Sergey Vasiliev
Sergey Vasiliev
Legal Director, Co-Head of Customs and Foreign Trade Regulation
sergey.vasiliev@denuo.legal
Sergey Vasiliev is a recognised expert in customs, administrative, civil and transport law and dispute resolution. Sergey co-heads the Customs practice and provides comprehensive foreign trade and customs relations support to companies, inter alia, on issues concerning the structuring of international deals associated with the import of goods and the provision of services, support during customs audits, on complex matters relating to customs valuation, classification of goods, foreign trade function audits, imposition of sanctions, challenging of decisions and actions of the customs bodies.
Sergey has solid litigation and arbitration experience in settling customs, tax, transport and other disputes, including various disputes over customs valuation, classification, refunds of customs fees and taxes, and administrative offences.
Sergey is recommended in the area of government practice, customs and excise law by Best Lawyers.
Sergey has solid litigation and arbitration experience in settling customs, tax, transport and other disputes, including various disputes over customs valuation, classification, refunds of customs fees and taxes, and administrative offences.
Sergey is recommended in the area of government practice, customs and excise law by Best Lawyers.
Education
Russian Customs Academy, Law Faculty, 2000
Languages
English
Russian
Russian
Summary profile
Experience
-
Assisting a Russian liquefied natural gas factory in one of the largest customs disputes of the past few years in connection with challenging the customs decisions on the inclusion of permanent structure design costs in the customs value of equipment and materials imported for the purpose of building such structure
-
Providing all-inclusive assistance to a tobacco manufacturer when challenging, in court, the customs bodies’ classification rulings in respect of cigarette packaging in accordance with the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System of the Eurasian Economic Union
-
Providing all-inclusive assistance to a pulp and paper company in connection with a major desktop customs audit. Providing comprehensive advice to the company on administrative and criminal liability. Challenging the customs body’s decisions taken as a result of an audit in court, including the ruling on holding the company administratively liable
-
Providing all-inclusive assistance to an international corporation operating in the health & wellness industry in the course of a desktop customs audit relating to the inclusion of “marketing” licence fees for the use of trademarks and agent’s VAT in the customs value of imported goods and challenging the customs bodies’ decisions further
-
Assisting a home appliance manufacturer in a court dispute with a customs body over the refunding of overcollected customs charges and penalties
-
Representing a manufacturer of industrial equipment in the course of a desktop customs audit in respect of the harmonised system code. Assisting the company with obtaining advance rulings on the classification of goods in accordance with the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System of the Eurasian Economic Union
-
Conducting a legal analysis of the inclusion of licence fees and agent’s VAT in the customs value of goods of a number of companies, giving recommendations on how to mitigate the identified risks. Assisting in the course of customs audits on issues concerning the inclusion of licence fees for various IP items and agent’s VAT thereon in the customs value of imported goods
Publications
Presentations
- Speaker, “Parallel Imports and CRIP: Challenges and Solutions,” TransRussia International Exhibition, April 2023
- Speaker, “Customs in New Conditions: Technology vs Risk,” “2022 Year-End Results: Law and Business” Conference, Kommersant, January 2023
- Regular attendee at the Association of European Business events in Russia
Career
-
2022-present
Legal Director, Co-Head of Customs, Denuo -
2005-22
Senior Associate, Legal Director, DLA Piper (St Petersburg) -
2001-05
Head of Legal Department at a leading transportation company (St Petersburg) -
1998-2001
Senior Law Department Inspector at St Petersburg Customs
Professional memberships
-
Association of European Businesses
Chair of the Customs, Transportation and Logistics Subcommittee, member of the Coordination Group for the North-West -
Federal Customs Service of Russia
Member of the Working Group of the Expert Advisory Council -
Eurasian Economic Commission
Member of the working groups -
St Petersburg Governor’s Headquarters for Reducing Administrative Barriers
Member of the Working Group for Customs Regulation and Export Support -
Russian-German Chamber of Commerce
Deputy Head of the Working Group for Customs and Foreign Trade Regulation in the North-West -
American Chamber of Commerce in Russia
Member of the Working Group for Customs and Foreign Trade Regulation -
Expert working groups
Sergey proactively communicates with government authorities on law enforcement issues; he also participates in the lawmaking process aimed at perfecting the laws of the EAEU and Russia on customs regulation.
