Features of Cargoes Customs Clearance Under the “Customs Warehouse” Regime

The essence and features of the customs regime “customs warehouse” in modern conditions of foreign economic activity are investigated. The sequence of stages of customs clearance of goods in the customs regime “customs warehouse” is clarified. The problems of “customs warehouses” and the peculiarities of placing goods in the customs warehouse, as well as the peculiarities of storage of goods, the permissible terms of their storage and the list of necessary documentation are analyzed. Today, the “customs warehouse” regime in the process of implementing various foreign economic transactions is extremely relevant and profitable. “Customs warehouse” is a customs regime according to which foreign or Ukrainian goods are stored under customs control with conditional full exemption from taxation by customs duties and without the application of measures of non-tariff regulation of foreign economic activity. This customs regime is applied when placing goods at the customs warehouse. Operations carried out with goods stored in the customs regime of the customs warehouse at the customs warehouse should not change the characteristics according to which these goods were classified according to the Ukrainian classification of goods of foreign economic activity. The term of storage of goods in the customs regime of the customs warehouse may not exceed 1095 days from thedate of placement of these goods in the specified customs regime. Taking in to account the above, the “customs warehouse” mode is extremely convenient to use, and it can also be used when the final buyer is still unknown when importing goods, but when using this customs regime, the following problems arise:

1. Imperfection of the existing legislative regulation of activities when placing goods in the customs regime “customs warehouse”.
2. Lack of clearly established tariffs for the use of services for the placement of goods in a customs warehouse. It is necessary to establish a unified pricing policy for the provision of customs warehousing services, taking into account the regional aspect.
3. Insufficient system of control and accounting of balances of goods in the customs warehouse. Such leftovers of goods can be in the customs warehouse for an unlimited time, and foreign economic entities will spend money on their storage. In addition, there is no legal regulation that could regulate the control of residues.
4. Inconsistency of the equipment of customs warehouses with existing requirements, since the customs warehouse must be provided in a favorable state, namely: technical and protective means to ensure the necessary regime, for the allocation of separate areas for customs warehouses near checkpoints or customs posts.
5. Failure to comply with the storage conditions of products, as well as the occurrence of financial losses of both counterparties under a foreign trade contract. The storage of goods in customs warehouses should be organized in such a way as to exclude the risks of damage to property, its theft, and destruction. According to the individual specialization of the product, there are requirements for the formation of special storage conditions, namely the appropriate temperature regime, which must always be maintained. In some cases, the only well-thought-out solution to solve this problem is to place the product in a temporary storage warehouse.

To simplify customs procedures, the customs authorities of Ukraine are actively implementing the mechanism of electronic declaration, which significantly reduces the cost and reduces the time of customs clearance and enhances the effectiveness of customs control. Issues of efficiency of customs clearance are extremely important in foreign economic activity, as they directly affect the volume of exports and imports.