Nina Yuzhanina on the composition of the Interagency Working Group on Customs System Reform
Ukraine is facing the next stage of reforming the customs system, an area that is key to the country’s economy and its international trade. The planned changes have already caused a great public outcry, because their success depends not only on the efficiency of public administration, but also on citizens’ trust in the government’s ability to overcome systemic problems. Customs is traditionally perceived as one of the most corrupt and non-transparent sectors, so attempts at reform always attract high interest from business, experts and the public. Recently, reports appeared in the information space about the creation of a government working group, which should develop and implement a new approach to the management of the customs system. This issue is being actively discussed, even though there is currently no official information on the approval of the composition of the group and its tasks.
People’s Deputy of Ukraine of the 8th convocation, chairman of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Tax and Customs Policy. Honored economist of Ukraine Nina Yuzhanina, known for her analytical approaches to the assessment of state initiatives, shared with his thoughts on the customs reform announced by the government, expressing a significant number of comments on its preparation, composition of the working group and likely consequences.
Yuzhanina draws attention to the fact that the information on the creation of the Interdepartmental Working Group to reform the customs system has not yet been officially made public. Despite this, the fact of approval of its composition is actively discussed in the mass media. She suggests that there is no such thing as “smoke without fire” and, most likely, this issue has already been resolved, but due to the government’s inherent “turbo mode”, the relevant provisions and functions of the group have not yet been sufficiently finalized. This, in her opinion, is a serious problem, because without a clear understanding of the powers and tasks of the working group, its effectiveness can be questioned.
Yuzhanina focuses on the analysis of the composition of this group. She pays special attention to the appointment of the general director of JSC “Ukrposhta” as its chairman. In her opinion, such a decision raises many questions. She notes that postal shipments are only one of many ways of transporting goods across the customs border, and by no means the most significant. The State Post has long lost its position in the field of international transportation, giving way to private companies such as “Nova Poshta” and “Mist Express”.
Nina Yuzhanina emphasizes that “Ukrposhta” has not been considered by competitors as a serious player in the transport market for a long time. At the same time, she questions the systematic professionalism of the general director of “Ukrposhta” in matters of customs affairs, because his experience is not related to a deep understanding of customs policy. In her opinion, the appointment of the general director of “Ukrposhta” may be related to the managerial abilities he demonstrated in his previous position. But if you compare the state mail service with the services of private operators, the advantages of the latter are obvious. Such steps of the reformers, according to the people’s deputy, have no logical basis.
Regarding other members of the working group, she notes that the presence of the Deputy Minister of Finance is understandable, because this ministry is engaged in the formation of the state customs policy. The trade representative of Ukraine also has a logical place in the group, because the customs office performs the function of regulating international trade. The Deputy Minister of Community and Territorial Development is participating because his department is responsible for infrastructure development at the border. At the same time, the participation of the deputy head of the SBU raises questions.
“By the way, in the context of “Winter Support”, Ukrposhta proposes to spend these funds on the purchase of personal hygiene products and food products, which are already widely represented in Ukrposhta branches on shop windows and stands. No. This is definitely not about achievements and professionalism. Here something else is not connected with the public and visible successes and achievements.
Deputy Minister of Finance – the candidacy is understandable given the Ministry of Finance’s function of forming the state customs policy.
Trade representative of Ukraine – the candidacy is clear in view of the customs’ implementation of tariff and non-tariff regulation measures during the movement of goods across the border in the framework of international trade.
The membership of the Deputy Minister of Development of Communities and Territories as a member of this working group is obviously connected with the implementation of functions under the leadership of this Ministry for the development of checkpoints at the state border.” – emphasizes the People’s Deputy.
Yuzhanina also explains that the SBU has a formal role in the fight against corruption and classic smuggling, but NABU, the State Security Service, and the Security Service of Ukraine, whose representatives are not part of the group, also work in this area. This suggests that the functions of the SBU in the group may be of an unofficial nature. In addition, she expresses concern about the emphasis on customs information technology in the reform, believing that this direction could become a field for abuses related to inefficient use of funds. The People’s Deputy emphasizes that in the past there have already been cases when significant resources were directed to the implementation of IT solutions without a real result.
“The purpose of membership of the deputy head of the SBU as part of the group is a rhetorical question considering the functionality of this particular service in the process of customs operations today and in the perspective of some effective reformation. I will try to explain. What does the SBU formally do at customs?
First, it fights corruption. But in addition to the SBU, at least the SBU, the National Police and NABU fight corruption at the customs. And there are no representatives of these bodies in the working group. Second, it fights classic smuggling (weapons, drugs, cultural values, etc.).
Why do I focus on classic smuggling? — Because after the criminalization of commodity smuggling, this issue is being taken care of by the BEB, whose representatives are not part of the working group. That is, the participation of the SBU representative in the working group on customs reform also has some other hidden and non-public reasons.
The participation of the leaders of the MTD Coordination System group, the EU4PFM MTD project and the DTA MTD project is at least understandable, given the current state and prospects for the involvement of this international technical assistance to improve the activities of the Ukrainian customs.
And the “icing on the cake” is the participation of three representatives and a vivid proof of what is the key focus of attention at this stage of customs reform, namely customs information technologies! We are waiting for the appearance in the second wave of “new-old” reformers with surnames such as Nefyodov and Yentis with the next “reformer” proposals to “outsource” information customs technologies and “successful utilization” of multimillion-dollar budget funds and funds of international programs for “improvement and improvement “IT component of customs”, – Yuzhanina notes.
Another important topic that Nina Yuzhanin focuses on is the absence of Ukrainian business representatives in the group. She emphasizes that it is the business that experiences all the changes in the work of customs, so its opinion should be taken into account. In her opinion, the exclusion of business from the group is a significant shortcoming, which indicates the disconnection of the reformers from the real needs of the economy.
