From June 1, Ukrainian carriers must submit additional customs declarations when entering certain EU countries. The changes are related to Ukraine’s transition to NCTS Phase 6 — a new stage of the European transit system.
The new requirements will apply most to transportation through Romania and Hungary. In addition to the standard T1 transit declaration, carriers will have to submit the ENS Entry Summary Declaration to the ICS2 system approximately one hour before arrival at the checkpoint.
This requirement will also temporarily apply to Slovakia — until Ukraine fully transitions to NCTS Phase 6. At the same time, when crossing the border with Poland, a separate ENS declaration does not need to be submitted if the security data is already contained in the T1 declaration. Slovakia will apply the same approach after the integration of the systems is completed.
The State Customs Service of Ukraine explained that Poland and Slovakia have already integrated their NCTS customs systems with the European import control system ICS2. This allows the use of a single combined declaration for transit and security control.
Ukraine is also completing the deployment of NCTS Phase 6 with the ability to submit combined declarations. A transition period will last until mid-June, during which businesses will still be able to use the previous version of the system — NCTS Phase 5.
The State Customs Service of Ukraine has already updated technical specifications and methodological recommendations for the registration of declarations in the new system. The changes should unify customs procedures with EU rules and will require carriers to prepare documents more carefully.
