Aligning the customs code

Of all the technical chapters, customs is the one whose effects a business notices immediately. Every hour at a border is a cost, and the rules that determine those hours are what this chapter is about.

Common transit

The single most useful step. Under the common transit convention, a shipment moving from one country to another through several others is covered by one declaration and one guarantee for the whole journey, rather than a fresh procedure at each border.

Ukraine joined the convention and began operating the corresponding electronic transit system, which removed a substantial amount of duplicated paperwork on the western routes.

Authorised economic operator

A status granted to companies that meet criteria on compliance history, record-keeping, solvency and physical security. Holders receive simplified procedures and fewer physical inspections.

The point of the scheme is to move enforcement from checking every consignment to checking the reliability of the trader, which is both cheaper and more effective.

What remains harder

Physical infrastructure at crossings, which no amount of legal alignment substitutes for. Lanes, parking, scanning equipment and staffing are capital and personnel problems.

And consistency of application, which is where a customs administration earns or loses trust. A rule interpreted differently at two crossings is functionally two rules.

Why this chapter is worth prioritising

Because its benefits arrive before accession. Every hour removed from a border crossing is a real cost saved now, regardless of when the political process concludes.

Anyone who has waited in a customs queue knows why this chapter should be prioritised: the gain arrives before accession does. Common transit and authorised economic operator status shortened my delivery times without waiting for membership. One problem remains — the same rule read differently at two crossings, and that is solved by training rather than by legislation.