2018 was a year for the State Fiscal Service and law enforcement agencies of Ukraine of combating smuggling schemes and increasing revenues to the state budget of Ukraine from foreign economic activity.
According to the press service of the State Fiscal Service, almost 50 thousand cases of customs violations were revealed last year. The total value of the offenses reached 3.4 billion UAH, which is twice as much as in 2017. At the same time, the number of compiled protocols on violation of customs regulations increased by 51%. In every 10th case, customs officers seized goods.
Let’s find out in detail what actions are considered a violation of customs rules and the amount of sanctions applied to violators. Articles 458 to 485 of Chapter 68 of the Customs Code of Ukraine clearly indicate the types of violations and the amount of fines if committed. For the calculation of fines, one non-taxable minimum income of citizens was taken as a basis. As of 2019, this amount is still 17 UAH.
| Fine/penalty | Reason |
| 170 UAH | Exceeding the established time limits for the delivery of goods, commercial vehicles under customs control to the customs authority of destination (and when moving within the area of activity of one customs authority – from one unit of this authority to another), customs or other documents for these goods, transport funds for no more than one day. |
| 340 UAH | Carrying out business work in the customs control zone, moving across the borders of the customs control zone and within this zone of goods, vehicles, crossing the borders of the customs control zone by citizens who do not cross the customs border of Ukraine, and officials of state bodies who do not carry out official control measures and their movement within this zone in violation of the order established by the Customs Code. |
| Conducting with goods, customs clearance of which has not been completed, or with goods that are temporarily stored under customs control in a temporary storage warehouse, at a warehouse of an organization that is a recipient of humanitarian aid or at a customs warehouse, operations not provided for in Customs Code, or operations stipulated by the Сode, without the permission of customs authorities. | |
| Conducting with goods stored in a customs warehouse at customs warehouses operations specified by the Customs Code without the permission of the customs authority. | |
| 850 UAH | Failure to submit to the customs authority by the holder of the duty-free shop, temporary storage warehouse, customs warehouse, customs complex, the person responsible for the operation of the warehouse of the organization – the recipient of humanitarian assistance, the report on the movement of goods, as well as the violation of the accounting procedure for such goods. |
| Exceeding the established term for the temporary import of goods into the customs territory of Ukraine or the term for the temporary export of goods outside the customs territory of Ukraine by no more than three days. | |
| 1,700 UAH | Violation of the procedure for customs control in the zones (corridors) of simplified customs control, that is, movement through the customs border of Ukraine by a person who chose the passage through the “green corridor” as the form of customs control, goods whose movement through the customs border of Ukraine is prohibited or restricted Ukraine legislation or goods in volumes exceeding the non-taxable rate of movement across the customs border of Ukraine. In case of goods whose movement across the customs border of Ukraine is prohibited or limited by the legislation of Ukraine – also the seizure of these goods. |
| Obstruction of a customs official during the exercise of customs control or proceedings on smuggling or violation of customs rules in access to goods, vehicles, documents. | |
| From 3,400 to 8,500 UAH
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Repeated commission of an offense for exceeding the established time limits for the delivery of goods, commercial vehicles under customs control to the customs authority of destination within a calendar year from the date of the first offense. |
| 8,500 UAH | Exceeding the deadline for the delivery of goods, commercial vehicles, customs or other documents for these goods by more than ten days, as well as the loss of these goods, vehicles, documents or the issue of them without the permission of the customs authority. |
| Change in the condition of goods stored in the customs warehouse in customs warehouses without the permission of the customs authority, failure to take measures stipulated by the Customs Code for goods whose storage period in the customs warehouse has expired, as well as violation of the time limit for the disposal of goods stored in the Code in a customs warehouse, in case of cancellation of permission to open and operate this structure. | |
| Change in the state of goods whose customs clearance is not completed, or goods that are temporarily stored under customs control in a temporary storage warehouse, in a warehouse of an organization that is a recipient of humanitarian aid or in a customs warehouse, the use and disposal of them without permission of the revenue and duty body, as well as non-application of measures provided for by the Code in respect of goods whose temporary storage period under customs control in a temporary storage warehouse ended, in the warehouse of an organization recipient of humanitarian aid relief or customs warehouse. | |
| 17,000 UAH | The issuance without permission of the customs authority or the loss of goods whose customs clearance is not completed, or goods that are temporarily stored under customs control in a temporary storage warehouse, in a warehouse of an organization that is a recipient of humanitarian aid or in a customs warehouse. |
