The Ministry of Revenue and Duties has proposed changing the conditions for transit of goods by truck, and the relevant amendments to the Customs Code have already been prepared, the Kommersant Ukraine publication writes.
Officials are proposing legislative provisions for the terms for admitting international cargo carriers and containers for transporting goods and vehicles, as well as the guarantee association that issues TIR Carnets based on the relevant convention.
Issue of a certificate will ensure access of a container and a vehicle to international transportation. A carrier itself will need to have experience in international transportation and a stable financial position. The guarantee association that will be granted the right to issue TIR Carnets (TIR Carnets are currently issued by the Association of International Road Carriers of Ukraine (AsMAP)) will be required to have insurance agreements in the international system of guarantees and an electronic system for accumulating and sharing information with the Ministry of Revenue and Duties. In addition, the guarantee association must not have debts to budgets, and it must not be under special sanctions under the law "On Foreign Economic Activity."
AsMAP’s President Leonid Kostiuchenko has said that he supports these changes because many unscrupulous companies have emerged on the market after the abolition of the licensing of international transportation, excluding transportation of passengers and hazardous goods. He did not rule out the possibility that these amendments emerged after Russia stopped accepting TIR Carnets for the processing of transit goods and decided to terminate the agreement with the guarantee association (the Russian AsMAP).
The Ministry of Revenue and Duties proposes granting insurance companies the status of guarantors of payment of customs duties during transportation of transit goods. Such insurance companies must hold licenses that have not been suspended in the past three years, and they must be profitable over the same period and have no debts. Currently, such a status is granted to banks and financial intermediaries. For them, it is proposed to review the criteria for accessing the guarantee system: the need to have an electronic information sharing system and authorized representatives at all border crossings will be excluded from the conditions. Banks will not have to create full cash reserves for compensating potential losses.
