A new State Customs Service officially began operation in Ukraine on Sunday, December 8, the CFTS portal reports, citing the Interfax Ukraine news agency.

“The new State Customs Service officially launched at 00:00 today. This is just the beginning of establishment of a new state agency... We have managed to prevent more than 500 of the most ‘dubious’ managers from joining the ranks of the new State Customs Service, reduce the number of customs offices from 26 to 16, and ensure an almost invisible transition from one state agency to another for users. The first export declaration was issued for a cargo in Akkerman at 00:03… The first flight was processed in Boryspil at midnight," the State Customs Service’s head Maksym Nefiodov wrote on his Facebook page.

As reported earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi recently instructed Prime Minister Oleksii Honcharuk, Finance Minister Oksana Markarova, and Nefiodov to launch a new customs service before December 1, 2019. Zelenskyi also instructed them to launch full-fledged operation of the customs’ “one-stop shop” by January 1.

The Cabinet of Ministers approved an order that enabled the newly created State Customs Service and its territorial bodies to begin full-fledged operation at a meeting on December 4.

The authority to implement state customs policy and state policy on combating violations of the customs legislation was transferred from the State Fiscal Service to the State Customs Service on December 8.