EU4PFM continues to support Ukraine in establishing a Customs Audit System

The online seminar “Practical experience of customs audit” was held on November 10-12 within the framework of the EU Program to Support Public Financial Management in Ukraine (EU4PFM).

“As the State Customs Service of Ukraine has identified the construction of the Customs Audit System as one of the priorities, EU4PFM will support Ukraine in the further development of such a system, as well as provide information on European experience in its construction and operation. We hope that this will help Ukrainian colleagues to determine what they need to consider to build a Customs Audit system, and what issues still need to be addressed in future seminars, “said Vytenis Ališauskas, EU4PFM’s key customs expert.

Leszek Prus, EU4PFM expert, briefed his Ukrainian colleagues on the experience of applying the customs control system in Poland and in the EU as a whole and presented practical cases.

The expert emphasized that customs control, according to EU legislation, should use a system of risks, and be informed about possible algorithms used in the risk management system when planning a customs audit.

Leszek Prus is aware of the sources of information for customs audit on the activities of economic entities (both official and possible to use), and the legal mechanisms for obtaining such information. Particular attention was paid to the exchange of tax information between customs authorities of EU member states – in particular, international agreements, their harmonization with national law, the competent authorities for these obligations, the obligation to exchange electronically, as well as the processing of personal data in due to the need for all authorities to comply with legislation on the protection of such data.

Ukrainian experts received information on the application of customs audit standards in the EU and on the practical aspects of the implementation of Article 48 of the EU Customs Code on Post-Customs Control – who can be controlled, possible scope of control, technical procedures, information flow, and more.

The expert also presented the concept of customs debt in the EU – in particular, the mechanisms of influence on enterprises in case of non-payment within the statutory deadlines, customs duties, and penalties determined by customs inspections, as well as existing IT tools.

For feedback from Ukrainian colleagues, the practice of applying the risk management system in Ukraine, the current state of automated risk management, and planned implementations in Ukraine were discussed; current experience and practice in obtaining information for a customs audit, as well as existing standards of customs audit in Ukraine; the situation regarding the legislative norms of Ukraine and their application in practice for customs audit after the release of goods was discussed.

This is another seminar on post-customs control, organized by EU4PFM for specialists from the Ministry of Finance and the State Customs Service. The previous one took place in July 2021.

As you know, the information system “Customs Audit” has been tested in separate departments of the State Customs Service, and further development of the functionality of the software product.

Let’s implement changes together!