Rada Adopts 1st Reading Of Bill On Restarting Customs

The Verkhovna Rada has adopted the bill "On Amending the Customs Code on the Introduction of Certification of Customs Officials."

260 parliamentarians voted for the adoption of bill No. 6490, with the minimum required 226, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

The document provides for a reboot of customs, in particular:

- transparent competition for the post of head of the State Customs Service on the example of the best practices of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention with the involvement of international experts;

- a clear algorithm for decision-making by the competition commission, which makes representations to the Prime Minister only for one candidate (winner of the competition);

- the right of the new head of the State Customs Service to form the personnel potential of customs authorities, including by appointing his deputies only in consultation with the chairman, as well as canceling the need to agree with the Minister of Finance the appointment and/or dismissal of middle managers (in particular, heads of customs and directors of departments of the central office) and provisions on territorial bodies;

- annual external independent audit of the effectiveness of customs authorities, a negative conclusion based on the results of which is the basis for the dismissal of the head of the Customs Service;

- one-time certification of customs officials in order to establish compliance with the position;

- determination of salaries of officials of the Customs Service.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the Member of the Verkhovna Rada from the Servant of the People faction, the head of the parliamentary committee on finance, tax and customs policy, Danylo Hetmantsev, noted that with the outbreak of a full-scale war, the situation with corruption in the State Customs Service only worsened.

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