European and Ukrainian Customs Should Work under Joint Rules

Representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the State Customs Service, international partners, business, and public stakeholders discussed the introduction of modern customs procedures following the European practice at the round table.

"Ukraine is moving in the way, which is determined by the Constitution of Ukraine - European integration. The EU is our largest trade partner, and therefore it is important to approximate and implement the best European practices to work according to joint rules.

By the Agreement on Association with the EU, Ukraine introduces several European practices, including customs, which, following the principle of Building Bricks, consist of compatible components and form a single system.

We completed a large stratum of legislative changes to implement the AEO program, the application of the NCTS, the new rules for the protection of intellectual property rights, which were introduced with the support of the Reform Support Teams of the Ministry of Finance and the State Customs Service, as well as the EU4PFM project. Now both customs and businesses need to implement them. We need training, education, promotion so that all participants in the process not only had the rights but also knew how to use them", - said the director of the Customs Policy Department in the Ministry of Finance Oleksandr Moskalenko.

Also, he outlined the process of reforming the Ukrainian customs and spoke about the latest tools, implemented to simplify and achieve maximum transparency in customs procedures.

"Acceleration of customs clearance must be achieved through an efficiently built system, not through command-and-control management methods. According to EU data, more than 80% of transactions are moved using all sorts of simplifications. Those simplifications were implemented in the 90s, and it was difficult and slow, and now it is evolved into a comprehensive system of joint components. We are moving towards a partnership between business and customs, which should be based on such components", - said Oleksandr Moskalenko.