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Resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation No. 42-П of 23 June 2026 in the case concerning review of the constitutionality of paragraph 2 of Resolution No. 938 of the Government of the Russian Federation of 6 June 2023 and subparagraph “b” of paragraph 114 of the Rules for the Collection of the Recycling Fee for Self-Propelled Vehicles and Trailers following a complaint by Terra Grupp LLC. The judgment held unconstitutional the provision setting the entry into force of the act increasing the recycling fee: the increase may not be introduced earlier than one month after publication; until the law is amended, the time periods under Article 5 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation apply.
The company imported agricultural machinery and filed the recycling-fee calculation on 6 July 2023. Customs applied the increased coefficients under Resolution No. 938 (published on 9 June and entered into force on 1 July 2023), and the amount increased more than fourfold. The commercial courts reached divergent conclusions; the applicant relied on Article 5 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (acts concerning fees enter into force not earlier than one month after publication); the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation refused to refer the complaint for consideration.
The Constitutional Court proceeds from everyone’s duty to pay lawfully established taxes and fees (Article 57 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation) and from the principle of legal certainty in tax relations. The requirements governing the lawfulness of establishing fiscal payments apply not only to the content of legal acts but also to the procedure for bringing them into force: a reasonable period is required before the obligation to pay arises, so as not to undermine stable conditions for economic activity (Articles 8 (Part 1) and 34 (Part 1) of the Constitution of the Russian Federation).
The costs of paying fiscal charges must not be unexpected. Changing tax rules before a reasonable period has elapsed from publication of the act would violate the constitutional principles underlying the economic system and the status of economic actors. At the same time, the criteria governing the lawfulness of establishing taxes and fees are not limited to acts formally classified as tax legislation: the guarantees of Article 57 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation extend to all relations concerning the establishment of fiscal payments, regardless of the sectoral classification of the legal instruments used (previously, Resolution No. 17-П of 2013).
By its nature, the recycling fee is a mandatory, individually non-refundable fiscal payment akin to taxes and excise duties; the Court previously pointed to the applicability to it of the principles of fairness, equality and proportionality and to the impermissibility of removing such payments from the scope of Article 57 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation (Resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation No. 30-П of 19 July 2019, Resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation No. 47-П of 8 November 2022).
Therefore, paragraph 2 of Government Resolution No. 938 of the Russian Federation, which set a period of less than one month from publication for the increased recycling-fee coefficients to enter into force and did not establish special rules for bringing such acts into force, fails to provide the necessary adaptation period and was held inconsistent with the Constitution of the Russian Federation (Articles 19 (Parts 1 and 2), 55 (Part 3) and 57). The federal legislature must establish rules governing the entry into force and temporal application of acts concerning the recycling fee; until then, the time periods under Article 5 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation apply (not earlier than one month after publication), while Resolution No. 938 remains in force but applies only after one month has elapsed from its publication.
Subparagraph “b” of paragraph 114 of the Rules, which determines the base rate and coefficient as of the date of filing the calculation for self-propelled vehicles not subject to declaration, was held not to contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Differentiating the dates for calculating the fee according to the method of importation is not arbitrary: a good-faith payer may file the calculation at any time after the actual importation and independently choose the most convenient time within the permissible period. The Court noted the right of the legislature and the Government to refine the regulation so that persons who fail to file the calculation on time do not find themselves in a more advantageous position than those who fulfilled this obligation on time.
An increase in the recycling fee may not be introduced “retroactively” or sooner than one month after publication — payers are guaranteed an adaptation period. Until new regulation is adopted, the one-month period under Article 5 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation applies; subparagraph “b” of paragraph 114 of the Rules is constitutional.
For importers of self-propelled vehicles and agricultural machinery, the judgment guarantees an adaptation period when the recycling fee is increased: increased coefficients may not be applied earlier than one month after publication of the relevant act. This reduces the risk of a sudden, multiple increase in the fiscal burden in respect of imports already carried out.
As regards Resolution No. 938, a direct consequence has been established: it is to be applied after one month has elapsed from the date of publication, while until new regulation is adopted the time periods under Article 5 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation apply. Judicial acts in the case of Terra Grupp LLC are subject to reconsideration; similar disputes concerning the application of increased coefficients during the month after publication now have clear guidance.
Holding subparagraph “b” of paragraph 114 of the Rules constitutional preserves the existing procedure for determining the amount of the fee based on the date of filing the calculation for non-declarable vehicles and confirms the Government’s discretion in establishing such dates. At the same time, the judgment confirms the broad application of the guarantees under Article 57 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation to all fiscal payments, which is significant for the regulation of other non-tax charges.
This analysis was prepared on the basis of the CasusLegal database (case law of the highest courts of the Russian Federation). The titles of the cited decisions link to their full texts in CasusLegal.