The experience of the 1st month of international application of NCTS in Ukraine: the online seminar for business gathered about 300 participants
On November 3, a remote seminar “Accession of Ukraine to the Convention on a Common Transit Procedure. Experience of the 1st month of international application of NCTS in Ukraine” took place.
All business associations and the Public Council under the State Customs Service were invited to participate.
It was conducted by the Ministry of Finance and the State Customs Service with the support of the RST of the MoF and the EU4PFM. The presentation and video recording of the seminar are freely available.
“The Ministry of Finance, together with the State Customs Service, carried out a great deal of work on the development of normative legal acts for the use of a common transit procedure by business, including on obtaining and applying simplifications, and which have already been adopted today. We are open to dialogue and cooperation with business in the context of improving approaches in the work of customs authorities, taking into account the opportunities that the common transit opens up”, emphasized the Director of the Department of Customs Policy of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine Oleksandr Moskalenko.
On October 1, the provisions of the Convention on a Common Transit Procedure entered into force for Ukraine, and the possibility of an international movement of goods with 35 other participating countries under one transit document was opened for business. During the 1st month of the international application of NCTS, 22 transit movements left Ukraine and were delivered to other countries participating in the Convention. The activity was detected by 4 companies. In Ukraine, the common transit procedure for 67 transfers initiated by 20 companies was successfully completed.
“We have already held more than 100 seminars at the central and regional levels, they are regular, and in September we promised that a month after the start of the international application of NCTS, we would share the experience of practical application. We will continue such meetings with businesses in the future,” noted Vladyslav Suvorov, Deputy Head of the State Customs Service.
The speakers provided the event participants with the necessary information about the features of joining the NCTS, new business opportunities, and also noted the importance of feedback from users of a common transit procedure.
“With the introduction of a common transit procedure, brokers and carriers have more opportunities to expand their services and provide better service to their customers. After the war, the customs environment will no longer be the same as it was before: the vector for European integration is set and we are confidently moving in this direction. Despite all the difficulties, now is the time to prepare for Ukraine’s full membership in the Customs Union with the EU, switch to new practices, and join the system of customs simplifications,” said Oksana Nikanorova, Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine – coordinator of RST customs reforms of the Ministry of Finance.
The reduction of queues at the border and the number of NCTS users in Ukraine are directly dependent, Vytenis Alisauskas, EU4PFM Key International Expert, emphasized. “If we talk about the reasons for long queues in Ukraine – everyone comes to the border without being checked inside the country, and therefore the check takes place directly upon entering the EU. And the customs of the EU country should look at such cars as risky. NCTS solves this problem: it is possible to transfer preliminary information to the neighboring country in advance (this saves time – the truck does not stand at the border while this information is studied), plus the cargo arrives at the EU border after internal inspection, with seals that are trusted in the EU.
Then there is every reason to quickly cross the border when the driver does not even have time to drink coffee – the customs officer will only need to scan the declaration number and mark the border crossing in the system. If each car will lose less time at the entrance to the EU country, this is one of the prerequisites for reducing queues at the border,” the Expert explains.
The organizers of the event reported that the practice of organizing business seminars on a common transit will continue. You can learn more about NCTS on the official websites of the Ministry of Finance and the State Customs Service.
