Businesses assessed the work of customs: queues at the border and lack of transparency spoil the result
13 March 15:22
Queues at the border bother less than 50% of businesses, but still remain a major problem. This is just one of the conclusions of the annual survey of Ukrainian exporters and importers conducted by the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
The index of business perception of customs work, which is based on assessments of efficiency and the need for reforms, is 0.30, on a scale where -1 is bad and 1 is good, and this value has slightly decreased compared to 2023, when the figure was 0.32.
As Oksana Kuzyakiv, Executive Director of the Institute for Economic Research, explained, “a slight decrease in the Customs Performance Perception Index, which is actually an assessment of its effectiveness and an assessment of the need for change, indicates not so much a deterioration in the situation as an increase in expectations for reforms.”
Overall assessment of customs performance
The number of respondents who said that the work of customs is generally effective but requires some changes increased from 62.4% in 2023 to 66.5% in 2024. At the same time, the number of those who consider customs to be effective and not requiring changes has decreased: in 2023, the number was 14.2%, and in 2024, it was 10.1%.
At the same time, those who have more serious complaints about the work of customs and believe that customs is inefficient, but large-scale reforms can improve the situation, amounted to 19.9% in 2024. Those who insist that the customs needs to be completely replaced last year amounted to only 3.5%. And these figures have hardly changed compared to the previous year.
What are the problems at the customs that bother businesses?
Queues at the border remain on the 1st place in the list of problems in the work of customs, according to the surveyed exporters and importers. Although the importance of this problem has decreased compared to 2023 – from 67.7% to 48.8%. This indicates that measures to regulate queues at the border, in particular the introduction of the E-Checkpoint, have had a positive effect.
Insufficient transparency of customs authorities has become the second most important problem (43.8%), having risen from 4th place in 2023 (36.4%).
The third place is occupied by “imperfect customs legislation” – 37.6% of respondents mentioned it. Businesses associate this “imperfection” with inconsistencies with EU standards, uneven application of rules, and the possibility of subjective interpretation.
The problem of corruption at customs dropped to fourth place in this rating: 30.3% in 2024 compared to 38.4% in 2023, gradually returning to the pre-war level of 24.7% in 2021.
The relevance of insufficient capacity of checkpoints has also decreased: from 39.3% in 2023 to 28.5 in 2024.
Business expectations from customs reform
Most of all, business representatives hope that customs reform will reduce the time of customs procedures – 57.5% of respondents expect this.
Slightly more than 51.5% of respondents were in favor of reducing financial costs for businesses in the course of these procedures.
Automation of procedures and minimization of the human factor are welcomed by 35.1% of respondents, 31.1% would like to see improved technical equipment, and 29% would like to see a reduction in corruption.
The need for two main expected results – reducing the time spent on customs procedures and reducing financial costs during these procedures – is most often mentioned by micro and large enterprises. The least frequently mentioned by large businesses are the reduction of corruption and improvement of technical equipment of customs.
Two other interesting findings of the survey: the average duration of customs clearance in 2024 was 6.5 hours, while in 2023 it was 9.8 hours. The duration of customs inspection in 2024 was 3.2 hours, while in 2023 it was 2.5 hours.
By the way, the business estimated the share of “gray imports” at 11.6%, which is the lowest figure for all the years of observation.
Economic performance of the customs
Based on the results of customs clearance of imports of goods in February 2025, the State Customs Service transferred UAH 47.7 billion in customs payments to the budget.
Compared to the revenues of February 2024, the amount of taxes transferred to the state treasury from the taxation of foreign economic activity increased by 19.8% or UAH 7.9 billion.
The volume of taxable imports of goods in February 2025 increased by 2% compared to February 2024.
Among the main budget-forming goods, a significant increase in customs duties in February 2025, compared to February 2024, was recorded for imports of
– petroleum products (gasoline, diesel fuel) – by UAH 1,148 million
– cigars, cigarettes, cigarettes – by UAH 697 million
– petroleum gases – by UAH 642 million;
– mineral or chemical fertilizers – by UAH 594 million.
In January-February 2025, Ukraine imported goods worth $11.3 billion and exported goods worth $6.3 billion.
Countries from which Ukraine imported the most goods: China – $2.6 billion, Poland – $1 billion, and Germany – $841 million.
Ukraine exported most of its goods to Poland – by $714 million, Spain – by $464 million, and Italy – by $449 million.
