Estonia to implement full customs checks on eastern border

Estonia plans to implement full customs checks on its eastern border. Photo: Sander Ilvest

Estonia plans to implement full customs checks on its eastern border next week.

Prime Minister Kristen Michal stated at a government press conference on Thursday that the number of shipments to Russia has increased.

«At the same time, we are saying that sanctioned goods should not be moved there, but they still are,» he said.

Michal said that Estonia stands firmly in Europe to ensure that goods used in the war against Ukraine and undermining European and Estonian security do not reach Russia.

«This means that full customs checks will be gradually implemented at the Narva, Koidula, and Luhamaa road and rail border crossings for outbound traffic from Estonia, starting from Aug. 8,» Michal said.

Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi noted that every border crosser will now come into contact with state authorities, which will benefit the EU as the aim is to enforce the sanctions imposed on Russia, specifically in the direction of exiting Estonia.

«And there is reason for this, because over the past couple of years, for reasons unknown, the flow of sanctioned goods through our territory has increased,» he said.

The finance minister noted that the goods are declared as destined for third countries, but this is not credible.

«Our experience shows that these goods do not reach their declared destinations but instead stop somewhere in Russia en route to Asia,» Ligi said, adding that the goods also include military items, mixed goods, and cash.

For travelers, customs checks will involve visual profiling and risk assessment, leading to additional checks of personal belongings and, if necessary, complete inspections.

For vehicles, the procedures will be the same -- the driver will be questioned, the trunk inspected, and depending on the risk assessment, the examination can be very thorough, up to and including X-ray scans.

Regarding goods, documents will be checked, the goods inspected, X-rays will be performed if necessary, and in case of doubts, goods will be unloaded, opened, and counted, Ligi explained.

Estonian customs: make sure you are not carrying prohibited goods

In the context of the recent decision to intensify checks on people and merchandise headed for Russia at the Narva, Luhamaa and Koidula crossings on the Estonian-Russian border from Aug. 8, the Estonian Tax and Customs Board urges everyone crossing the border to make sure that they are not carrying prohibited items and to reserve more time for border crossing procedures.

«Implementing sanctions is the number one priority for the field of customs, and any goods that can be used for warfare going to the Russian Federation are under particularly strict scrutiny,» Voldemar Linno, head of the customs control department at the Tax and Customs Board, said in a press release on Thursday.

Conducting full customs checks instead of risk-based checks takes significantly more time and may reduce the throughput capacity of the border crossing points in the direction from Estonia to Russia by half. The Tax and Customs Board asks everyone to reserve extra time for border crossing.

For people crossing the border on foot, a full customs inspection means that each person and their luggage are subjected to a check. If the person crosses the border by car, an inspection of the vehicle and the goods contained therein will also be performed.

Passengers traveling by regular bus will be asked to get off the bus with their luggage and undergo customs checks similar to those applied to pedestrians.

The inspection of goods entails checking the correctness of the booking of the vehicle, opening the doors of the cargo hold and performing a check.

«Hauliers say that Estonia's customs controls, which until now have been based on a risk-based approach, are already among the strictest, but with the advent of new sanctions packages, attempts to evade the sanctions are also becoming more frequent. Last year, customs control detected more than 5,000 infringements. In addition, at the Narva customs point, for example, we send back several people every hour who have been warned for violating sanctions,» Linno added. «Intentional violation of sanctions is a criminal offense that will be prosecuted by the Internal Security Service.»

The introduction of full customs controls in the outgoing direction stems from the government's decision of July 4, caused by an increase in the number of attempts to evade sanctions and a threat assessment by the Tax and Customs Board.