/ / News
05.04.2012

Belarus’ Customs to expand preliminary information sharing practice

MINSK, 5 April (BelTA) – Starting June 2012 Belarus will introduce mandatory preliminary digital information sharing about commodities, which are imported into the Customs Union by road. The information was released by Yuri Brytkov, Deputy Chairman of the State Customs Committee of Belarus, at the online conference “Novelties in customs laws” hosted by the BelTA website on 5 April.

Yuri Brytkov remarked that preliminary customs information sharing is already operational in Belarus. It is not mandatory before June 2012 but it will be after. An interested party will be able to submit digital information about imports to the customs service. The information is analyzed for risks of violations of Customs Union customs laws. The customs service decides whether closer scrutiny is required.

According to Yuri Brytkov, digital information sharing allows customs bodies not to waste time on analyzing the information when the vehicle is at the border. The procedure reduces the time trucks spend at the border, reducing expenses of forwarding agencies and recipients.

If preliminary information is not submitted, the decision to use closer scrutiny will be made when documents are produced, when the vehicle arrives in the Customs Union, said Yuri Brytkov. Non-provision of the information is not a violation but it will slow down customs operations.