The Ministry of Finance has approved the long-term national strategic plan for digital development, digital transformation and digitalization of the State Customs Service of Ukraine until 2026, the department reported on its website on Monday.

“The document was developed in the context of Ukraine’s preparation for accession to the European Union and the implementation of the Association Agreement regarding the harmonization of customs processes with European standards. Particular attention is paid to fulfilling all requirements regarding future integration into the EU systems,” the ministry noted.

According to the information released, the national digitalization plan for Ukrainian customs is based on the EU Multi-Annual Strategic Plan for Electronic Customs (MASP-C), and the team of the EU4PFM program for public finance management in Ukraine provided expert support in the process of its preparation.

The plan until 2026, in particular, provides for the introduction of cyber protection principles, the introduction of paperless procedures, as well as the building of reliable and modern customs IT systems.

The key principles for the IT strategy are service-oriented architecture, centralized implementation of the unified automated information system of the customs authorities of Ukraine, a harmonized interface with the EU and a single window for international trade.

The Ministry of Finance indicated that special attention in the document is paid to the introduction of cyber protection principles, within the framework of which it is necessary to introduce recording and tracking of the history of requests for changes to data, protection against unauthorized access to information, making it impossible to change or lose data logs and changes to information and documents provided by users using a qualified electronic signature.

As the department emphasized, the EU’s priorities now include the introduction of paperless procedures, which is why the Electronic Customs Initiative is being implemented in customs affairs. To implement E-Customs, a Multi-Annual Strategic Plan for electronic Customs has been developed - a planning document covering all IT-related customs projects.