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| The confiscation failed. The Germans are forced to return cars to the Russians |
| 2023-07-18 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Gregor Spitzen [REGNUM] German customs officers began to return to car owners the vehicles seized during the entry into the country with Russian numbers. The situation was resolved predictably, since the legitimacy and judicial perspective of such actions a month ago seemed very doubtful to both professional lawyers and the German customs officers themselves. In particular, in the customs administration of Rostock-Warnemünde (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), employees agreed to communicate with IA Regnum on confidentiality terms. They reported that such excesses were most likely caused not only by an overly broad interpretation of the provisions of the eighth package of EU sanctions, but also by the excessive zeal of the Hamburg customs officer Vereshchagin's Hamburg colleagues. The "stick" system and the desire to report beautifully to the leadership for the reporting period are by no means peculiar only to Russian officials. In addition, such a resonant news item inevitably attracts the attention of the press, which is also very favorably perceived by high-ranking leaders who love to show off in front of television cameras and on the front pages of federal newspapers. However, in general, the Mecklenburg customs officers were a little shocked by the actions of their colleagues in Hamburg and Travemünde (Schleswig-Holstein). Cases of confiscation have so far been noted only in these two regions. At the same time, it is emphasized that so far the sanctions have only applied to those cars that arrived in Germany by ferry. The fact that the situation with the confiscation of cars under the sanctions is likely to end successfully for the owners, IA Regnum predicted back in June. The philological incident with the interpretation by individual officials of the word Einfuhr in the German version, rather than Import in the English original of the EU regulation, was a very shaky ground for the confiscation of personal property of citizens. In addition, some of them had a long-term residence permit in Germany or even German citizenship. German authorities explained the confiscation of cars with Russian numbers So, Ivan Koval, who has a German residence permit, lost his "iron horse" in Hamburg on June 1. On that day, customs officers passing by noticed the Russian license plates on the car and after checking the documents, some hesitation and long meetings with the management, they nevertheless decided to arrest the vehicle. It is noteworthy that a week before this, the car was cleared without a hitch in full accordance with the letter and spirit of German law in the same department - as a law-abiding citizen, the car owner planned to put German numbers on the car officially imported into Germany. Ivan, being firmly convinced that he was right, turned to a qualified lawyer, who quickly drew up a legally impeccable complaint about the arrest of the car. A little later, the German prosecutor's office joined the case, which did not find corpus delicti in the actions of the Russian. Customs officers were ordered to return the car to the owner, although with the proviso that the formal consideration of the case has not yet been completed. “In principle, such a violation of the rights of a law-abiding resident of Germany by government departments does not fit into any legal norms and may well serve as a basis for going to court in order to obtain compensation for actually incurred expenses due to the inability to use a car, as well as moral damage from -for the current stressful situation, ” comments a lawyer from the city of Wismar, Andreas K. The German lawyer believes that such legal excesses will continue until the law enforcement practice of almost quarterly changing anti-Russian sanctions “settles down” and enters the “legal channel”. Although, in general, restrictions against independent states that are not approved by the United Nations can be called legal only with a big stretch. “I would rate the prospect of suing the German authorities for at least €4,000 in each case of illegal confiscation of a car as quite high. To anyone who encounters a similar problem, I would recommend keeping all receipts, tickets and electronic receipts confirming the actual travel costs incurred due to the inability to use the car , ”adds Andreas K. Be that as it may, the legal precedent for the return of an illegally confiscated car with Russian numbers in Germany has already been created. If Ivan Koval, with the help of his lawyer, also manages to achieve compensation, this should definitely cool the ardor of especially zealous customs officers who have undertaken to interpret the EU provision on sanctions against the Russian Federation too broadly. “Personally, I got the impression that for high-ranking officials who were forced to answer for the actions of customs officers at a government press conference, the discrepancies in the English and German versions of the eighth sanctions package were a surprise. The speech in the document, of course, was about classic imports, and not about the usual importation into the EU of vehicles for personal use without the purpose of resale. Although the customs officers were right from the point of view of the letter of the law, the spirit of the legislation in this case was clearly violated. But to admit the error of the system, and even in favor of the Russians, German officials simply could not afford such a loss of face. Therefore, an insignificant question, more related to the field of philology than to jurisprudence, was suddenly blown up to the size of an international scandal with a speech by the Russian ambassador and a series of publications in the Russian media. The German side is definitely not shown in the best light here ,” concludes Andreas K. |
| Posted by:badanov |