The Ministry of Finance invites to join the elaboration of the detailed implementation plan for the Concept of the Reform of the SFS Customs Division

Yesterday, Yuriy Draganchuk, the advisor to the Minister of Finance, attended the round table “Transfer of Goods through the Border from Business and Government Perspective”. The meeting was also attended by the members of the Parliament Committee for tax and customs policy, experts of the Institute for Economic Research and Political Consultations, representatives of CASE Ukraine, representatives of Ukrainian business associations and media. The topic of the discussion referred to the key areas of the customs reform elaborated by the Ministry of Finance as a part of the complex reform of the customs service in Ukraine.

What’s it about?

In the end of March the Government approved the Concept of the Reform of the State Fiscal Service including its customs division. The Concept had been prepared by the Ministry of Finance based on IMF recommendations, EU customs standards and recommendations of the US customs authority. Also, the Government approved the new structure of the customs office as the first stage of the Concept implementation which includes functional centralization.

The Concept of the customs reform covers approximately 20 points including organizational structure, management principles; improvement of the human resources policy, infrastructure, control procedures (risks and balanced control at the border and within the country) and, of course, support of trade and security of supply chains.

During the round table representatives of business and experts shared their recommendations regarding the implementation of the Concept, removal of obstacles to business and support of trade in Ukraine. To implement these recommendations, approaches must be put in place aimed to reduce time consumption, costs and the list of documents for customs control and clearance. The only way to make it happen is a true partnership between business and customs authorities.

“It is important for us to hear problems which are acute for business. It is only by applying our joint efforts that we will be able to overcome barriers in foreign trade activities and to improve our systemic steps aimed to simplify trading procedures”, advisor to the Minister of Finance Yuriy Draganchuck pointed out.

What comes next?

To implement the Concept of the customs reform, a detailed implementation plan shall be developed stipulating concrete timeframes, responsible bodies as well as concrete legal norms which shall be developed or amended to achieve the set targets.

Such a plan will be developed by the Ministry of Finance as a body in charge for determining the customs policy. To ensure a proper balance between public and business interests, the Ministry of Finance is planning to develop this detailed plan jointly with all interested parties including MPs, experts, representatives of business and other parties.

The first working meeting on the preparation of the detailed implementation plan for the Customs Reform Concept has already been scheduled for Tuesday, April 25, at 17:00 at the Ministry of Finance. The address of the meeting is Kyiv, 11 Mezhygirska str.

The Ministry of Finance invites representatives of business, experts, MPs and the public to participate in the professional discussion on the customs reform implementation. Please send your proposals regarding the implementation of the Customs Reform Concept to customs.minfin@gmail.com.
Registration of participants: https://goo.gl/forms/Ei6OsmRXZ4FfL4jW2