Ukraine to transfer management of some customs offices to British company – Yatseniuk

The Ukrainian government is negotiating with a well-known British company, Crown Agency that has similar experience in EU and other countries, on transferring management of certain Ukrainian customs offices, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said.

"I expect the negotiations to end and the management of a few customs offices to be transferred to the British company," he said in the Verkhovna Rada on Friday.

The PM noted that not only a new culture would be introduced at customs offices but also that the elimination of corruption in customs offices would allow for a significant rise of inflow into the budget.

As reported, in April this year, Head of the Samopomich faction Oleh Bereziuk said the Cabinet had welcomed the proposal to transfer the management of Ukrainian customs offices to foreign experts, and the prime minister gave instructions to the minister of economy to work out such a possibility in detail.

In June, Bereziuk said that a British company wass interested in gaining control over the management of Ukrainian customs.

"There was the proposal to outsource the customs for a year and a half to companies from Germany, Britain, Switzerland. So, with the help of the British Embassy, in cooperation with the committee, there has been found a company that is doing this in the world very well," he said, without specifying the name of the company.

In July, Arseniy Yatseniuk initiated an experiment on transferring certain customs offices to the management of specialized foreign companies.

"I propose an experiment at certain customs offices: we will invite an outside company, such as Crown Agents, and make it operate certain customs offices," he said during a presentation of the institutional reform of the State Fiscal Service in Kyiv.