March 11 - Hellmann East Europe has gained the Customs Representative Licence for Russia (previously known as the Customs Broker Licence) which enables the company to offer customs clearance services under its own private licence.

A number of conditions must be met in order to obtain a Russian Customs Representative Licence; in addition to proof of professionally trained staff and an excellent reputation, the licence also requires firms to provide a bank guarantee of one million Euros. With this amount, the customs representative is held liable for compliance with import and export regulations.

In the past, Hellmann East Europe has always worked with external customs brokers, but now Customs declarations are conducted by Hellmann staff and submitted with its own corporate stamp to customs.

A newly established company, Hellmann Tamozhenny Broker (Hellmann Customs Broker), will take over the execution of operations in Russia Customs representative services will be conducted at the following locations: Moscow will handle trucks, air freight, and excise tariffs, St. Petersburg will deal with port services and excise tariffs. Smolensk, on the Belarusian-Russian border, will also process trucks, and port customs will be handled in Vorstochny, the easternmost port in Russia, near Vladivostok.

Additional sites are planned in Kaluga, Nizhny Novgorod, and Bryansk