On 13 March 2012, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed the new Customs Code of Ukraine. Presumably, its enactment will bring more clarity to the customs clearance procedures resulting in acceleration of the circulation of goods as demanded by the business. In particular, the Customs Code amends the procedure for determination and adjustment of customs value of goods and extends applicant's rights during the resolution of controversial issues with the customs authorities to that effect. Therefore, now the customs value of goods may be declared based on the outcome of preliminary consultations with the customs authorities. On the other hand the customs authority may now refuse to proceed with customs clearance at the declared value only if it has reasonable grounds to do so. In this case the customs authority should provide its calculations and substantiate the adjustment of customs value declared by the applicant. Otherwise, the customs value declared by the applicant will be deemed accepted by customs automatically.
In addition, the new Customs Code stipulates that interest accrued under finance agreements (including financial leasing agreements) related to the purchase of imported goods shall not be included into the customs value subject to certain conditions.
Also, the change of product code by customs authority should not qualify as violation of customs rules, except for cases when inaccurate documents or information related to goods was provided to customs.
The articles of the Customs Code related to declaring of software stored on physical media now contain more clarity for the business. According to the Code, only the value of the physical media, provided that the same is excluded from the total value of the software, may be stated in the customs declaration. At the same time, it is required that the declared value of software and value of physical media should be documentarily evidenced.
The new Customs Code is expected to become effective on 1 May 2012 if it is signed by the President of Ukraine.
For further information please contact partner Oleksandr Padalka.
