Ukraine Received a High Rating from the European Commission on the Implementation of EU Requirements in the Field of Customs

The European Commission has praised the results of Ukraine's approximation to the Customs Union. This is stated in the European Commission's Report on Ukraine's application for membership in the European Union.

"Ukraine has made significant progress in performing its European integration obligations in the field of customs, as evidenced by the high assessment of the European Commission. This is the result of consolidated multi-level work of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the State Customs Service in cooperation with international partners to bring Ukrainian customs legislation in line with EU legislation, join the Common Transit System and NCTS. Our next tasks are to fully implement the provisions of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement in the customs area, prepare a new Customs Code of Ukraine that will fully comply with the EU Customs Code, implement IT solutions based on MASP-C, improve the administration of customs payments, increase the effectiveness of combating customs offenses, criminalize smuggling of goods, and build a modern customs system that can respond to the challenges of today," - said Deputy Minister of Finance for European Integration Yuriy Draganchuk.

The European Commission praised Ukraine's readiness to implement Section 29: Customs Union - level 4 out of 5 (level 5 currently includes a single measure on the provision of digital services to the public).

"The intensification of work towards the European integration has allowed us to introduce a "customs visa waiver", update legislative regulation, and approve important Government decisions to further synchronize the work of Ukrainian and European customs. Implementation of customs standards and practices in line with EU standards is a strategic direction of the Ukrainian customs, which will ensure the ability to perform the obligations of EU membership," said Vladyslav Suvorov, Deputy Head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine.

The European Commission's Report notes the following major achievements of Ukraine in the customs sphere:

• became a member of the Convention on a Common Transit Procedure and the Convention on the Simplification of Formalities in Trade in Goods on October 1, 2022;

• connected to the EU's Common Customs Information System (CCN) and uses the New Computerized Transit System (NCTS); 

• performed about 80% of its customs obligations under the Association Agreement with the EU, including in the key areas of transit, simplification, guarantee and intellectual property rights;

• a national AEO program is in place;

• Ukraine is a contracting party to the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention on Rules of Origin;

• legislation on the control of cultural property has been harmonized with EU rules.

Further steps to be taken by Ukraine in accordance with the European Commission's Report are the following:

• Increasing the use of the AEO program for successful assessment and mutual recognition with the EU AEO program;

• final harmonization of the customs legislation of Ukraine with the EU legislation (it is necessary to bring about 20% of the legal framework in the customs sphere in line with the EU rules and harmonize the Customs Code of Ukraine with the EU Customs Code);

• development and improvement of customs IT systems is a priority for the coming years;

• improvement of current procedures and working methods in some operational areas to improve the implementation and compliance with customs legislation adapted to EU requirements;

• clarification and elimination of differences in the area of intellectual property rights protection.

The achievements in the direction of European integration are the result of the joint work of the Ministry of Finance and the State Customs Service with the assistance of the EU Public Finance Management Support Program (EU4PFM), the Reform Support Teams at the Ministry of Finance and the State Customs Service.