Unique amber formations are considered precious. Some problems of qualification of illegal trafficking of natural precious stones. Links to the definition of the concept “Unique amber formations”

A.G. IVANOV, applicant of the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology of the Far Eastern Yuiy Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, head of the department of the operational-search part of the Directorate for Combating Economic Crimes of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Khabarovsk Territory The article is devoted to current problems of criminal legal protection precious stones from criminal attacks. An analysis is provided legislative norms regulating the circulation of these values; The imperfection of a number of norms is especially noted. To summarize, the author points out the need for the legislator to make adjustments to regulatory documents.

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A.G. IVANOV,

applicant for the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology of the Far Eastern Yuiy Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, head of the department of the operational investigative part of the Directorate for Combating Economic Crimes of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Khabarovsk Territory

The article is devoted to current problems of criminal law protection of precious stones from criminal attacks. An analysis of the legislative norms regulating the circulation of these values ​​is provided; The imperfection of a number of norms is especially noted. To summarize, the author points out the need for the legislator to make adjustments to regulatory documents.

Key words: gemstone, amber formations, subject of crime, jewelry, illegal trafficking of precious stones, certificate, cut gemstone.

This clause have actual problems criminally a-right protection of precious stones from criminal encroachments. Also this clause including analysis of the legislative’s norms, which regulating a circulation of these values, where giving the emphasis on imperfection of this norms. Summing up the author specifics necessity of entering by the legislator of updating in the normative documents.

Keywords: precious stone, amber formations, subject of crime, jewel, illegal circulation of precious stones, the certificate, cut precious stone.

Strategic importance of the market precious metals and precious stones for Russia, the world's largest producer of platinum and platinum group metals, gold, diamonds, emeralds, alexandrites, is determined by the stable (in the long term) receipt of taxes from this export-oriented sector of the economy to the budget revenues, as well as the replenishment of gold and foreign exchange reserves Russian Federation- Gold Reserve, State Fund of Precious Metals and Precious Stones, Diamond Fund.

Considering the enormous economic importance of precious stones, it seems that the state must ensure adequate protection of the values ​​in question, and above all at the legal level. However, changes in economic and currency relations in the country have led to the fact that the norms of criminal law providing for punishment for violating the circulation of these values ​​have ceased to be effective in protecting them from criminal attacks. The existence in the legislation regulating the circulation of precious stones, a large number of reservations and contradictions, the inconsistency of the terms used in regulatory documents, once again emphasizes the lack of a well-functioning regulatory framework on which criminal law norms that protect these values ​​from criminal attacks should be based.

Provisions of Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation establishes that, along with precious metals, natural precious stones are the subject of this crime.

Federal Law No. 41-FZ of March 26, 1998 “On Precious Metals and Precious Stones” (hereinafter referred to as the Law on Precious Metals) defines the list of stones that belong to the category of precious: natural diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires and alexandrites, as well as natural pearls in raw (natural) and processed form.

In accordance with the Law on Precious Metals, unique amber formations are considered precious stones. The Government of the Russian Federation, in Resolution No. 8 dated January 5, 1999 “On approval of the Procedure for classifying unique amber formations as precious stones,” determined that the main criteria for classifying unique amber formations as precious stones are:

Weight - over 1000 g;

The form is varied, fantasy, associated with the conditions of intra-stem formation of amber;

Integrity - relatively monolithic in structure (at least 80%), not containing through holes or visual cracks that threaten the integrity of the sample;

Inclusions - transparent samples with well-preserved inclusions of flora and fauna measuring more than 10 mm;

Color - a variety of colors inherent in amber.

Mining organizations independently select and present unique amber formations to the expert commission of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation in accordance with the specified criteria for their evaluation and classification as precious stones.

After the assessment, the expert commission makes a decision on recognition or non-recognition of the presented amber formations as precious stones. If amber formations are classified as precious stones, the following documents are drawn up on them in the manner established by the commission: a description of the unique amber formation; protocol on classifying unique amber formations as precious stones and on their evaluation; certification act.

From the above provisions of the legislation it follows that amber formations can be considered as precious stones only after an expert assessment and in the presence of the mentioned documents. If such documents are available, it makes no sense to talk about the illegality of the circulation of the valuables in question, and accordingly, any operations with documented amber formations will be legal.

