Ukraine is technically ready for "customs visa-free" with the EU
Ukraine has completed the international testing of the national application of the New Computerized Transit System (NCTS), and is thus technically fully ready to accede to the European Convention on a Common Transit Procedure. This was reported by the press service of the State Customs Service.
Last week, a meeting was held with representatives of the State Customs Service, the Directorate General for Taxation and the Customs Union of the European Commission (DG TAXUD) and the customs administrations of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Northern Macedonia and Romania to help Ukraine test the national NCTS application.
This is an extremely important result for Ukraine. The European side attaches great importance to testing before joining the international transit system, as the Convention brings together 36 countries. We say that if a problem arises in one country, it becomes a problem for all other countries. Therefore, the purpose of the tests is to make sure that Ukraine can interact with other domains, that the Ukrainian system covers all transit scenarios and that the system works the same in all countries, ”said Vitianis Alishauskas, EU4PFM international customs expert.
Successful completion of Conformance Testings is a prerequisite for Ukraine to receive an official invitation to join the Convention.
The next step in advancing Ukraine towards accession to the Convention on a Common Transit Procedure should be the DG TAXUD evaluation mission.
The Convention on the Common Transit Procedure provides for significant simplifications when goods cross customs borders. This includes, in particular, the use of one package of documents when transporting goods from the starting point to the final - regardless of the countries in which the goods will be transported.
The Convention on the Common Transit Procedure brings together 35 parties to the agreement, which have introduced uniform rules for the declaration and control of transit movements of goods using the common IT product (NCTS). Signatory countries: 27 EU countries, 4 EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland) and 4 other countries (UK, Turkey, Northern Macedonia and Serbia).
In November 2020, Ukraine began the process of implementing the NCTS common transit regime, a technology that underpins the European Convention on a Common Transit Procedure. In March 2021, Ukraine began the stage of national application of the NCTS, in April the first customs declaration T1UA was issued in the mode of joint transit with the use of NCTS.
In September 2019, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the Law “On the Common Transit Regime and Implementation of the National Electronic Transit System”, which aims to implement the provisions of the Convention on the Common Transit Procedure in accordance with the obligations under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. .