The highest court of the European Union has ruled, confirming the legality of the confiscation of personal cars of Russian citizens at the border. The reason was the consideration of a request from the court of the city of Dusseldorf (Germany) on the claim of a Russian citizen, from whom the local customs seized a passenger car purchased in the Russian Federation and registered in his name.
Citizen "JG", residing in Dusseldorf, bought a used car in Russia in 2023 and transported it from Poland to Germany without license plates. Customs authorities considered this a violation of the embargo. In its decision, the EU High Court confirmed that the import in 2023 of cars purchased in Russia for personal use violated the sanctions ban on the import of goods capable of "generating significant income for Russia".
Now the arrest of cars, including the car of citizen "JG", has received judicial justification. The court also pointed out that the embargo continues to apply to personal goods, and the import of items with a "value above average" may still be considered a violation of sanctions.
In the summer of 2023, German customs at the border began to massively seize personal cars of arriving Russians: many of them still have not received their transport back. Customs officers referred to an article of the European Union regulation prohibiting the import of passenger cars, laptops, mobile phones, shoes and cosmetics.