| Violation of the procedure established by law for the importation of goods into the territory of the free customs zone, export of goods from this territory, operations with goods placed in the regime of the free customs zone, as well as violation of the time limit for the disposal of goods placed in the free customs zone in case of cancellation of the permit to open and operation of this zone. | |
| Exceeding the period of temporary import of goods into the customs territory of Ukraine or the term of temporary export of goods outside the customs territory of Ukraine by more than ten days. | |
| Violation of the procedure for processing goods, including non-export outside the customs territory of Ukraine (non-import into the customs territory of Ukraine) of goods, moved across the customs border of Ukraine with the aim of processing and/or products of their processing after the expiration of the processing period. | |
| Issuance without permission of the customs authority or loss of goods stored in the customs warehouse in customs warehouses. | |
| 17,000 UAH along with seizure of goods | Import into the customs territory of Ukraine or export of goods intended for industrial or other entrepreneurial activity, in violation of intellectual property rights protected by law. |
| Fine of 100% of the value of goods, vehicles with the seizure of these goods, vehicles | Non-declaration of goods, commercial vehicles that move across the customs border of Ukraine. |
| Seizure of goods | Shipment through the customs border of Ukraine in international express shipments of goods prohibited for such shipment by the legislation of Ukraine. |
| Fine of 100% of the value of goods, vehicles – direct objects of violation of customs regulations with seizure of these goods, vehicles, and vehicles that were used to move goods – direct objects of violation of customs rules across the customs border of Ukraine outside customs control. | Moving or actions aimed at moving goods, commercial vehicles across the customs border of Ukraine outside customs control and without performing customs formalities. |
| Fine of 200% of the value of goods, vehicles – direct objects of violation of customs regulations with the seizure of these goods, vehicles, and vehicles that were used to move goods – direct objects of violation of customs rules across the customs border of Ukraine outside customs control. | Repeated actions aimed at moving goods across the customs border of Ukraine with concealment from customs control, committed by a person who was held responsible for committing such an offense during the year. |
| Fine 100% of the value of goods transported in violation of customs regulations. Seizure of goods, as well as the funds that were used to move them (caches) through the customs border of Ukraine. | Moving or actions aimed at moving goods across the customs border of Ukraine with hiding from customs control (using specially made storage facilities and other means or methods that impede the detection of such goods), or by making some goods look like others, or by providing forged documents or documents illegally obtained or containing false information about the name of the goods, their weight or quantity, country of origin, sender and/or receiver, quantity of goods, their labeling and numbers, false information necessary to determine the product code according to custom code and customs value. |
| Fine of 200% of the value of goods transported in violation of customs regulations. Seizure of these goods, as well as the funds that were used to move them (caches) through the customs border of Ukraine. | Repeated actions aimed at moving goods across the customs border of Ukraine with concealment from customs control or aimed at moving goods, commercial vehicles across the customs border of Ukraine outside customs control, committed by a person who was held liable for a similar offense during the year. |
| Fine 100% of the value of goods, vehicles or their seizure. | Storage, transportation, purchase or use of goods, commercial vehicles imported into the customs territory of Ukraine outside of customs control or with concealment from customs control. |
| Fine 300% of unpaid customs payments | Intentional actions aimed at tax evasion in full at customs clearance. |
It is worth noting that at the moment at the regulatory level, the government has not realized the opportunity to receive income from the sale or alienation of property that is the subject of a customs violation and which was seized or confiscated in favor of the state. Therefore, most of them simply deteriorate and become obsolete in warehouses instead of bringing real income to the state budget. In the 1990s, such an opportunity was provided for by law and the work of these stores of seized goods was very successful.
In any case, remember – when choosing a person who you or your organization authorizes to declare and work with customs authorities, the main criterion is knowledge of customs legislation and their strict implementation at a high professional level. Since the increase in the number of customs offenses, in many cases, is the result of a formal and incompetent approach to the fulfillment of obligations by declarants.
Having analyzed in detail the types of violations that are given in Articles 458-485 of the Customs Code, we can conclude that their main reasons are improper execution of documents submitted for consideration to customs officers, including the submission of an incomplete list of documents, the submission of incomplete and inaccurate information about the product, violation of temporary norms set aside by the Code for the delivery of goods, violation of the regime of the customs control zone, as well as previously unpaid fines.
Elena Polosmak, Managing partner of Crane IP Law Firm