Hi, firstly please remove this post if deemed inappropriate. I’m conscious that the importation of gold (including jewellery) from Russia is on the list of EU sanctions against Russia, in response to that country’s war against Ukraine. I don’t purport to be an expert on different jurisdictions sanctions against Russia but I doubt the EU alone has this specific sanction against the importation of gold. My question is should members based in Russia be permitted to offer gold in jewellery for sale on OF or does the Forum have a responsibility to remove such sales posts. Again, please remove this post if contrary to OF rules as I’m not trying to “rock the boat” - I just believe in the adherence to international sanctions to support the victims in this conflict. Extract of EU sanctions below:
Its not at the top of our priority list as it would be fairly unlikely that the Russian war machine is being financed in any meaningful way by the sale of watches on this site. We also are not responsible for, or party to the deals conducted by members on the site. We also don’t strictly care about EU regulations in general, particularly the really stupid ones like that pop-up that asks you to accept cookies on every website you see they ruined the internet with.
Just to clarify, import and export are two different things. In the United States there is a current restriction on sending luxury goods to Russia without a license (and presumption of denial for said license). So you would need an export license to ship an Omega watch from New York to Russia even though Omega’s aren’t made in the US. There are also restrictions on sending many other “luxury items” like cigarettes, clothing, and whiskey. Import restrictions on items from Russia to the US are targeted at items that make the government and economy money like diamonds, vodka, oil, etc. Regulations in both the EU and the US are frequently changing so buyer/seller beware. This is sort of a long way of saying that under current regulations I don’t see any violation in somebody in the US buying an old chronograph from somebody in Russia.
I suppose it’s an individual responsibility to be familiar with your own jurisdiction’s sanctions. As it stands the importation of a gold watch from Russia to the EU is not permitted. Either way this is probably a mute point as I believe western countries have suspended the transfer of money (e.g. any payments) to Russia.