The Ministry of Digital Affairs estimates the annual volume of bribes for car customs clearance at $50 million.
The annual volume of bribes during customs clearance of cars in Ukraine can reach about $50 million, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine claims. To eliminate the corruption component, they propose to completely digitalize the customs clearance process and transfer it to an online format through the “Diya” application.
The scale of the problem was reported by the Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov. According to him, the main source of corruption remains the human factor, so the primary task is to maximally remove customs officers from determining the customs value of vehicles.
The second step, which the head of the Ministry of Digital Affairs emphasizes, should be the adoption of legislative amendments that will allow fully launching online customs clearance of cars without any contact with officials.
The introduction of such a mechanism already has a legislative basis. Back on April 24, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine supported in the first reading Bill No. 10380, which provides for the possibility of customs clearance of cars through “Diya”. The new procedure will be available to both individuals and legal entities, as well as their authorized representatives, but will apply exclusively to passenger cars. Freight vehicles, motorcycles, trailers and other categories will continue to be processed according to the current procedure.
The key change should be the automatic determination of the customs value of the vehicle, from which excise duty, VAT and customs duties are calculated. The “Diya” application already has a corresponding calculator that takes into account the year of manufacture of the vehicle, engine type and its volume.
