Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has proposed introducing criminal liability for smuggling.

According to the information on the Ukrainian parliament's website, relevant bill No. 8543 on amendments to the Criminal and Criminal Procedural Codes of Ukraine on the criminalization of smuggling of goods was registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Tuesday, but has not yet been included in the parliament's agenda.

The government proposes the new edition of Article 201 of the Criminal Code, according to which the punishment for the smuggling of goods "on a large scale" should be imprisonment for a period of three to seven years.

Currently, such liability is provided for the movement across Ukraine's border (outside of customs control) of cultural property, poisonous, explosive substances, radioactive materials, weapons, ammunition and special technical means of secretly receiving information.

The Cabinet proposes 15- to 20-year jail terms with confiscation of property for the smuggling of goods "on a massive scale."

According to the bill, if the above-mentioned offenses are committed by an organized group or smuggling is "on an especially large scale," guilty persons will face imprisonment from eight to 15 years with confiscation of property.

The bill proposes to define that smuggling of goods is considered to be "on a large scale" if its cost exceeds the non-taxable minimum of citizens' incomes by 500 or more times, "on a massive scale" if the cost is 2,000 or more times higher than the non-taxable minimum, "on an especially large scale" if its cost is 5,000 or more times exceeds such a minimum.

The crimes related to the smuggling will be investigated by the National Police or the investigating authorities, which monitor the compliance with the tax legislation that initiated the pretrial investigation.