In the absence of the specified documents for amber formations, it cannot be concluded that they are classified as precious stones and are subject to the rules established by the Law on Precious Metals, therefore it cannot be stated that there is a crime under Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Consequently, amber formations can theoretically be considered as the subject of a crime under Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, but in practice it is difficult to classify transactions with amber formations as illegal trafficking in precious stones. Nevertheless, Resolution No. 8 dated January 05, 1999 stipulates that operations with unique amber formations classified as precious stones, their accounting, storage, transportation, and reporting are carried out in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Now let’s look at how the circulation of precious stones mined from the subsoil and not cut is regulated at the legislative level.

According to paragraph 1 of Art. 4 of the Law on Precious Metals, the right to mine precious stones is granted exclusively to organizations that have received special permits (licenses). Precious stones extracted from the subsoil are the property of the subjects of their extraction (clause 4 of article 2). Mined or recovered precious stones in sorted form, when sold by subjects of their mining and production, are offered as a priority to:

1) a specially authorized federal executive body to replenish the State Fund of Precious Metals and Precious Stones of the Russian Federation;

2) authorized executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, in whose territories these precious metals and precious stones were mined, to replenish the corresponding state funds of precious metals and precious stones of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation (clause 5 of Article 2).

Unique precious stones are offered at a negotiated price by the subjects of their extraction for purchase, as a priority, to a specially authorized federal executive body, and then to the authorized executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, in the territories of which these nuggets and precious stones were mined (clause 4 of article 20) .

The Law on Precious Metals establishes that precious stones are recorded on the balance sheet of their owners and enter into civil circulation in accordance with the rights of the owners established by this law and contracts (clause 3 of Article 20). Precious stones not sold as a priority to the specified buyers can be sold by the subjects of their mining and production to any legal entities and individuals (Clause 5 of Article 20).

Based on the above standards, we can conclude that unprocessed precious stones can be in civil circulation among individuals. What kind of state control over the circulation of the valuables in question can we talk about and how, in this case, to apply the provisions of Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation? In this situation, it seems correct to be guided by the provisions of paragraph 2 of Art. 20 of the Law on Precious Metals, which states that “precious stones are subject to mandatory accounting by weight and quality during extraction, production, use and circulation.”

Then, in the absence of appropriate accounting documents for precious stones, it can be argued that these values ​​are in circulation (storage, transaction, transportation, forwarding) in violation of the rules established by the legislation of the Russian Federation, and it is necessary to qualify these acts as a crime under Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Thus, on December 6, 2005, the Yakut City Court of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) found citizen P. guilty of committing a crime under Part 2 of Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which resulted in the illegal storage of natural diamonds. Citizen P. kept in a cache, equipped at the place of his temporary residence, stolen crystals of rough diamonds in the amount of 160 pieces with a total weight of 177.8 carats with a total value of 74,732.95 US dollars (2,119,172.4 rubles). Citizen P. could not provide any accounting documents for these precious stones.

As mentioned above, with a grammatical interpretation of the provisions of the Law on Precious Metals, it is allowed for individuals to own unprocessed natural precious stones, which cannot be said about native precious metal, which, in accordance with the Law on Precious Metals, must only be supplied for refining to enterprises specified by law. This lack of regulation causes certain difficulties at the stage of qualifying the crime under Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, in particular a clear definition of the subject of the criminal offense.

The Law on Precious Metals has a different approach to the circulation of precious stones that are unsuitable for making jewelry, classifying them as products for industrial and technical purposes and establishing free circulation for this category of values ​​without any restrictions provided for by this law (clause 3 of Article 22).

The main criteria for classifying precious stones (diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and alexandrites) as unsuitable for the manufacture of jewelry, established by the Government of the Russian Federation, are their size, weight, color and quality characteristics, as well as the economic feasibility of their processing at cutting industry enterprises.

The classification of precious stones as unsuitable for the manufacture of jewelry is carried out by organizations that carry out their primary classification, which are obliged to issue documents of the established form (passports or certificates) for these stones.

Then, in the absence of documents confirming that precious stones are classified as unsuitable for the manufacture of jewelry, and any other accounting documents, these values ​​must be considered as the subject of a criminal offense under Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The current legislation does not have a single regulatory legal act establishing clear rules for the circulation of precious stones on the territory of the Russian Federation. Therefore, when determining the legality of the circulation of these values, it is necessary to refer to a number of norms enshrined in various legal documents, which causes certain difficulties for the law enforcement officer.

