Ministry of Finance: 80% of companies use the “single-stop” customs clearance procedure

On February 1, 2018, the new “single-stop” information exchange procedure was launched at the customs in Ukraine.

Prior to that, on January 31, the Government followed proposals from business and independent experts and decided to improve the procedure taking into account the practical experience in the application of the “single-stop” mechanism.

One of the improvements is a differentiated approach regarding the mandatory use of the “single-stop” procedure given the specifics of transport operations.

It means that on February 1 the voluntary use of the “single-stop” procedure was prolonged by 1 year for the following cases:

• Transport of transit shipments;

• Export from Ukraine using sea, railroad and air transport;

• Import of goods to Ukraine in mail or international express shipments;

• Declaring goods at new customs clearance points where the “single-stop” procedure has been in use for less than 90 days.

Also, a risk-oriented approach was implemented for the selection of goods for the phytosanitary control of their wooden packages and pallets:

• for export shipments – control of the markings on wooden package material shall be conducted by customs officers instead of the employees of the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection. This control is only allowed in cases when goods are subject to the customs examination;

• for import shipments – subject to examination (inspection) by the employees of the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection are 10%, 25%, 50% or 100% of shipments transported with wooden package material depending on the risk level assigned to the respective exporting country.

According to the information of the State Fiscal Service, most of these innovations have already been implemented. Improvements of the IT capacities for the implementation of selective phytosanitary control are expected to be finalized by the end of this month.

It is also important that the Cabinet of Ministers followed the proposal of the Ministry of Finance to take into account numerous complaints from business regarding the uncoordinated working schedule of different state agencies and instructed the relevant authorities to ensure the respective types of state control in line with the working schedule of the fiscal authorities taking into account their personnel and material capacities.

Based on the analysis of the operation of the “single-stop” procedure in the period from February 1 to 25, 2018, it can be said that this system is becoming the main way of communication between business and controlling authorities. It is important to note that this communication takes place through electronic systems enabling business to avoid direct contact with the authorities.

So far, approximately 80% of customs declarations have been cleared under the “single-stop” procedure only (more than 81,000 customs declarations). The share of import customs declarations cleared under the “single-stop” procedure is equal to 73.6% (+6.8% - share of control operations conducted both under the “single-stop” procedure and using paperwork). The share of export customs declarations cleared under the “single-stop” procedure is equal to 86.6% (+1%).

The Ministry of Finance permanently controls the operation of this automated information exchange system and has implemented the monthly monitoring of the “single-stop” procedure at the controlling authorities.

Also, workshops have been implemented at the regional level to study problem issues in the application of the “single-stop” procedure.

At the same time, the Ministry of Finance permanently extends opportunities for business to use this simplified customs clearance procedure.

One of these steps is the new order of the Ministry of Finance of February 19, 2018, extending the list of control points equipped with gates for radiologic control.

According to this order, 14 new control points were added to the list of border control points equipped for the automated control of radioactive and nuclear materials: Vystupovychi – Slovechno, Hoptivka – Nekhoteevka, Pletenivka – Shebekino, Kharkiv airport, Yunakivka – Sudzha, Bachivsk – Troebortne, Maydan-Kopyschansky – Glushkevychi, Pischa – Oltush, Pulemets – Tomashivka, Dolsk – Mokhro, Vylok – Tisabech, Solotvyno – Sigetu Marmaziey, Uzhgorod – Vyshne Nemetske, Dzvinkove, Kosyno.