Presentation of results Sixth Annual Survey of Exporters and Importers “TradeSurvey1000+”
On November 18, 2021, the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting presented the second episode of the VI wave of the annual survey of importers and exporters on “Simplification of trade procedures in Ukraine 2021: Customs procedures, appeals, digital products.” The research was conducted within the project “Support to the Public Initiative” For Fair and Transparent Customs “with the support of the European Union, the Renaissance Foundation and the Atlas Network.
According to the survey, enterprises rarely report difficulties in customs procedures. At the same time, importers face difficulties in customs procedures more often than exporters. Exporters often point to the complexity, length of procedures and requirements to provide many documents. Importers see the greatest difficulties in decision-making procedures on customs value and classification of goods. Iryna Fedets, a senior researcher at IER, noted that “more than 60% of importers reported non-transparent determination of the customs value of goods and non-recognition of the contract price.”
Every third exporter and every second importer had experience with cargo delays, queues at the border remain the main cause of cargo delays over the last year. “The situation has not changed compared to the previous year. Importers have more problems with cargo delays, 67.5% of exporters and 57.9% of importers have chosen queues at the border as the main reason for cargo delays “- said senior researcher of IER Eugene Angel.
Surveyed exporters and importers more often than last year agreed with the thesis that in order to avoid downtime of goods it is better to agree with excessive (in their opinion) customs requirements than to challenge them legally. To the existing business climate, even if it is not perfect (56.5% of respondents in 2021 to 40% of respondents in 2020). At the same time, only half of the respondents are informed about the appeal procedure, and only one in five respondents has experience in appealing.
The results of the survey showed low business awareness of the new procedures, in particular, 85% of respondents do not know what the NCTS joint transit procedure is, and 82.4% of respondents do not know what the status of AEO is. Awareness and use of new digital customs products are also low, in particular, only 10.5% of respondents use the personal account of the “Single Window for International Trade”.
“Poor awareness of appeals and new digital products requires action, in particular, measures to raise awareness of new procedures and ensure the principles of reasonableness and impartiality in decision-making during administrative appeals,” commented IER Executive Director Oksana Kuzyakiv.
Vladyslav Suvorov, Deputy Head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine, drew attention to the importance of conducting such studies, especially with regard to new customs products – NCTS and AEO. “We are now implementing these projects together with the Ministry of Finance. Next week we expect an estimation mission from the EU and the member states of the Convention on Common Transit Procedures. The survey shows that business awareness in this area needs to be improved. For our part, we will definitely take these results into account, ” Vladislav Suvorov said.
The survey was conducted using a quantitative telephone survey using a computer (CATI – computer telephone interviews). All interviews were conducted with company representatives who can assess the economic situation of the company and the conditions of foreign economic activity (owners, directors, representatives of the director, chief accountants, heads of departments or representatives of the head of the department related to exports or imports).
1006 enterprises from all over Ukraine took part in the survey, except for the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as some regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions that are not controlled by the Government of Ukraine.
This is the sixth wave of the IED survey. The previous ones were held in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and in 2020.
Reference information:
Іnsitite for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (ІЕR) − internationally recognized Ukrainian independent think tank, which specializes in economic analysis and development of recommendations, development of civil society in Ukraine. Our mission is to develop an alternative view of the key problems of social and economic development of Ukraine. Founded in 1999, the IER has an active dialogue with all stakeholders in change for the better.
Public initiative «For fair and transparent customs» – This is a three-year initiative of the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting, established in 2018, which contributes to the successful implementation of customs reform and the construction of efficient and fair customs through continuous public monitoring. The initiative is supported by the European Union, the International Renaissance Foundation and the Atlas Network. The participants are 26 CSOs and business associations.
Presentation “Simplification of trade procedures in Ukraine 2021: TOPIC2: CUSTOMSPROCEDURES, APPEALS, DIGITALPRODUCTS” (Link)
Event recording https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIU9F2MIPtc