One of such documents is the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated January 19, 1998 No. 55 “On approval of the Sales Rules individual species goods, a list of durable goods that are not subject to the buyer’s requirement to provide him free of charge for the period of repair or replacement of a similar product, and a list of non-food products of good quality that cannot be returned or exchanged for a similar product of a different size, shape, size, style, color or complete set”, where clause 61 establishes the rules for the sale of products made of precious metals and precious stones. These rules determine that the sale of cut diamonds made from natural diamonds and cut emeralds is carried out only if there is a certificate for each stone or set (batch) of stones sold. Cut natural gemstones must be individually packaged.

However, only cut diamonds and cut emeralds are subject to this regulation, and regulation of the turnover of other precious stones (rubies, sapphires and alexandrites) is not considered. Therefore, we have to turn to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 04/05/1999 No. 372 “On the certification of precious metals, precious stones and products made from them”, which determines that faceted precious stones are subject to certification in accordance with the All-Russian Product Classifier OK 005-93 if sold by physical persons in retail trade. The specified classifier determines that this product includes all types of inserts. The Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated June 18, 1999 No. 643 “On the procedure for testing and hallmarking products made of precious metals” stipulates that products made from precious metals and their alloys using various types artistic treatment, with or without inserts of precious, semi-precious, ornamental and colored stones, other materials of natural or artificial origin, used as various decorations. Accordingly, it can be argued that jewelry inserts include any cut precious stones.

Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that only certified precious stones are allowed for retail sale to individuals. Therefore, the sale of cut precious stones to individuals without a certificate for these precious stones should be regarded as a transaction with natural precious stones, carried out in violation of the rules established by the legislation of the Russian Federation. In this regard, such acts fall within the scope of the crime provided for in Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and uncertified precious stones are the subject of a crime.

Thus, on July 13, 2005, the Yakutsk City Court found him guilty of committing a crime under Part 1 of Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, citizen B., who, being an individual entrepreneur, carried out activities in the repair, production and sale of jewelry. As the director of a pawnshop, he entered into an illegal transaction related to natural precious stones - uncertified diamonds, in violation of the provisions of the Law on Precious Metals and clause 61 of the Rules for the sale of certain types of goods (approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of January 19, 1998 No. 55), according to which Sale of cut diamonds made from natural diamonds is carried out only if there is a certificate for each stone or set (batch) of stones sold. In violation of the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 04/05/1999 No. 372, establishing a list of types of precious stones subject to certification in the Russian Federation, according to which precious stones are subject to certification if sold to individuals in retail trade, namely for selfish reasons, he, realizing the illegality of his actions, nevertheless illegally sold these cut uncertified diamonds made from natural diamonds in the amount of 98 pieces with a total weight of 2.354 carats with a total cost of 783.99 US dollars (21,939 rubles 88 kopecks). The court imposed a fine in the amount of 110,000 rubles.

However, some legal scholars express a different position on the issue of classifying cut gemstones as the subject of a crime. So, M.V. Arzamastsev, K.V. Bessonov and K.V. Mikhailov believe that a certificate of a precious stone is just a guarantee of its quality for the buyer (similar to a sample of a product made of precious metal). Therefore, “the absence of a certificate in itself does not mean that the gemstone is not jewelry. Thus, cut gemstones should not be considered illegal, even if they are not included in any jewelry and do not have a certificate. At the same time, uncut stones, although they have undergone preliminary mechanical processing, cannot be classified as jewelry, and in the event of their illegal trafficking, the perpetrators are subject to criminal liability.”

The Ministry of Finance of Russia, in its letter dated 08/06/2003 No. 23-02-04/752 “On classifying products as jewelry”, determined that “cut stones are not finished products, but are used only as inserts (semi-finished products) in jewelry and are not subject to under the specified concept, they (cut stones, including diamonds) jewelry are not." Based on this, it is difficult to agree with the above position of the authors.

Practice also shows that cut gemstones without a certificate are recognized as the subject of illegal trafficking. Thus, on January 28, 2008, the Central District Court of Khabarovsk found citizen V. guilty of committing a crime under Part 1 of Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which resulted in a transaction with natural precious stones in violation of the rules established by law. Citizen V. deliberately made a transaction by selling 18 natural cut precious stones (three emeralds, three rubies, three sapphires, nine diamonds) without certificates with a total value of 333.2 US dollars (8895.24 rubles).

