Ekaterina Maksimova

Partner, Head of Customs Practice, Mediator

Tel: +7 (495) 151 88 87

E-mail: maksimova@bestadvicelaw.com

Biography

Ekaterina specialises in customs law from 1992. She has extensive experience of legal support of international trade transactions; preparing and due diligence of documents concerning foreign trade activities; consulting declarants on matters of choice of customs procedure, product classification, including receiving of classification permits from customs services of Russian Federation, confirmation of the declared customs value, and also provides assistance in preparing documents for inclusion in the registers of owners of warehouses for temporary freight storage, customs representatives, authorized economic operators and other persons engaged in customs affairs.

Ekaterina deals with appealing decisions and acts of customs services in the state commercial courts as well as in out of court procedure. She defends clients in state commercial courts and in international arbitration centres, particularly under the rules of the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.

Ekaterina represents the Russian and foreign companies before the Russian commercial courts of Moscow area in proceedings concerning illegal imposition on declarants of liability for administrative offences; illegal collection of funds due to wrong classification of goods, adjustment of customs value; as well as illegal exclusion from the register of owners of temporary storage warehouses; illegal refusals to include authorized economic operators in the register.

Competences

Legal support for foreign economic transactions, due diligence of customs documents, consultations on customs law issues (choice of customs procedure, classification of goods, confirmation of customs value, etc.), inclusion in the registers of persons engaged in business related to customs activities;
Defense of the participants in the foreign economic activity before government bodies and commercial organizations in out of court procedure, the judicial bodies of the Russian Federation;
Representation of interests in international commercial arbitrations of various jurisdictions, recognising and enforcing both foreign courts’ decisions and awards in Russia and Russian courts’ decisions and awards in European countries;
Alternative dispute resolution, mediation.

Experience

Support of large projects on the processing of goods in the customs territory, on the import of goods as a contribution to the authorized capital, on obtaining classification decisions on multicomponent goods for large Russian enterprises (precast concrete plants, plants of the energy and metallurgical complexes);
Drawing up foreign trade agreements taking into account the interests of clients and in accordance with the requirements of international law, the legislation of the EAEU and the Russian Federation, as well as other documents required for export / import operations;
Legal support for confirmation of the customs value of goods at the transaction price, preparation of responses to requests from customs authorities, appeals on the acts of customs authorities regarding illegal adjustment of customs value;
Preparation of documents necessary for obtaining a preliminary classification decision, including a classification decision concerning the import of multicomponent goods delivered unassembled or disassembled;
Preparation of documents for obtaining permissions for the processing of goods;
Preparation of documents on the return of excessively paid funds to the accounts of customs bodies, complaints about customs officers to a higher customs authority;
Defensing the clients in the cases of imposing liability for administrative offences;
Preparation of documents for inclusion in the register of persons engaged in business related to customs activities, including obtaining bank guarantees or sureties, insurance policies;
Development of a concept for the protection of declarants in disputes with customs authorities.

Professional Activity

Since March 2016: Partner at Moscow bar association “AKP Best Advice”.
From 2009 to 2015: Head of Customs Department of Investment and Legal Company “Best Advice”.
Since 1992: has held leadership positions in companies related to customs clearance, such as the customs broker Quota Company and other customs representatives.
Ekaterina participated in conferences, round tables, seminars of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Moscow on customs legislation, forums of Authorized Economic Operators, and other industry events multiple times.
She participated in the work of the State Duma Committee on Transport on the implementation of the roadmap "Improving Customs Administration", in the work of the Eurasian Business Council to promote the development of trade and economic cooperation.