Only one camera into Belarus?!!

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besk

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I am presently on my 6th trip to Belarus. But the following was a first for me.

This time after my bags went through the x-ray at the customs desk I was asked to open up my bags. Then asked how many cameras I had (four - two digital, and one Stylus plus my Mamiya Flattop plus film and accessories) and then to show them. The customs lady said that I could not bring more than one camera into the country. She even showed me a copy of the rules posted on the wall at the airport which, if posted on the Belarusian Embassy's website , I didn't see it.

I have always taken two or more cameras with me when traveling so this may cause some problems in the future. The customs officer said that "she would let me by this time" but left me wondering what to do in the future. I am assuming that I would have to pay some sort of customs tax but the officer would not answer my question.

Has anyone run into this problem before?
 
Not with that particular country but it has been reported elsewhere that there is an assumption that you are taking them in to sell and not only avoid tax but take foreign currency out of the country. Some places require to see certificates of purchase of all cameras and to inspect both cameras and paperwork on exit from the country. if they don't match, you're in trouble!
 
Hmmm... sounds strange, but I'm guessing it has to do something with import duties, meaning bringing in one camera it is assumed it's for your own use, 2 or more might mean you will sell it or leave it in the country for whatever reason. Sounds like the rules written by people who don't realise one might need two or more cameras for shooting (or like someone at the airport here, talking to me: "what's this, an antique camera..... oh wait, you have TWO antique cameras, why??").
Long time ago I traveled to Turkey where my (compact) video camera attracted a lot of attention at the customs. They made a note in my passport and then canceled that note when I was exiting the country with the camera still on me. Guess they were trying to make sure I didn't sell it without giving them a cut :)
 
It is indeed about selling the gear. My old passports have lists of gear in the back from when India had similar rules. You had to fill out a TBRE (Tourist Baggage Re-Export) form, which was cancelled when you left. Often, just listing the gear and having them stamp and sign the list is sufficient. I'm surprised anyone is still doing it today, though.

Cheers,

R.
 
You'd be surprised just how many similar regulations exist and are mostly ignored, only to bite you at the most inconvenient opportunity - some odd customs-exempt quantities have never been officially lifted and may still be measured by outdated standards and currency values. It is often smart to acquire a ATA carnet when travelling abroad with professional amounts of equipment.
 
Also to look out for are restrictions on how much film you can take into a country. I never have had a problem despite reading about laws on the books limiting importation of more than a certain number of rolls (Turkey - 20? Peru - 10?.) My memory is hazy as I just walked in and didn't have an issue with Customs.
 
KenR said:
Also to look out for are restrictions on how much film you can take into a country. I never have had a problem despite reading about laws on the books limiting importation of more than a certain number of rolls (Turkey - 20? Peru - 10?.) My memory is hazy as I just walked in and didn't have an issue with Customs.
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Funnily, when I traveled to Iran 1 months ago I had to explain to custom official what film was. He took one roll of HP5+ out of my bag and gave me the "what the hell is this?" look. I showed him the M6 and tried to gesture "it's for this", he looked at me "I still don't understand, but go right through, welcome to Iran" :)
edit: Actually when my bag went through the customs xray I saw a lot of commotion with people jumping up and running towards me, I immediately though "ah, must be the film" :)
 
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Last trip to Turkey it was "allowed" to bring in 5 rolls of film and one camera, no binoculars. But i guess if getting the paper work correct on immigration it is ok to have other amounts also.
 
I think this is a bit more prosaic. Since Bielarus is a dictatorship, they obviously want to limit te possibility that you will take a photo of something you are not supposed to. Secondarily, in my experience with the Soviet bloc customs, the less democratic and the poorer the country, the more PITA the customs officers are - they always want to put you in an uncomfortable situation hoping that you might try to reslove it by paying a bribe.
 
I am now back from Belarus. While there I was given a fifth camera (a Zenit-L SLR) So, when leaving I let my wife take my Olympus Stylus in her baggage so I would still be taking out four cameras.

I too believe that they are trying collect customs on imports. In the past I filled out a declaration when coming into the country and a similar on when leaving - but the procedure has changed evidently.

Anyway, on my next trip in 2013 I will again have at least three cameras with me and see what happens.

On another note - right after arriving --my wife and I went to a large market in Minsk where I took several pictures with my little digital P&S. A few days later, after a demonstration was supposed to be held there, they banned all cameras at that market. The authorities want no publicity of their efforts to ban demostrations.

I carried my digital P&S with me to the same market a few days after the "ban" was announced but kept it in its case on my belt with no problems.
 
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some countries see you bringing in a lot of photo equipment and it triggers another concern - they assume (and often rightly so) that you are going to be doing professional work in the country. so then they want to know who you are working for, what sort of work etc. sometimes it is a "security" concern but more often it has to do with work permits, making money in the country and not being a tourist, not paying taxes (working illegally). i have experienced everything in the above posts, plus this question i bring up now as well. Once I was hired to do a particular project by the gov't of a particular country - I was even met at the airport by a high ranking gov't official. But I still had to pay import duty on all but 6 rolls of film. Which of course the client (the very same gov't) reimbursed me for.
 
Belarus has never been in my top 150 countries to visit during my lifetime. So I am not worried about this.
 
filmfan said:
Yes, but I would never travel with more than one camera. I learned that 2 years ago.
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Why not? If its an important trip, I always take an identical back up so if it fails i can continue. The last thing I want is to pay for a trip half way around the world to take photos and to have to shoot blind on an untested camera from a local store in the middle of nowhere :O

If its not as important, or I am close to home, or I don't need two fim speeds available, I use one.

With 35mm RFs, its not a huge bother to slip a second body in somewhere just in case. I'm curious as to the lesson you learnt two years ago - what happened?
 
Hi,

They assume you might sell them and import duty and tax would be avoided. Check what it would be importing into your country for the cameras and see why they don't want you to avoid paying (and compare the amount with the average wage). Most countries are against tax avoidance, even mine...

Regards, David
 
filmfan said:
Yes, but I would never travel with more than one camera. I learned that 2 years ago.
Click to expand...

And next time you might learn differently if that one camera fails during your trip. Hey, I'm all for minimalistic equipment, but for an important trip I always bring a backup camera, even if just a P&S.
 
On Honeymoon I had 3 cameras :) My 1DIII for any photos for stock, a G10 for carrying everywhere and a D10 for in the sea.

On the other hand the last time I went to the UK I took in a Hasselblad 500cm and a Nikon F2 to sell as the prices were much higher there at that point...
 
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