"Ukrainian business and customs officials agree that Ukraine needs honest customs and trade facilitation" - the experts of the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting told at the round table "Customs work by the eyes of the public". At the event, the IER presented the new policy paper "Public monitoring of the work of customs authorities: conclusions and recommendations." (Ukrainain version / English version).
This work contains the results of public monitoring of the work of regional customs, which was held during June-September 2018 by 6 NGOs - winners of the grant competition "Dialogue for the Promotion of Trade": NGO "Agency for International Cooperation" (Lutsk); NGO "Association of Regional Mass Media" (Chernihiv); NGO "Vinnytsia Regional Organization" Union of Entrepreneurs "The Wall" (Vinnytsya); NGO "Public Movement" New Economic Policy "(Khmelnytsky); NGO "Luhansk Oblast Community Development and Regional Development Agency" Slobozhanshchina "(Luhansk), Center for Strategic Development and Reforms (Ternopil). Thanks to the grant funded by the EU and the International Renaissance Foundation, these organizations interviewed the representatives of customs authorities, business associations, brokers and foreign economic operators in their regions.
On the basis of this monitoring, as well as the national survey of exporters and importers, which IER conducted earlier, the Institute's experts Andriy Butin and Irina Fedets have formulated 13 recommendations that will improve customs performance and promote international trade.
1. Further improvement of customs clearance with the ‘one stop shop’ mechanism subject to suggestions expressed by users of the system.
2. Expansion of use of different scanning systems that would allow the inspection of goods without
mandatorily unloading them
3. Introduction of the authorized economic operator institute
4. Development of, and compliance with, clearly formulated and transparent customs costing procedures.
5. Providing public access to depersonalized customs database on exports and imports.
6. Providing clear procedures for assigning UCGFT codes.
7. Stepping up measures to ensure exchange of information about customs value of goods in export and import operations between Ukrainian customs authorities and authorized bodies of exporting countries.
8. Customs reform that would provide for, among other things, increased salaries for customs staff;
implementation of measures aiming to improve the value of the customs job status; introduction of
personal liability for customs officers for their illegal acts; strengthening public control over the activities of customs authorities; the introduction of new technologies at the customs, etc.
9. Introduction of effective post-customs audit procedures and mechanisms
10. Establishment of special units responsible for handling complaints at the customs.
11. Enhancement of operation of the Customs Register of Intellectual Property Rights
12. Updating software and infrastructure of customs authorities and related services while providing adequate communication channel capacity to ensure effective customs clearance.
13. If the automated customs clearance system does not provide for compulsory performance of customs formalities by a customs officer, a decision regarding the performance of such formalities should be made automatically.
