1 trade facilitation and regulatory cooperation needs assessment project for belarus trade...

1

Trade Facilitation and Regulatory Cooperation Needs Assessment Project for Belarus

Trade Facilitation Report

Mr. Sergey Mazol,

UNECE Consultant based in Minsk

2

The survey respondents

The traders: Machinery, Construction, Chemicals, Electronics, Textiles, Food industries, Furniture industries, Pharmaceuticals, and Wholesales.

The state agencies: the State Customs Committee of Belarus; the Border Crossing points; the Ministry of Commerce.

The Logistics service companies: International road carriers, Belarusian Railways, JSC "Airline "Transaviaexport", International express delivery companies.

3

General features of customs clearance procedures

The unification of customs documents in accordance with international standards (UN Layout Key, the GATT Customs Value Code, the WTO Harmonized System, TIR and ATA procedures, Revised Kyoto Convention)

The basic customs clearance documents are available online

The automated methods of risk analysis The “one window“ service The “Bona Fide” trader The customs agents

4

Needs for trade 1. To implement the conditional release of

goods from the border crossing points 2. To improve documentary requirements

and control functions for inward/outward processing

3. To reduce costs and time for issuing the preliminary decision on the HS classification of goods

4. To reduce the schedule of product’s parameters that must be considered in the HS classification of goods

5

Customs agents’ services

Figure 1. Customs agents services used by the importers

58%

18%

24% none

one

several

6

Freight forwarding

Figure 2. Forwarding service used by the exporters

40%

48%

12%

none

one

several

7

Export procedures

Figure 3. Export cargos physically supervised by the customs (in %)

61,0

14,6

4,9

19,5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0-10 (low) 11-30 (middle (low)) 31-70 (middle(high))

71-100 (high)

8

Import proceduresFigure 4. Import cargos documantary/physically suppervised by the customs

12,2

2,44,9

80,5

47,5

1517,5

20

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

0-10 (low) 11-30 (middle(low))

31-70 (middle(high))

71-100 (high)

Import cargosdocumentarysupervised bycustoms

Import cargosphysically supervisedby customs

9

Needs to trade 5. To implement Joint inspections of

cargo by all border control agencies analogous to border control of passengers traffic

6. To improve the customs risk management system

7. To apply widely the Bona Fide trader status

10

The information transparency of

export / import procedures Figure 5. Source of information about trade regulation and procedures, (in

%)

79,2

2,1

75

22,9

91,7

18,8

59,1

0

93,2

22,7

81,8

9,1

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Chamber ofCommerce

Trade association

Customs

Other authorities

Internet

Others

Imports

Exports

11

The main shortcomings in the customs

procedures Figure 6. Principal procedural constraints (%)

23,1

5,8

3,8

0

1,9

28,3

0

15,2

4,4

2,2

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Customs clearance procedures

Border inspections procedures

Trade license and permits

Export/Import controls

Other documentary requirements(please specify):

Import

Export

12

The main shortcomings in the customs procedures

Figure 7. Frequent causes of delays when declaring goods for export/import (in %)

7,7

5,8

13,5

0

0

1,9

3,8

13,5

45,65

8,7

20

0

4,4

17,4

34,8

6,5

0,0 10,0 20,0 30,0 40,0 50,0

Lack of /incompletedocumentation

Visual inspections

Requires certificates

Counterfeit goods

Labeling, packaging

Payment of fees

Classification ofgoods

Others

Imports

Exports

13

The main shortcomings in the customs procedures

Figure 8. Time to complete customs procedures

31,2

35,6

4,2

25

38,9

27,8

2,8

27,8

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

1-5 6-10 10-15 16-

Exports

Imports

14

Needs to trade 8. To harmonize Belarus customs information

requirements with similar requirements of foreign customs authorities, for example, EU customs.

9. To optimize the customs information requirements for equipment or other types of technology intensive imports to the requirements of the customs classification, customs valuation and tariff rate determination

15

Express delivery service 10. To provide for the possibility of

imported goods customs clearance before the delivery of goods to the customs on the basis of electronic declaration

11. To provide the option of customs fees payment after the custom clearance for other importers besides companies with “Bona Fide status”

16

International cargo carriers Figure 9. Main procedure weaknesses for international cargo carriers (in %)

60,0

40,0

20,0

30,0

10,0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Customs clearanceprocedures

Border inspectionsprocedures

Trade license and permits

Export controls

Other documentaryrequirements (please

specify):

17

Transit

Figure 10. Particular difficulties in transit operations (in %)

30,0

30,0

10,0

50,0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Designated routes

Customs escorts

Bonds

Documentation.

18

International cargo carriers 12. To expand the electronic documents

interchange especially for transit shipments through Russia

13. To improve interactions between the customs and border crossing points

14. To reduce the schedule of controlled goods analogous to the EU

19

Thank you for your attention!