New rules of processing of ships and cargoes in seaports came into force and got approval of the business community

Decrees adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on July 7, 2015 to improve deregulation services in seaports were published and entered in force on Friday, July 24. Minister of Infrastructure Andrii Pyvovarskii announced at a press briefing.

In particular, the aforesaid documents cancel commission control on board, introduce an automated radiological control of cargoes and e-document flow in ports, simplify a procedure of drawing up documentation for yachts. Apart from that, equal access to port infrastructure is provided for all port operators by introducing a unified tariff. A novelty, which was peculiarly approved by the European Business Association, pertains to the approaches to the assessment of ballast waters.

"These measures bring Ukrainian legislation to compliance with European norms and afford to prevent possible corruption. The European Business Association supports the introduced by the Ministry of Infrastructure deregulatory steps and offers to jointly initiate changes in customs procedures, namely, control over duration of customs procedures and cutting the number of documents submitted by the cargo carriers," noted coordinator of the EBA Logistics Committee Julia Malich.

"The changes called to simplify doing business in ports have been enacted due to the government efforts incredibly fast, despite a lot of populism. For business an economic effect from deregulation will bring billions of hryvnyas. The companies will save these funds, as they won't have to pay for the vessels to stand idle and to pay bribes in ports," said Andrii Pyvovarskii.

According to the Minister, his Ministry has taken all necessary measures to upgrade deregulation services in the ports. Now, it is the turn of the State Fiscal Service to implement an e-customs concept, develop a single approach to determine the customs value, to establish a single Treasury account etc.