Ukraine to have common transit with EU as early as 2022 – Ukraine’s PM

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced that Ukraine would receive a "customs visa-free regime" as early as 2022.

He wrote about this on Telegram.

"Ukraine will receive a 'customs visa-free regime' already this year! Yesterday, the Joint Committee on the simplification of formalities in trade in goods and common transit procedures made an official decision to invite Ukraine to join them from October 1. Ukraine will become the 36th state party to the Conventions," the head of government noted.

According to him, a "customs visa-free regime" means faster movement of goods between the countries of the European region, less bureaucracy at customs, fewer opportunities for abuse, and real-time data exchange with neighboring customs offices. The prime minister added that this was one of the critical directions of building a convenient and transparent customs office in Ukraine.

"Right now, we're implementing the project of the electronic queue at the border; work is underway to create joint checkpoints with European neighbors and modern service areas at all checkpoints. In addition, a central role in transforming customs is assigned to its digitalization, including convenient customs clearance of cars through Diia [gov app]," the head of the government said.

He noted that the "customs visa-free regime" [joining the EU Convention on Common transit procedure, ed.] would be the fourth this year. In March, Ukraine joined European Energy Union and integrated national and European energy systems, and signed an agreement on transport liberalization with the EU and economic regime in the summer.

"What used to take years, we are doing in months. That is why we are sure that Ukraine will be ready for EU membership in 2024," Shmyhal stressed.

Reference

The use of a Common Transit Procedure enables the movement of goods from one point to another between the customs territories of different Contracting Parties of the Convention on a Common Transit Procedure of May 20, 1987, without the payment of any duties or other charges and application of other commercial policy measures.

The common transit procedure is now used for the movement of goods between the EU Member States, the EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland), Turkey (since 1 December 2012), the Republic of North Macedonia (since 1 July 2015), Serbia (since 1 February 2016) and the United Kingdom (since 1 January 2021).

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