Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a decree aimed at decreasing smuggling and corruption during customs declaration of goods imported to the customs territory of Ukraine.

According to the decree signed on Tuesday, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the unified web portal of the executive authorities should ensure the creation of an information resource to enable voluntary and public declaration of goods of a significant number of items imported into the customs territory of Ukraine in one batch; the publication of monthly reports on the results of implementation of a pilot project to create conditions to prevent customs evasion in accordance with government resolution No. 479 dated June 20, 2018.

The government is instructed to work out the issue of disclosing, in the form of open data, impersonal information about the customs value of goods transported across the customs border of Ukraine, and ensuring the systematic updating of this information.

The government must take measures aimed at providing the possibility of real-time exchange of information with information systems of other countries on the customs clearance of goods transported across the border of Ukraine in the prescribed manner.

The government is also instructed to take measures before January 1, 2020 to ensure proper interaction between the guarantors issuing financial guarantees to ensure the payment of customs duties, and the tax and income bodies through electronic communication in accordance with the requirements of the Customs Code of Ukraine.

The secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine is charged with submitting to consideration by the National Security Council the issue of creating an inter-ministerial commission on combating smuggling and corruption at customs in order to develop and submit a draft program to combat smuggling and corruption during customs clearance of goods to the National Security and Defense Council.

The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine should ensure that a helpline is created in the Office of the President for reporting cases of smuggling and corruption during the customs clearance of goods, as well as actions that have signs of evading customs payments.

By his decree, the President also recommended the Prosecutor General's Office, the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Police to take measures to prevent the provision of instructions to the tax and income agencies to inspect (re-examine) goods, commercial vehicles, except for the transfer of instructions as part of criminal proceedings in a prescribed manner.