only suitable if the seller and buyer have absolute mutual confidence in each other’s law-abidingness and honesty. Remember the possible consequences for both parties, which we indicated above, and if there is even the slightest doubt, the choice should definitely be made towards the legal import of cars into Belarus.
Faced with lawlessness and injustice? Don't know who to ask for advice? Contact the Auto Business Legal Department.
Contacts:
- mobile phone/Viber/Telegram/Whatsapp +375 29 703 99 63;