The above provisions of the law regulate only the sale of precious stones to individuals. The rules governing the sale of precious stones to legal entities, as well as their storage and transportation, are not enshrined in these regulatory legal acts. In this situation, the following solution is seen: given that the legislator does not classify cut precious stones as jewelry, their circulation must be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Precious Metals, in particular with the provisions of paragraph 2 of Art. 20, where it is determined that “precious stones are subject to mandatory accounting by weight and quality during extraction, production, use and circulation.” It seems that the legality of the presence in civil circulation of cut precious stones that are not related to scrap jewelry should be confirmed by the presence of a certificate for these stones, which mandatory must be issued upon legal purchase. IN this issue There is a nuance: at the legislative level, the procedure for classifying precious stones as scrap jewelry is not fixed, and therefore the distinction between this category of valuables when qualifying a crime under Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, causes certain difficulties. However, as expert practice shows, cut gemstones with traces of setting in the product are recognized as scrap jewelry and do not belong to the subject of illegal trafficking.

Summarizing all of the above and taking into account the provisions of the above regulatory legal acts, it can be argued that the main criterion for classifying precious stones as the subject of illegal trafficking is the absence of documents for recording these values ​​and a certificate, regardless of the presence or absence of a cut. However, it seems that this position of the legislator is not entirely successful, since it leads to the liberalization of the precious stones market and the weakening of state control over the circulation of valuables. Moreover, such legal uncertainty makes it difficult for law enforcement agencies to identify relevant economic crimes.

I would like to emphasize that in the previously effective Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated June 27, 1996 No. 759 “On approval of the Regulations on transactions with natural precious stones on the territory of the Russian Federation,” the procedure for the circulation of the valuables in question was clearly regulated. This regulatory act prohibited the sale of uncertified cut natural precious stones to individuals, prohibited transactions with raw unsorted natural precious stones, and did not allow the use of natural precious stones as a means of payment, as well as in payments for loans provided commercial banks legal entities and individual entrepreneurs who use natural gemstones in the production of their products. Thus, the possession of unprocessed and uncertified precious stones by individuals was not allowed, which brought some clarity to the qualification of acts under Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

As a result of the cancellation of this resolution, a certain gap was created in the legal relations associated with the circulation of precious stones, which causes difficulties for the law enforcement officer in attributing these values ​​to the subject of illegal trafficking.

We believe that in order to solve the stated legal problems and increase the effectiveness of the legal protection of precious stones, the Law on Precious Metals should be amended to limit the right of individuals to own raw and uncertified precious stones, as well as tighten the regime for transactions with these values. For the correct qualification of the crime provided for in Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, it is necessary to establish at the legislative level the criteria for classifying precious stones as scrap jewelry or household items.

Bibliography

1 See: Archive of the Yakut City Court. Case No. 1-2018-05.

2 See: Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of November 23, 1998 No. 1365 “On the criteria and procedure for classifying precious stones as unsuitable for making jewelry.”

3 See: Archive of the Yakut City Court.

4 Arzamastsev M.V., Bessonov K.V., Mikhailov K.V. Currency crimes (criminal legal characteristics of crimes against the established procedure for the circulation of currency values). - Chelyabinsk, 2003. P. 18.

5 See: Archive of the Central district court Khabarovsk. Case No. 1-353/08.

6 See Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation dated August 24, 2004 No. 433 “On amendments and invalidation of certain acts of the Government of the Russian Federation in connection with the Federal Law “On Currency Regulation and Currency Control.”

Precious stones are minerals (solid natural bodies, homogeneous in composition and properties, formed as a result of physical and chemical processes on the surface or in the depths of the Earth, mainly as a component of rocks), possessing beauty, durability and rarity.

There is enough in mineralogy a large number of Names of stones are classified as precious; there are various classifications of precious stones. For example, the famous Russian geologist prof. E.Ya. Kievlenko divided precious (jewelry) stones into 4 orders: the first order includes diamond, emerald, ruby ​​and blue sapphire; the second order includes alexandrite, orange, purple and green sapphire, black opal and noble jadeite; the third order includes spinel, fire opal, topaz, tourmaline; to the fourth - zircon, turquoise, amethyst, moon and sun stone and a number of other titles. All classifications of jewelry and ornamental stones classify several dozen types of minerals as precious stones.

At the same time, Article 2 Federal Law dated March 26, 1998 No. 41-FZ “On Precious Metals and Precious Stones” (hereinafter referred to as the Law) establishes that precious stones include natural diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires and alexandrites, natural pearls in raw (natural) and processed form and equates unique amber formations with them.

