Official Conclusions on The Possibility of Ukraine's Accession to The Convention on a Common Transit Procedure are expected in July - DG TAXUD

The final assessment mission of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD) completed a study to examine Ukraine's readiness to accede to the Convention on the Common Transit Procedure and the Convention on the Simplification of Formalities in Trade in Goods and to apply the NCTS* at the international level.

"European integration remains one of the main activities of the Ministry of Finance, including the introduction of European customs practices. At the national level, Ukraine has been applying the common transit procedure since November 2020. Even in the conditions of martial law due to the armed aggression of russia, all necessary steps have been taken to join the system of international application of the common transit procedure and NCTS. Therefore, we have reason to hope for the positive conclusions of the mission", said Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine for European Integration Yuriy Draganchuk.

Official conclusions on the possibility of inviting Ukraine to accede to the Convention on a Common Transit Procedure are expected in July 2022. After accession, Ukrainian businesses will be able to have the benefits and simplifications of common transit enjoyed by enterprises in the European region in 35 countries of the Convention. In addition, moving goods in common transit will provide the possibility to work on the principle of "one vehicle - one declaration - one financial guarantee".

"The monitoring mission acknowledged the progress made by Ukraine in preparing for the accession to the Convention on a Common Transit Procedure despite the ongoing war. We welcome the achievements in the implementation of the new transit system on a national scale, technical readiness to start the international application of the NCTS, implementation of IT processes for the common transit system and the commencement of the implementation of the NCTS Phase 5. The latter provides confidence that, notwithstanding the hostilities, Ukraine can fulfill the requirements for the transition to the NCTS Phase 5 synchronously with all countries of the Convention. The mission concludes that the country is ready to access the Convention and it will recommend to the Technical Committee of the Convention to grant Ukraine the membership status", said Michael Rathje, Head of the Transit Sector / TIR, Customs Policy Unit, DG TAXUD.

The mission worked online on June 23-24. It included representatives of DG TAXUD and three countries party to the Convention on the Common Transit Procedure (Croatia, Turkey and the United Kingdom), who also participated in the previous evaluation mission, which assessed Ukraine's apparent progress over six months.

Representatives of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the State Customs Service, the Office for Reform Support under the Ministry of Finance, the National Bank of Ukraine, experts from the EU Public Finance Management Support Program (EU4PFM), business representatives and guarantors took part in the mission program.

"Both the assistance of international partners in preparing the system and organizing the process of supporting common transit, and the fact of conducting an assessment mission at this time, during hostilities, is important for us. This gives confidence that, despite the war, our partners are serious about Ukraine's intentions to join the European transit procedure", said Deputy Head of the State Customs Service Vladyslav Suvorov.

The previous assessment mission, which took place in November last year, confirmed Ukraine's full technical readiness to accede to the Convention.