The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the draft Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Customs Code of Ukraine on Certain Issues of Administrative Liability for Violation of Customs Rules” (reg. No. 10257).
The document is aimed at harmonizing the provisions of Chapter XVIII of the Customs Code of Ukraine (hereinafter – the Customs Code) with the latest changes to its other structural units, reviewing approaches to some issues of applying administrative penalties for violations of customs rules, introducing a more flexible mechanism for bringing persons to administrative liability for violations of customs rules, as well as the implementation of modern European practices in the field of combating customs offenses by customs authorities of Ukraine.
The draft law proposes:
- to supplement the second part of Article 462 of the Customs Code with a rule according to which, in the event of violations of customs rules provided for in Articles 482, 483 of the Customs Code, confiscation as an additional administrative penalty may be applied to goods, vehicles for commercial purposes – the direct objects of violations of customs rules and vehicles, that were used to move goods – the direct objects of violation of customs rules through the customs border of Ukraine outside the location of the customs authority, or goods, vehicles with specially made storage facilities (caches) that were used to hide goods – the direct objects of violation of customs rules from customs control, or only to vehicles used to move goods – the direct objects of violation of customs rules through the customs border of Ukraine outside the location of the customs authority, or goods, vehicles with specially made storage (caches) used to hide goods – the direct objects of violation of customs rules from customs control;
- to supplement Article 469 of the Customs Code with part five, which provides for administrative responsibility for the transfer of a commercial vehicle temporarily imported into the customs territory of Ukraine or placed in the customs transit regime into the possession, use, or disposal of another person, with the exception of cases provided for by the Customs Code;
- to establish the lower and upper limits of fines for the commission of offenses provided for by the sixth part of Article 470, Articles 472, 476, the sixth part of Article 481, Articles 482, 483 and 484 of the Customs Code in order to ensure a fair consideration by the courts of cases of violation of customs rules and the possibility of individualizing administrative punishment , as well as provide in the sanctions of Article 472, the first part of Article 482 and the first part of Article 483 of the Customs Code, alternative confiscation of goods, vehicles – the direct objects of violation of customs rules;
- to rewrite Article 473 of the Customs Code and supplement it with a new part one, which provides for administrative liability for sending goods across the customs border of Ukraine in international postal and express shipments, the name, quantity and/or value of which do not correspond to the data declared in customs, delivery and/or commercial documents;
- to add a new article 487-1 of the Customs Code, which establishes the circumstances under which proceedings in the case of violation of customs rules cannot be initiated, and those initiated are subject to closure;
- to regulate the issue of transfer of case materials on violation of customs rules to law enforcement agencies and their consideration by courts in the event of closure of criminal proceedings and return for review in the order of administrative proceedings, etc.
The State Tax Service of Ukraine has updated the State Register of Cash Registers. The new version of the State Register of Cash Registers has been published on the State Tax Service’s website (State Tax Service Order No. 924 of November 8, 2023).
As before, the State Register of Cash Registers consists of two main sections: I. Cash registers authorized for primary registration, and II. Cash registers, the initial registration of which is prohibited.
The updated Register includes 78 cash registers models allowed for initial registration (Section I) and 134 models whose initial registration is prohibited (Section II).
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has improved the process of providing grants for the creation or development of processing enterprises within the framework of the yeRobota program. From now on, it will be possible to use the funds of the mandatory state social insurance fund in case of unemployment as a source of funding for the program.
The main manager of these funds is the State Employment Service.
YeRobota program has already demonstrated its effectiveness. According to the terms of its implementation, the funds spent by the state on grant support for enterprises must be returned to the budget in the form of taxes and fees in three years. But in practice, more and more enterprises that took part in the program, due to the increase in production volumes, return such funds in the form of taxes within a year.
The Government plans to provide up to 20,000 new jobs in processing and related industries thanks to grant support for business.
Since the start of the program, more than 400 grants worth UAH 2.2 billion have already been provided.
