E-customs as a part of e-government: state, problems and prospects (Ukrainian experience)

Abstract

This paper was presented at the 10th annual WCO PICARD conference (in the frameworks of the “Youth Forum”), 8-10 September 2015 in Baku, the Republic of Republic Azerbaijan. The paper describes the concept of “Electronic Customs” in Ukraine, its main features and functions. The author gives the definition of this concept and analyzes the main objectives of eCustoms and its legal foundations. The author analyzes the performance and implementation stages of the project in Ukraine, the main problems faced by the government in the process of creating a system of “Electronic Customs”. The author, in particular, claims that the basic requirements of the “Electronic Customs”concept have been implemented, but there is no fully acting e-Customs system due to the absence of “Electronic Government” as well as the exchange of electronic information between the government bodies is reduced to a minimum. In author’s opinion, this factor together with absence of an agreed position about the mechanisms of electronic information sharing between government agencies, slow transition to electronic workflow, absence of a convenient access to tariff and statistical information (similar to the European system TARIC), out-of-date legislation as well as financial issues hinders the e-Customs project further development. The second part of the paper is devoted to the analysis of best practices of other countries and prospects of the project development in Ukraine. In conclusion the author emphasizes that effective ways to solve the existing problems are changes in the legislation concerning electronic workflow, modernization of local networks and development of new software for Customs purposes. To fully analyze the chosen subject definite scientific methods of investigation, namely analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization as well as such specific method of economic study as an economic-analytical method to prepare tables were used.