The Emergency Situations Ministry will be allowed to import passenger cars and motorcycles tariff-free, according to a decree signed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Since 2003, customs rules have allowed the ministry not to pay import duties on items that would be used to "prevent and clean up the consequences of natural disasters and other emergency situations," excluding tobacco, alcohol, jewelry and passenger cars and motorcycles.
But according to the new decree, signed April 14, these special privileges will now apply to passenger cars and motorcycles as well.
The decree was published in Rossiiskaya Gazeta on Tuesday and goes into effect next Wednesday.
The Emergency Situations Ministry had not yet specified what sort of passenger cars it needs or what emergency situations they are needed for. Ministry representatives could not be reached for comment.
According to the Customs Code, special customs rules also apply to items imported by the military fr om Russian bases abroad and products sold in customs-free zones.
Last August, a state company that operates under the Federal Forestry Agency was caught ordering a fully loaded luxury Lexus valued at 6 million rubles ($200,000) to use as a "mobile forest fire command center."
Customs duties on passenger cars were increased substantially in January 2009. Cars three years old or younger face an import tariff of about 30 percent of the car value, depending on engine size.
The tariff hike prompted unrest in the Far East, wh ere most of the population drives Japanese vehicles and importing cars is a primary source of income for many people.
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