Hi everybody,
in case you did not know this yet, if you live in the Europe, you should know that coin swaps with Numista members in russia are currently falling under EU sanctions due to the ongoing war of russian agression against Ukraine.
In particular, coins and banknotes have been added to the list of sactioned luxury goods at some point in the past year, I don't know when exactly.
The important quote from the EU regulation is:
“It is prohibited to sell, supply, transfer or export luxury goods, as listed in Annex XVIII of Regulation (EU) 833/2014, to any person or entity in russia or for use in russia.”
The complete list of luxury goods that are affected by this is available here:
https://lexparency.org/eu/32014R0833/ANX_XVIII/ (quite the intersting read)
Specifically mentioned are the relevant following tariff numbers:
- 49070030 banknotes
- 71181000 coins (not legal tender, without gold coins)
- 71189000 "other" (this means coins including legal tender but without medals and collectors coins) Notably, also the import is illegal for this one, so if you are in the EU and receive a letter from russia with coins from a swap, it can be confiscated by customs.
Further down the list of sanctioned luxury goods, there is also a subsection of luxury goods called "(20)Works of art, collectors' pieces and antiques" covering the entire tariff number class starting with 97…, which includes
- 97053100 Coin collections and collectors coins older than 100 years
- 97053900 Coin collections and collectors coins (without the ones older than 100 years)
So basically all of them.
(Gold coins fall under precios metal and are also banned from import / export)
In conclusion, if you live in the EU and are planning to swap any coins or banknotes with someone in russia, be aware that it is currently illegal independent from amount or value of the coins / banknotes and can result in anything from a fine to a prison sentence up to five years for undermining the sanctions, if found out by the authorities.
(Similar sanctions apply for residents in UK, Switzerland and other European countries). Not sure about the US, but usually the sanctions are pretty similar there.
Just wanted to let you know, in case you haven't heard already.
