The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine has initiated amendments to the Customs Code of Ukraine regarding administrative liability for violation of customs rules

The Ministry of Finance has submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine the Draft Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to the Customs Code of Ukraine on Certain Issues of Administrative Liability for Violation of Customs Rules" (Reg. No. 10257).

The Draft Law intends to revise the approaches to the application of administrative penalties for violation of customs rules and introduce a more flexible mechanism for bringing persons to administrative responsibility for violations, as well as to implement modern European practices in the field of combating customs offenses in the activities of the customs authorities of Ukraine.

The Draft Law, in particular, provides the following:

1. Creating a framework for fair consideration by courts of cases of violation of customs rules and choosing the type and amount of administrative penalty, depending on the circumstances of the case. To ensure individualisation of administrative punishment, it is proposed to:

• to set the lower and upper limits of fines for offenses under part 6 of Article 470, Article 472, Article 476, part 6 of Article 481, Article 482, Article 483 and Article 484 of the CCU
• to provide for the possibility of not applying confiscation for violation of customs rules under Art. 472, Art. 484 of the CCU.

2. Cancellation of liability for violations under Part 4 of Article 469, Article 470, Article 481 and Article 485 of the CCU for personal use vehicles that were in the customs territory of Ukraine as of 24.02.2022 without violating the terms and conditions of the customs regimes of transit and temporary importation, if there is documentary evidence of their transfer:

• The Armed Forces of Ukraine, law enforcement agencies and other military formations
• The State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection
• military administrations
• other entities engaged in the fight against terrorism in accordance with the Law.

3. Determining the circumstances under which the proceedings in the case of violation of customs rules cannot be initiated, and the initiated proceedings are subject to closure.

4. Providing a person held administratively liable and his/her representative (lawyer) with an opportunity to get acquainted with the case file on violation of customs rules at any stage of the proceedings.

The draft law also proposes to restate Article 473 of the CCU, to  impose administrative liability for sending goods across the customs border of Ukraine in international postal and express shipments whose name, quantity and/or value do not correspond to the data declared in customs, shipping and/or commercial documents.