Ukraine listed among 20 countries using latest version of ‘customs visa-free regime’
The relevant statement was made by the Ukrainian Finance Ministry, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
“Ukrainian business is among the first 20 countries out of 36 countries of the Convention on a Common Transit Procedure to use the latest version of the NCTS Phase 5 common transit system,” the report states.
Compared to other Convention countries, Ukraine had 1.5 years less time to develop NCTS Phase 5, and also started this process during the work of the Assessment Mission before joining the Convention family on October 1, 2022.
“Despite the full-scale war, Ukrainian government authorities, thanks to the steady support of our international partners, in particular the EU Public Finance Management Support Programme for Ukraine (EU4PFM), have ensured that Ukrainian businesses can operate in the latest version of the NCTS from April 22, 2024,” the ministry noted.
According to the data from the Ukrainian State Customs Service, since Ukraine joined the ‘customs visa-free regime’, more than 100,000 NCTS declarations have been processed, and 21,000 of them have been handled over four months since the NCTS Phase 5 system was launched.
A reminder that, on October 1, 2022, the provisions of the Convention on a Common Transit Procedure came into force in Ukraine and opened up the possibility of international movement of goods with 35 member states under one transit document. The first transit declaration under the ‘customs visa-free regime’ was sent from Germany to Ukraine.
The ‘customs visa-free regime’ means the faster movement of goods between European countries, less bureaucracy at customs, fewer opportunities for abuse, and real-time data exchange with neighboring customs offices. This is one of the key areas of building a convenient and transparent customs service in Ukraine.
