Draft law No. 7010 on a "single window" at the customs office cancels rules requiring submission of paper documents issued by one government agency to another, but within 180 days allows the use of paper copies, Co-chairman of the Committee for the Development of Entrepreneurship of Ukraine's Union of Entrepreneurs (UUE) Tetiana Palamarchuk has told the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

"Today the enterprise filing the declaration in electronic form attaches scanned copies of documents necessary for registration of documents. Many of these documents are issued by the state bodies of Ukraine, although from 2017 such documents must be passed to them in customs only in electronic form. Draft law No. 7010 should simplify processes for the declarer, which will be enough to enter the requisite of the permit in the declaration. The customs office will have all the necessary information in electronic form from the issuing authority," Palamarchuk said.

At the same time, deputies refused to support the amendment aimed at solving the problem of filing state documents with paper documents, instead of electronic ones, as required by the current legislation.

"Unfortunately, by the second reading, the deputies did not support the "cutting off" rule that in the event that government agencies continue to sabotage the requirements of the law, they should send customs documents on issuing permits in electronic form. Such documents should not be mandatory for customs clearance days, during which it is permitted to use paper copies," she said.

"UUE will monitor compliance with these deadlines, but the practice of fulfilling the current requirement of Part 3 of Article 33 of the Customs Code of Ukraine does not give us confidence," Palamarchuk stressed.

In addition to introducing legislative changes for the full functioning of the "single window" at customs, the law contains simplification of control and optimization of controlling services, with which the business interacts, Palamarchuk said.

"First of all, draft law No. 7010 contains a simplification for exporters - now the so-called controls of related services (phytosanitary, veterinary, etc.) are exported in accordance with the requirements of the country where the goods are delivered from Ukraine," she said, noting that the bill on a "single window" at customs is the first step towards introducing of the principle of openness of information in Ukraine, as it is implemented in the European Union.