The first authorized economic operators will appear in Ukraine only in 2021

06/ 08/ 2020

The State Customs Service informs that they will be ready to accept electronic applications for the AEO status in two or three weeks. However, the applicants can now send the necessary package of documents in paper form to the Service by mail or send a scanned version of the documents to the e-mail of the Office of the State Customs Service. As of today, the State Customs Service has not yet received any requests from companies for AEO authorization. Therefore, even if the first application is received in the coming days, the first authorized economic operators in Ukraine can be expected only from January 2021 due to the long period of the assessment procedure of the companys compliance with AEO criteria. This became known during a meeting of the European Business Association with Igor Muratov, Acting Head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine which took place on Thursday, August 6. Thus, the discussion was focused on the current status of the AEO concept in Ukraine, including the recently approved Government Resolution No.665 of July 29, 2020, the concept of customs reform proposed by the Office of Simple Solutions and Results, as well as the value control risks issue. Thus, the State Customs Service expects to receive the first applications for the AEO status soon, as technical work on electronic applications system should be completed within 2-3 weeks. The system provides the possibility to submit applications in the electronic cabinet, as well as download electronic application forms and send them via e-mail. The State Customs Service will notify on its resources when it is ready to accept electronic applications in a separate message. The participants discussed the prospects of companies that are not both producers and exporters (importers) to obtain the AEO status as the Resolution No.665 had postponed this possibility for such companies until November 7, 2022. Also, they raised the issues regarding the functioning of the Commission, which will evaluate the applicant companies and ways to verify qualifications of the companys representatives who will be responsible for its activities as an AEO. Besides, the European Business Association is launching training seminars on the AEO to help company specialists in the procedure of obtaining the AEO status and prepare them to work under new conditions. We will inform you further about the start of the seminars and all the details on the EBA website. The second issue in todays conversation concerned the concept of customs reform proposed by the Office of Simple Decisions and Results. Thus, the experts of the Office proposed a radical approach, namely, to eliminate the institution of customs brokers. The management of the State Customs Service, as well as the business community, for the most part, is not in favor of such radical decisions but instead supports the simplification of procedures and automation of processes as an alternative approach to the customs reform. The participants of the meeting also discussed issues that have been repeatedly raised by the EBA members, namely - the possibility of transporting personal belongings unaccompanied by a simplified procedure and to introduce the possibility of changing checkpoints from air to ground for air cargo transportation without changing the customs declaration. We hope to work out these specific but important issues together with the State Customs Service. Finally, the participants raised the common problem of adjusting the customs value. According to companies, there is recently a rising number of cases of unjustified adjustment of customs value based on indicative prices of the RMS risk system. In this context, businesses are in dire need of an adequate administrative appeal procedure for such cases. Currently, representatives of the State Customs Service have agreed to consider disputes separately in a more expeditious manner. It was also agreed to hold a separate working meeting on the inventory and audit of customs formalities in seaports, conducted by the EBA experts, to develop concrete steps to address the problems. We thank the management of the State Customs Service for the dialogue and hope for its constructive continuation and compliance with the agreements reached! Be the first to learn about the latest EBA news with our Telegram-channel – EBAUkraine.

This became known during a meeting of the European Business Association with Igor Muratov, Acting Head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine which took place on Thursday, August 6. Thus, the discussion was focused on the current status of the AEO concept in Ukraine, including the recently approved Government Resolution No.665 of July 29, 2020, the concept of customs reform proposed by the Office of Simple Solutions and Results, as well as the value control risks issue.

Thus, the State Customs Service expects to receive the first applications for the AEO status soon, as technical work on electronic applications system should be completed within 2-3 weeks. The system provides the possibility to submit applications in the electronic cabinet, as well as download electronic application forms and send them via e-mail. The State Customs Service will notify on its resources when it is ready to accept electronic applications in a separate message.

The participants discussed the prospects of companies that are not both producers and exporters (importers) to obtain the AEO status as the Resolution No.665 had postponed this possibility for such companies until November 7, 2022. Also, they raised the issues regarding the functioning of the Commission, which will evaluate the applicant companies and ways to verify qualifications of the company’s representatives who will be responsible for its activities as an AEO.

Besides, the European Business Association is launching training seminars on the AEO to help company specialists in the procedure of obtaining the AEO status and prepare them to work under new conditions. We will inform you further about the start of the seminars and all the details on the EBA website.

The second issue in today’s conversation concerned the concept of customs reform proposed by the Office of Simple Decisions and Results. Thus, the experts of the Office proposed a radical approach, namely, to eliminate the institution of customs brokers. The management of the State Customs Service, as well as the business community, for the most part, is not in favor of such radical decisions but instead supports the simplification of procedures and automation of processes as an alternative approach to the customs reform.

The participants of the meeting also discussed issues that have been repeatedly raised by the EBA members, namely – the possibility of transporting personal belongings unaccompanied by a simplified procedure and to introduce the possibility of changing checkpoints from air to ground for air cargo transportation without changing the customs declaration. We hope to work out these specific but important issues together with the State Customs Service.

Finally, the participants raised the common problem of adjusting the customs value. According to companies, there is recently a rising number of cases of unjustified adjustment of customs value based on indicative prices of the RMS risk system. In this context, businesses are in dire need of an adequate administrative appeal procedure for such cases. Currently, representatives of the State Customs Service have agreed to consider disputes separately in a more expeditious manner.

It was also agreed to hold a separate working meeting on the inventory and audit of customs formalities in seaports, conducted by the EBA experts, to develop concrete steps to address the problems.

We thank the management of the State Customs Service for the dialogue and hope for its constructive continuation and compliance with the agreements reached!

Be the first to learn about the latest EBA news with our Telegram-channel – EBAUkraine.