In 2021, 57.1% of respondents – the largest in the history of the survey – said that customs is effective, but needs to change. The share of enterprises that do not see any problems in the work of customs in 2021 decreased to 20.8% after the maximum value for all six waves of the survey in 2020 – 27.9%. The share of negative assessments increased slightly: customs assessments, as fully effective, “flowed” into positive customs assessments, but with the indication that changes are needed.
As a result, the value of the customs perception index stopped growing for the first time since 2017 and decreased from 0.43 on a scale from -1 to 1 in 2020 to 0.36 in 2021.
30.1% of respondents believe that customs reform is going in the right direction. This is three times more than the share of those who consider the direction of customs reform wrong – 8.7% of respondents (10.3% in 2020).
Most of the customs reform business expects to automate procedures, the ability to submit all documents electronically and strengthen the security functions of customs. Also among the main expectations, the business highlights the introduction of personal liability of customs officers for the damage, reducing the time for customs procedures and strengthening the fight against smuggling.
Summary of key results
Among the problems at customs, respondents most often mention imperfect customs legislation and deliberate, in their opinion, overestimation of the customs value of goods.
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