Trade Facilitation and Regulatory Cooperation Needs Assessment Project

Trade Facilitation and Regulatory Cooperation Needs Assessment Project for Belarus Trade Facilitation Report Mr. Sergey Mazol, UNECE Consultant based in Minsk 1

The survey respondents o o o 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. 2

General features of customs clearance procedures o o o 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 3

Needs for trade o o 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 4

Customs agents’ services 5

Freight forwarding 6

Export procedures 7

Import procedures 8

Needs to trade o o o 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 9

The information transparency of export / import procedures 10

The main shortcomings in the customs procedures 11

The main shortcomings in the customs procedures 12

The main shortcomings in the customs procedures 13

Needs to trade o o 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 14

Express delivery service o o 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” 15

International cargo carriers 16

Transit 17

International cargo carriers o o o 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 18

Thank you for your attention! 19