The State Customs Service of Ukraine has announced the introduction of a new technology to improve customs control at the country’s western border. This was reported by Komersant ukrainskyi
reports with reference to the press service of the State Customs Service.
With the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Ukrainian customs officers will receive portable scanning systems to detect hidden investments in vehicles. A total of 20 portable backscatter X-ray machines are to be distributed, of which 10 have already been delivered to the State Customs Service. The equipment will be placed at 12 checkpoints along the Ukrainian border.
Extensive training for operators of the new scanning systems is planned for the near future. It is expected that the use of this equipment will speed up the inspection and screening of vehicles and increase efficiency in preventing the movement of prohibited substances across the border.
As part of USAID’s economic support to Ukraine, the State Customs Service is also implementing other projects to improve the efficiency of its customs units. These include the installation of stationary scanning systems for railway wagons and containers, the introduction of mobile scanning systems, the installation of weighing systems for measuring the weight of vehicles, the introduction of traffic management systems (TMS), and the purchase of forklifts and commodity scales.
on 14 May this year, President Zelenskyy signed a law to restore customs inspections, and since the beginning of the year, customs officers have identified violations worth almost UAH 11 billion. However, experts and business representatives still believe that customs is one of the most corrupt structures in Ukraine, and that corruption is causing the state to lose hundreds of billions of hryvnias annually. For example, the Security Service of Ukraine recently detained officials of the State Customs Service who were taking bribes from regional customs heads.