OREANDA-NEWS. June 04, 2009. Dmitry Medvedev signed Federal Law On Ratification of Agreement on Cooperation among Member States of Commonwealth of Independent States in Fight against Theft of Vehicles and Ensuring their Return.

The agreement was signed in Moscow on November 25, 2005, by ten CIS member states: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Ukraine.

The Federal Law contains two clauses. The first clause increases by 20 days (in view of Russia's huge size) the timeframe for consideration of requests to return a stolen vehicle, requests for additional information and notice of the decision to return the vehicle.

Under the second clause, Russia does not consider itself bound by any obligation to allow vehicles to return duty free to the Russian Federation if they have previously been imported into its customs territory in violation of Russian customs legislation.