EU Court Greenlights Seizure of Cars Bought in Russia

By Staff, Agencies

The EU Court of Justice ruled this week that member states can confiscate private vehicles imported from Russia under the bloc’s blanket import ban tied to the Ukraine conflict.

The ruling stemmed from a case involving Russian citizen JG, whose €50,000 car, bought in Russia and driven to Germany via Poland in 2023, was seized by German customs after he declared it.

JG argued the ban should apply only if his car generated significant revenue for Russia, which he said it did not, and that it should be exempt since it was already in the EU before the December 19, 2023 cutoff, making the seizure invalid.

The court rejected both of JG’s arguments, ruling that the import ban applies automatically to listed goods without proving they benefit Russia, and that his car’s presence in the EU was illegal since it was imported in violation of the ban, so no exemptions applied.

The EU’s import ban, part of sanctions since February 2022, bars vehicles with Russian plates—private or commercial—citing that their import funds Moscow.

Members of the European Parliament [MEPs] passed a resolution later that November, calling such seizures “overkill” and asking the Commission for a review. However, the measures remain in effect.

When the ban was enforced in 2023, Russian officials condemned it as “absurd,” claiming it created legal uncertainty and discriminated against Russian nationals, with interim customs chief Ruslan Davydov calling the confiscations “utter nonsense” and “total lawlessness.”