The procedure for classifying unique amber formations as precious stones is established by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of January 5, 1999 No. 8: these are samples weighing more than 1 kg, fancy shapes with inclusions of flora and fauna measuring more than 1 cm. The classification of unique amber formations as precious stones is carried out by an expert Commission on unique amber formations under the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. The corresponding Regulations were approved by Order No. 71 of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated March 31, 1999.

Meanwhile, classifying amber “with flies” as precious stones is called a “gemological misunderstanding.” And pearls are not a precious stone at all, since they are created by living organisms.. In general, it should be noted that neither science nor international practice generally recognizes a closed list of precious stones.

The fact is that all the colored stones listed in the Law are actually precious (have a high value) only in those cases when they have the appropriate quality. And only diamonds, even the lowest quality, are always precious. In foreign countries and international trade (for example, the International Trade Rules of the International Confederation for Jewelry Stones, Silver, Diamonds and Pearls, hereinafter referred to as the CIBJO Rules), there are more than a hundred names of stones that, under certain conditions, become precious. The Russian legislative decision entails the existence of stones of “non-jewelry quality, but of a precious denomination.”

In addition, when establishing a list of precious stones, the law does not indicate what is a sapphire, what is a ruby, etc. All terms and definitions are disclosed in technical regulation documents - old GOSTs and TUs (adopted in 1979 - 2002). These documents do not comply with the regulatory standards used in international trade, if only because there are no such standards (except for diamonds). The value of stones other than diamonds is defined differently by different schools formed within gemological institutes and trade organizations. Therefore, abroad, counterparties under a jewelry stone purchase and sale agreement are free to determine the subject of the transaction: whether it is corundum (an ordinary mineral) or its most advanced (precious) variety - ruby ​​(red corundum) or sapphire (blue, purple, orange or green) corundum). In Russia, the concept of precious stones is regulated normatively, and state regulation in this area is extremely unclear. For example, in the Precious Metals and Stones Act, precious stones include all sapphires that occur naturally different colors. However, TU 9645-001-45866412-01 “Natural processed sapphires (faceted inserts)” states that sapphire has Blue colour(possibly purple or green tint). The Law also states that both processed and untreated rubies are precious. But the technical conditions are adopted only for processed rubies.

In this regard, problems arise in law enforcement practice. Thus, a criminal case was initiated against a person who tried to sell raw corundum under the guise of a ruby ​​(with a fake gemological report). Experts have asked whether there is a crime in this case, and if so, what kind: fraud (but ruby ​​and corundum are one mineral, there are no “fake” rubies) or illegal trafficking in precious stones (but there is no definition of the concept of “raw ruby” ", so it is unclear whether the subject of the transaction that the accused intended to enter into is a precious stone or not).

It seems that the above problem is due to the fact that Russian legislation is based on the incorrect division of stones into precious and semi-precious, which was outdated back in the 19th century. A number of regulations contain the term “ semiprecious stones", while foreign and international rules strictly prohibit the use of this concept, since it misleads the consumer regarding the value of the stone.

A significant shortcoming of Russian legislation, leading to a violation of the rights of consumers of products made from precious stones, is the absence of such concepts as refined, synthetic, composite, reconstructed stones, and imitation stones. 98% of precious stones circulating in Russia are ennobled (that is, their color, clarity and other characteristics are improved through physical or chemical action). Many large stones are actually made up of several stones glued together (composite stones) or formed by melting or pressing (reconstructed stones). The consumer does not know about this when purchasing the product. At the same time, an imperative requirement of the legislation of foreign countries on precious stones and international trade rules is to inform the buyer about the types of influences to which the stone he is purchasing has been subjected.

The above indicates that the urgent need for the practice of trading precious stones is to change their legal definition. One of the ways to solve this problem could be a radical revision of the system of regulatory legal acts regulating the circulation of precious stones, in order to eliminate the rules regulating the circulation of all stones, with the exception of diamonds, since, as stated above, only diamonds are always precious.

At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen legal guarantees of consumer rights in the market for products with jewelry stones. To determine the stones belonging to the group of jewelry, it can be proposed to adopt a list of names of jewelry stones, similar to those existing in international and foreign practice.

