Electronic declaration of imports is now in place in Belarus. The State Customs Committee of Belarus demonstrated the first electronic declarations of imports to mass media on 30 March, BelTA has learned. Deputy Chairman of the State Customs Committee Sergei Borisyuk said, a new phase of electronic declaration has begun in Belarus. The business community can now use a new tool to declare imported commodities. Electronic declaration of imports gives a lot of advantages to manufacturers, cutting down their time and material costs required for customs procedures. Purely electronic declarations do not require manufacturers to present goods for customs clearance in specially designated stations. The processing speed is another advantage. No time is spent waiting in queues or waiting for a customs official to make a decision. “Thanks to information technologies we could hint customs authorities about what level of control they should use regarding a specific commodity,” said the Deputy Chairman of the State Customs Committee. At present in Belarus electronic declarations are used for almost 90% of exports. Since September 2009 the system has been used for temporary import, export, and re-export. “We don’t think it is necessary to use electronic declarations for all exports and imports,” stressed Sergei Borisyuk. There are varying degrees of business organization. Some economic operators export or import commodities once in six months. They are not likely to use electronic declarations. The former are mostly sought after by major companies with continuous flow processes when timely export and import operations are vital for the manufacturing process. Electronic declarations are a big boon for planning the manufacturing process. According to Sergei Borisyuk, both economic operators and customs authorities are interested in using the system. The number of personnel the customs service uses is constant while the country’s foreign trade rises year after year. With electronic declarations “we can cut down on costs,” said the official. Belarus’ electronic declaration system has been created taking into account international digital paperwork standards and can be integrated with similar foreign solutions. The introduction of the system throughout the customs clearance process will help improve Belarus’ standing in the World Bank’s Doing Business and International Trade ratings. BelTA БЕЛТА
Written by belta.by
