Some 70% of EBA members plan to obtain AEO status or certain simplifications

Some 70% of entrepreneurs plan to obtain the status of authorized economic operators (AEO) or certain simplifications, 20% of surveyed companies currently use the common transit procedure (14% last year), and 15% use transit simplifications (previously - 4%), these are the results of the Customs Index study of the European Business Association (EBA) and DHL Express in Ukraine.

According to the results of the study, published on the association's website on Monday, the integral score of the Customs Index increased from 3.24 points in 2023 to 3.4 points in 2024 (out of 5 possible), which is the highest figure in the entire history of the study.

The EBA emphasized that two of the three components of the Index showed improvements – the quality of customs services and the level of corruption. At the same time, the assessment of the work of the Single Window system at customs has deteriorated somewhat.

The assessment of the quality of customs services and professionalism of officials remains the lowest among the components of the index – 3.08 points (2.76 points in 2023). The majority of respondents (60%) consider the quality of customs services to be satisfactory.

At the same time, the number of dissatisfied has decreased: 14% of respondents consider the quality of services and professionalism to be low, and 2% consider it very low (in the previous period, there were 25% and 6%, respectively). At the same time, 22% consider it high and 2% consider it very high.

The assessment of the level of corruption was 3.53 points (3.2 in 2023).

"Although 53% believe that the level of corruption has remained unchanged, 23% believe that it has decreased somewhat, and 18% believe that it has decreased significantly. Only 6% are inclined to believe that corruption at customs has increased (14% last year)," the EBA emphasized.

It is noted that the assessment of the Single Window system traditionally remains the highest among all components of the index, despite a slight decrease this year - to 3.59 points (3.77 in 2023). Thus, 45% assess the system's performance as good, 12% as very good, 33% consider it satisfactory. Some 10% of respondents gave negative assessments of the system's performance.

"The most common criticism from businesses during customs clearance is the control by the State Service on Food Safety and Consumer Protection and interaction with the customs value department. Currently, 60% of respondents reported that they have a problem with adjusting the customs value. The number of companies reporting this problem is growing every year - in 2023 there were 46% of them, in 2022 - 37%," the organization emphasized.