Finnish-Russian haulier takes Russia to court over road use fees

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The Finnish timber truck transport company Leanti, owned by Russians Anna Sedova and Jelena Vasilenko and registered in Finland, has started legal proceedings against the Russian Federation over highway usage fees.
      The ground-breaking trial is to take place at the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in Moscow on June 17th.
     
Preparations for the upcoming court proceedings have also been made by Juha Lankinen, responsible for traffic affairs at Leanti.
      The summons is related to a road use fee that Russia began to collect at the beginning of 2009 from foreign heavy traffic vehicles operating on their highways.
      According to Leanti, the summons is based on the fact that the legislation both in Finland and Russia stipulates that the existing road traffic agreement between the two countries overrides all national laws.
     
The agreement states that no duties or fees are to be collected one-sidedly.
      ”Russia has no right to collect such fees. We will demand the court acknowledges the invalidity of the decree and orders the Russian Federation to reimburse the fees paid so far, amounting to approximately EUR 6,000”, Lankinen and Sedova report.
      It was a great surprise when the Russian Supreme Court accepted the application for a summons.
      ”We submited the application first to a lower court which returned it, as all interstate issues have to be handled at the Supreme Court”, Sedova notes.
     
This is an exceptional case, says Esa Näätänen, the Chief of the Legal Division at the Finnish Transport and Logistics (SKAL).
      ”Previously Finnish entrepreneurs have complained about for example customs duties in Russia, but this is the first time the road use fees are taken up in the highest court”, Näätänen notes.
      If Leanti wins the case, the decision could become a precedent, after which it would be difficult for the Russian Federation to introduce similar fees without first amending the road traffic agreement between Finland and Russia.
      ”If the litigation took place in Finland, the case would most certainly be won. However, if the Russian Supreme Court rules that the road fees are a violation against the international agreement, it is difficult to predict how the states will react between themselves”, argues Antti Seppälä, the Director of Foreign Trasport at SKAL.
     
Officially, Russia abolished the highway usage fees relating to Finland on June 4th.
      The rumour in the transport sector is that Russia also admitted that the fees were contrary to the contract to begin with.
      ”However, an open question is how the period between February to June is to be interpreted. Russia would never begin to return the fees spontaneously”, Seppälä notes.
     
A renewal of the road traffic agreement between Finland and the Russian Federation is under negotiation in Helsinki today - Thursday.
      The Russian Deputy Minister of Transport, Jevgeni Moskvitshov and his delegation have finally arrived in Finland at the invitation of the Finnish Ministry of Transport. The negotiations are being hosted by Director-General Juhani Tervala.
      ”The meeting has been postponed throughout the spring. The aim is to take up the drafting of a new road traffic agreement which has been discussed already for a couple of years”, Tervala notes.
      A new agreement could include bilateral road use fees.
      In Leanti’s case, Russia began to collect fees prematurely without any negotiations.
      All the same, Finland is also examining the possibility of implementing a road fee system to be taken into use already next year.
     
Russia collected road use fees from all foreign heavy vehicles in the period from February to May. The fee was EUR 9.00/day, equalling a potential annual sum of EUR 1,395.
      In the winter, Minister of Transport Anu Vehviläinen sent Russia a letter, saying that the fees are discriminatory.
      On June 4th, Russia cancelled the fees for the time being.
     
The fee that Russia collects from Finnish trucks is in violation of the current road traffic agreement between the two countries.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Transport Ministry to examine road use fees for lorries on route to Russian border (7.8.2007)
  Finland wants Russia to drop all border-crossing fees (26.10.2006)
  Finland to demand Russia stop levying vehicle charge at frontier (27.4.2006)

Links:
  Finnish Transport and Logistics (SKAL)
  Ministry of Transport and Communications

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