Point of law: whether customs office was right in suspending the importation of goods with a trade mark registered in the customs database of IP rights, provided that the first sale of such goods has already taken place in another country?

Alternative attitudes: 1) since the customs office failed to submit any proofs of prohibition by the right-holder against the importation of disputed good into other countries, including Russia, to indicate why the importation was illegal, and to single out the traces of violation of IP rights, the suspension of the import of goods was unlawful (the view of lower courts); or 2) para 1 of Art 331 of the Customs Code of the Customs Union provides for the possibility of such suspension whenever customs office finds traces of violation of IP rights, and if in the final analysis such violation remains unproved, it does not entail the illegality of the suspension of import (the view of the panel of judges of the Supreme Commercial Court).

Ratio decidendi: in the opinion of the Presidium, the second view is legally correct.

Practical consequences: the Judgment does not provide for the possibility to reverse inconsistent court decisions in prior analogous cases by virtue of Art 311 of the Commercial Procedure Code. Therefore, its ratio decidendi has only prospective force.