The customs will give free electronic keys to entities engaged in foreign economic activity. This intention was voiced by the head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine Ihor Kalietnik during the meeting with the representatives of the US Chamber of Commerce. According to him, this is one of the main endeavors for 2012. Kalietnik explained that in the near future the customs certification center will start giving digital keys free of charge. By the way, digital keys can be used to work not only with the customs service but with other public agencies. Will this initiative improve entrepreneurs’ life? This is what The Day asked players of the market about.
Head of the Illichivsk branch of the company Damco Oleksandr LAZARIEV supports the idea of the State Customs Service of Ukraine. According to him, now the procedure of getting digital keys is very interesting. Firstly, they have to be bought from strange centers. Secondly, they are valid within a limited period of time. So, the entrepreneur has to renew his digital key all the time. “I support the customs’ idea to give the digital keys free of charge, this step will lead to turning all the contacts with customs into electronic circulation of documents,” he told The Day. By the way, he says, that this simplification is provided by the Customs Code project which has been amended by the president and is being currently improved by the parliament.
Co-head of the European Business Association customs committee Denys SHENDRYK also supports the idea of giving digital keys. In his opinion, giving digital keys will be the first step towards importers’ authorization for electronic clearance.
If the electronic clearance is implemented, Lazariev says, it will eradicate the corruption at the customs. Importers will not need to personally meet customs officers, Lazariev explains. All the actions of customs officials concerning entities sending documents to the customs will be kept in the electronic form. “Now the problem is that customs officers afford to refuse to accept documents without any explanations,” Lazariev says. If a customs officer receives an e-mail signed with a digital key this officer will not be able to ignore it since the internal-control system will record the time the e-mail was received. If the inspector breaks the clearance dead-line he will have to explain why it happened and will be liable for importer’s inconveniences or damage. It means the tough control.