The remote seminar "Practical aspects of the transition to the application of NCTS Phase 5 from December 1, 2023" was organized on November 27 by the State Customs Service of Ukraine together with the EU Program for the Support of Public Finance Management (EU4PFM). More than 300 participants took part in it. All materials of the seminar are already publicly available. The presentation is posted at the link - https://bit.ly/3SYvNDC. The video of the seminar can be viewed on the YouTube channel of the State Customs Service - https://youtu.be/w_KWC3_KVk8
The Deputy Head of the State Customs Service, Vladyslav Suvorov, during his congratulatory speech noted that Ukraine has fulfilled its obligation to deploy a system that meets the requirements of NCTS Phase 5 by December 1, 2023. "The State Customs Service has already completed all stages of testing the system for compliance with the requirements of DG TAXUD (Conformance Testing) and received a positive assessment from the European side based on the results of the testing," he noted.
Serhiy Demchenko, Director of the Department of Transit Procedures of the State Customs Service, informed that during the application of NCTS in Ukraine, more than 34,000 transit declarations were issued, 170 authorizations for the use of transit simplifications were granted to 52 companies (the majority of which are "General Guarantee", including with a warranty waiver), and reminded that all authorizations and registered general warranties issued during the implementation of Phase 4 will be transferred to the new system.
EU4PFM expert Kostyantyn Bilchuk provided information on the features of the new system and approaches to filling out transit declarations in NCTS Phase 5.
Alina Brendak, National Co-Transit Coordinator, pointed out that currently there is no Trader Portal for businesses, similar to the one operating for Phase 4, and it is expected that business interaction with the new system will be done exclusively through the brokerage software.
In turn, representatives of brokerage software development companies informed about the need for additional time for comprehensive testing of their systems, taking into account the completely new message architecture of NCTS Phase 5. Business representatives supported the idea of postponing the launch of NCTS Phase 5 for proper preparation.
The Deputy Head of the State Customs Service for Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitization Oleg Nikolaychuk noted that the State Customs Service is ready to consider such a proposal. He also announced the development and implementation in the coming months of the Trader Portal for NCTS Phase 5, which will be created in accordance with EU requirements. The portal will become an alternative tool for the interaction of customs with business in accordance with the requirements of NCTS Phase 5. Its development is financed by EU4PFM.
As Alina Brendak reported, "the final decision on the date of the start of the application of NCTS Phase 5 by Ukraine will be taken after internal consultations and the appropriate coordination of the transfer with the General Directorate for Taxes and Customs Union of the European Commission (DG TAXUD)". The State Customs Service will inform about the results of the relevant measures through its official resources.
We draw the attention of businesses that information on the topic of the seminar is also available in the special section "NCTS Phase 5" of the "NCTS" section on the website of the State Customs Service - https://bit.ly/417ruYV, Methodical and educational materials and in infographics - https://bit .ly/3QQhtdB.