On Bank of Russia Instruction No. 181-I

On Bank of Russia Instruction No. 181-I, dated 16 August 2017, ‘On the Procedure for Residents and Non-residents to Submit Documents and Information Confirming Foreign Exchange Transactions to Authorised Banks, on Single Accounting and Reporting Forms Related to Foreign Exchange Transactions, and the Procedure and Timeframes for Their Submission’

The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation has registered Bank of Russia Instruction No. 181-I, dated 16 August 2017, ‘On the Procedure for Residents and Non-residents to Submit Documents and Information Confirming Foreign Exchange Transactions to Authorised Banks, on Single Accounting and Reporting Forms Related to Foreign Exchange Transactions, and the Procedure and Timeframes for Their Submission’ (hereinafter, the Instruction).

This Instruction aims at the liberalisation of existing foreign exchange control requirements in terms of alleviating the burden on residents engaged in FX transactions.

The document cancels the requirement for residents to draw up transaction specifications at an authorised bank. In place of the requirement to draw up transaction specifications, there will be a new procedure to register these contracts in banks and to assign unique numbers to them. Resident exporters shall operate under a simplified registration procedure for their contracts. Contracts shall be registered by banks during one business day. The new procedure makes it impossible for banks to refuse to register contracts.

The threshold value of liabilities on external trade export contracts necessitating their registration has been raised up to 6 million rubles¹.

The Instruction cancels residents’ obligation to submit to authorised banks certificates on FX transactions, which are accounting forms, but retains their obligation to submit documents confirming their right to conduct FX transactions.

The document introduces a procedure whereby residents shall not submit documents related to FX transactions under agreements (contracts) with non-residents, if their total liabilities are less than 200 thousand rubles.

The Instruction alleviates the burden on residents in terms of executing foreign exchange control documents. This will reduce grounds to initiate administrative sanctions against residents, simplify interaction between residents and banks, enhance the efficiency of resident exporters and re-distribute burden in terms of foreign exchange control from residents to authorised banks.

¹ Currently, as it is set forth by Bank of Russia Instruction No. 138-I, dated 4 June 2012, ‘On the Procedure for Submitting Documents and Information Related to Foreign Exchange Transactions to Authorised Banks by Residents and Non-residents, the Procedure for Executing Transaction Specifications, and the Procedure for Registering and Monitoring Foreign Exchange Transactions by Authorised Banks’, the threshold amount of a resident’s liabilities signalling the need to execute at an authorised bank transaction specifications for external trade contracts is USD50 thousand.

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