Part of the business is exempt from customs inspections: details of the new NSDC decision
29 July 22:37
A decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) and a presidential decree have imposed restrictions on customs inspections for certain business operators. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.
on July 21, 2025, the National Security and Defense Council adopted a decision implementing Presidential Decree No. 538/2025. The documents significantly affected the practice of documentary inspections of business by customs. From now on, certain categories of business entities are exempt from formal inspections.
In particular, documentary checks will not be conducted in respect of companies that have the status of an authorized economic operator (AEO), as they have already been granted high confidence in customs operations. In addition, the inspections will not apply to companies that have independently eliminated violations identified during the pre-inspection analysis. Such rules apply to companies with a low risk of offenses, in particular those that have recently started foreign economic activity. A special category includes companies operating in the temporarily occupied territories or in areas of active conflict, as well as those importing goods as humanitarian aid.
A key part of the new policy is pre-check analysis, a post-clearance control tool that assesses risks even after customs clearance. By using data from customs declarations and business operational indicators, customs identifies potential violations without a formal audit. Based on the results of this analysis, companies are sent notifications outlining possible customs or tax violations, which allows them to correct them before an audit.
This mechanism has already proved effective in early 2025: thanks to the pre-audit analysis, businesses voluntarily paid UAH 40.1 million in customs payments to the budget, reducing the number of official inspections.
In the first six months of 2025, customs conducted 648 documentary inspections. Only 37 of them were on-site inspections, while the rest were carried out in the format of remote or offline inspections. In total, the inspections resulted in an additional UAH 1.35 billion.
Read also: Moratorium on inspections: what will change for entrepreneurs – Svyrydenko’s explanation
For the business community, this decision means a reduction in administrative pressure and uncertainty in commercial transactions, particularly in the foreign economic sphere. The exclusion of companies from the AEO and the effective use of pre-verification analysis allows us to focus resources on companies with a higher risk of violations, while reducing time and financial costs for bona fide businesses.
This decision also signals the direction of reforming Ukraine’s customs system: on the one hand, increasing transparency and introducing a risk-based approach, and on the other hand, encouraging businesses to comply with the law through fewer inspections and opportunities to eliminate violations in a timely manner.
The mechanism of pre-inspection analysis confirms its strategic role in the modernization of customs and the introduction of adaptive control tools. It promotes not only financial fairness, but also establishes advantages for businesses that operate within the law and demonstrate good faith in their external activities.
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