The Ministry of Finance has corrected the application of the “one-stop” clearance procedure at the customs

The Ministry of Finance has corrected the application of the “one-stop” clearance procedure at the customs Taking into account the practical experience in the operation of the automated information exchange system based on the “one-stop” principle as well as following the proposals of business and independent experts, the Ministry of Finance prepared and the Government adopted – on January 31 – an order aimed to improve the application of the “one-stop” clearance procedure at the customs.

What’s it about?

To prevent possible discrepancies before the launch of the mandatory “one-stop” clearance procedure on February 1, 2018, the Ministry of Finance organized a number of meetings in December and January involving representatives of the SFS, State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, State Ecology Inspection, business associations, experts as well as all customs offices and local offices of state control authorities. All state bodies expressed their overall readiness to apply the mandatory “one-stop” clearance procedure.

At the same time, in the course of the thorough monitoring the Ministry of Finance detected a number of problems which could impede the customs clearance process in case if the “one-stop” procedure is applied. This especially concerns modes of transport other than ground transport (water, railway and air transport) as well as clearance of mail and express consignments.

Based on that, the Ministry of Finance prepared a draft decree of the Cabinet of Ministries implementing a differentiated approach in applying the “one-stop” procedure taking into account the specifics of different transport modes.

This decision was agreed with the controlling authorities - State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, State Ecology Inspection.

The draft decree of the Cabinet of Ministers stipulates that for one more year the “one-stop” procedure can be applied voluntarily in the following cases:
• transit;
• export from Ukraine using sea, railway and air transport;
• import of mail and express consignments.

Also, a transition period of 90 days is implemented for the voluntary application of the «one-stop” system at all customs clearance points where the system is deployed.

Another important innovation is the risk-oriented approach in selecting objects for phytosanitary control (natural wooden packaging material and pallets):

• export – the customs will be responsible for the inspection of the pallet marking only in the case when the respective shipment is subject to customs examination;
• import – subject to inspection will be 10%, 25%, 50% or 100% of shipments depending on the risk level assigned to the respective origin country.

The draft decree prepared by the Ministry of Finance also stipulates that medical products (including for diagnostics), active medical products to be used as implants, auxiliary products which passed the assessment for conformity with technical regulations, as well as pesticides and chemical products for agriculture registered in Ukraine shall be included in the list of goods which are not subject to sanitary and epidemiological control (including preliminary documentary control).

What’s the benefit?

• Faster interaction between companies and state bodies involved in customs, sanitary and epidemiological, veterinary, phytosanitary, ecological, radiological and other kinds of control; 
• Simplified export and import procedures;
• Minimized corruption risks due to automated procedures.