President of Ukraine

The concept of customs reform was discussed at a meeting of the National Council of Reforms

30 June 2020 - 19:58

The concept of customs reform was discussed at a meeting of the National Council of Reforms

During a meeting of the National Council of Reforms chaired by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the parties discussed the priority bills on reforming the sectors of the economy, which will be finalized by the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada.

In particular, the concept of customs reform was presented at the meeting. It was emphasized that customs should move away from bureaucratic procedures and become a convenient service for business.

The creation of a network of "open customs spaces" will help increase the salaries of customs officers, modernize the customs infrastructure, automate and digitize the customs system.

"The main concept of the open customs space is that we move away from the classic stamp and turn it into a paid service," Chairman of the Executive Committee for Reforms Mikheil Saakashvili said.

The reform also provides for increased liability for smuggling. In addition, it is proposed to unify customs rates. Today, Ukraine is one of the anti-record holders in the world in the number of duty rates.

"If we are talking about customs reform, we must have a manager - a head of customs, who will be able to implement (the reform - ed.)," Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted in his closing remarks.

The President stressed that a person responsible for the implementation of the reform should also be responsible for the timing of its implementation.

In addition, a preliminary version of the draft law on the tax on distributed profits was presented at a meeting of the National Council of Reforms.

"If you are not ready to implement any reform, you should not touch it. It seems to me that if we introduce a tax on distributed profits, then we introduce it. Introduce - and that's it. If it improves people's lives, it must be implemented. Without these "right", "left", "a little", "let's try". It seems so to me," the President said.

After a detailed discussion, the participants agreed to continue working on this bill to improve it.