Dmitry Shniger,
lawyer

See, for example: Smith G. Precious stones. M., 1984. S. 11 – 14.
See, for example: Kornilov N.I., Solodova Yu.P. Jewelry stones. M., 1986. S. 31 – 37.
NW RF. 1998. No. 13. Art. 1463.
NW RF. 1999. No. 2. Art. 310.
SPS "Consultant Plus".
Zboykov V. Colored precious stones in Russian legislation: politics and economics // Gems market. 2007. No. 2. P. 8.
See: Gadiyatov V.G., Gadiyatova M.V., Goncharova I.I. Commercial gemology. Voronezh, 2007. pp. 47 – 57.
In 2008, a new standard for diamonds was adopted (GOST R 52913-2008).
For example, the WTO standard on terminology and classification of diamonds TR 11211 dated December 15, 1995.
See: An ideal commentary on the absurdity of Russian industry legislation // Gems Market. 2007. No. 2. P. 12.
Zboykov V. Decree. op. P. 10.
For example, French Decree No. 2002-65 of January 14, 2002 “On trade in precious stones and pearls” (see: V. Zboykov. Search for a reasonable compromise of the interests of the consumer - manufacturer - supplier - state when building a civilized market for jewelry stones in Russia // Market Gems. 2008. No. 3. P. 12 – 14).
E.g. CIBJO Retail Jewelry Regulations; Guide to the refining of jewelry stones of the American Gemstone Trade Association [Electronic resource] / http://www.agta.org/gemstones/agta-gim.pdf (last visited 08/14/2010).

Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of January 5, 1999 N 8
"On approval of the Procedure for classifying unique amber formations as precious stones"

In accordance with Article 1 of the Federal Law "On Precious Metals and Precious Stones", the Government of the Russian Federation decides:

2. The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, within one month, approves the regulations on the expert commission on unique amber formations and the composition of this commission, including representatives of interested federal executive authorities, specialists from the Gokhran of Russia and the Kaliningrad Amber Plant.

Order
classification of unique amber formations as precious stones
(approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of January 5, 1999 N 8)

With changes and additions from:

1. This Procedure establishes the criteria for classifying unique amber formations as precious stones.

2. The main criteria for classifying unique amber formations as precious stones are:

weight - over 1000 grams;

form - varied, fantasy, associated with the conditions of intra-stem formation of amber;

integrity - relatively monolithic in structure (at least 80 percent), not containing through holes, visual cracks that threaten the integrity of the sample;

inclusions - transparent samples with well-preserved inclusions of flora and fauna measuring more than 10 mm;

color - a variety of colors inherent in amber.

3. The consideration of unique amber formations selected by mining organizations in accordance with the criteria provided for in paragraph 2 of this Procedure, and the classification of unique amber formations as precious stones is carried out by an expert commission formed by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. The decision of the expert commission is documented in a protocol.

5. Unique amber formations classified by the expert commission as precious stones, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, are offered as a priority to the organizations mining them to the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation to replenish the State Fund of Precious Metals and Precious Stones of the Russian Federation, authorized executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, on the territory of which these amber formations were mined, to replenish the corresponding state funds of precious metals and precious stones of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

6. Unique amber formations classified as precious stones and included in the State Fund of Precious Metals and Precious Stones of the Russian Federation, taking into account the physical and chemical properties of amber (over time, oxidation processes cause changes chemical composition, colors, increased fragility) must be stored in conditions that ensure the longest possible storage time in an unchanged condition, and be used primarily as display material for display in the Diamond Fund of the Russian Federation, at exhibitions and fairs.

7. Operations with unique amber formations classified as precious stones, their accounting, storage, transportation, and reporting are carried out in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

“Gems, like dreams, are colorful in themselves!” - said the poet. I wonder what stones he had in mind - after all, in Rus' any gem was called beautiful stone, both precious and simply ornamental. Currently, there is a strict classification of precious stones. These include:

The last two types of stones - pearls and amber - are of organic origin. They have low strength, are susceptible to aging and react with chemicals. Here you can recall the story of how Cleopatra bet with Mark Antony that she could drink wine worth 10 million sesterces at dinner. The amount at that time was simply huge. However, the cunning queen won the argument by removing a precious pearl from her ear and dissolving it in sour wine.

But other precious stones are truly durable, and, moreover, unusually hard. With proper care, they are practically eternal, but in the depths of the Earth there are less and less of them. Therefore, the cost of natural gemstones increases every year, and buying them is a good way to save money. Of course, this does not apply to synthetic diamonds and rubies.

Stones obtained artificially, for example, cubic zirconia, are not precious, which is reflected in their low cost. Nowadays you can find many rings with “sapphires” or “emeralds” in the windows of jewelry stores. If you ask sellers about their naturalness, you will not get an intelligible answer. Don’t rush to invest your money in them: if the price of a stone is in the hundreds rather than thousands of dollars, then it was probably obtained artificially.