“Single Window is defined as a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardized information and documents with a single entry point to fulfil all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements”
UN/CEFACT RECOMMENDATION No. 33
MINUTES
Of Special Target Meeting of the Interagency Working Group for Implementation of the “Single Window – Local Solution” Technology in the Operations Area of Pivdenna Customs and Ports of Odessa Region
|
Kyiv |
21 October 2014 |
Place: 11-g, Degtiarivska St.
The Meeting was called to order at 15: 00 p.m.
The Meeting was adjourned at 16: 30 p.m.
Those present: see Annex # 1
AGENDA
Time: 15 minutes
Speaker: V. I. Voronoi, Coordinator of the Expert Group,
Chief of the Strategic Development Service, SE "ASPU"
The meeting was opened by V. I. Schelkunov, Deputy Head of the Interagency Working Group for Implementation of the “Single Window – Local Solution” Technology (IWG), Adviser of the Prime Minister of Ukraine, President of the Ukrainian National Committee for International Trade (ICC Ukraine) who announced the agenda.
Concerning the first item on the agenda:
1. On information safety of the Port Community Information System implementation and coordination of actions of the Interagency Working Group members.
V. I. Voronoi presented the information on the work of the Port Community Information System (PCIS) whose implementation of is continued in Ukrainian ports. He compared the situation in Ukrainian ports with the situation in the ports of Europe, where such information systems have already been implemented since 1970; and said that the work done since the introduction of PCIS in Ukraine during two years usually takes ten years in Europe.
The speaker drew attention of the audience to the achievements of the Interagency Working Group in the introduction of the “Single Window - Local Solution” technology and said that such a system of a single electronic window that is operating in the Ukrainian ports is not available in any sphere of Ukrainian economy.
He reminded that PCIS allows all participants of the transport process to exchange information electronically, which is fully consistent with the global trends. The foreign and domestic experience shows that without such systems the development of the industry and the country as a whole will not be effective.
However, he informed the meeting that SE “Administration of Sea Ports of Ukraine” instead of developing and implementing new modules of the system and expanding the latter to other ports is forced to respond to numerous applications of regulatory and law enforcement authorities as a result of claims laid with them by two or three economic activity subjects, which may not be interested in the transparency or limpidity of commercial activities, which is ensured by the use of PCIS.
The reporter drew attention to the fact that the IWG members who are the officers of the supervisory law enforcement bodies of the central administrative machinery not always bring the project information to notice of the units, which area of responsibility includes sea ports.
He requested to facilitate the development of the Port Community Information System.
O. I. Platonov reminded that the main objectives of the PCIS implementation, in addition to facilitation of international trade and logistics, is to reduce the corruption component, increase the security by combating smuggling, drug and people trafficking illegal turnover of weapons. A very important point is also to protect the information processed by the system. Most players in the transport process together with all IWG members well understand the benefits of using the modern transparent technologies during the goods clearance at ports, but obviously with a few exceptions of those people for whom transparency is unacceptable.
He noted that the Attorney General's Office and other law enforcement bodies should respond to such claims more promptly and make decisions on them, as the PCIS implementation is open and exclusively within the framework of the legislation of Ukraine. In their turn, all the IWG members are interested in a speedy settlement of these issues and are ready to provide any necessary materials.
The speaker also drew attention of the meeting to the provisions of the Customs Code of requiring implementation of the electronic customs procedures and interagency information sharing by 1 January 2017. In this light, a negative factor is the failure of individual transport process players at the ports to comply with the provisions of Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 21.05.2012 # 451 (as amended by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of 03.07.2013 # 553), namely, the failure to comply with the provision on entering in the Agreement of Information Cooperation with SE “Administration of Sea Ports of Ukraine”, which is evidenced by the Letter of SE “ASPU» # 3718 dated 18.09.2014 (see Annex 2).
P. V. Pashko spoke about the difficulties faced by the fiscal authorities when trying to implement the technologies based on the of single window principle, and about the task of implementation of the information systems, which can integrate the information systems of other public services and all the transport process participants.
He pointed out that the study of simplification, integration and implementation of the single window basic standards processes, and implementation of the information and telecommunication systems should take place gradually and be stable and independent from reorganization processes inherent in the governmental sector. And the fact that there is a private enterprise, which legally ensures the continuity and security of the electronic system operation is positive and very important for its information security, and consequently, for the security of economic components of the business entities activity and for information exchange related to such system.
M. V. Stotsky informed the meeting that the Prosecutor General of Ukraine supports the PCIS implementation and generally procedures simplification including those, which allow the electronic information to be transparently used.
He also stressed the need to take into account the existing norms of the EU customs legislation and the obligations of Ukraine arising out of the Association Agreement with EU when implementing PCIS.
The speaker also drew the attention of the audience to the need of adjusting the legal acts that regulate PCIS implementation including Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 21.05.2012 # 451 in accordance with the requirements of Law of Ukraine “On Administrative Services”.
And he noted that the challenges to security associated with conducting the ATO, and PCIS implementation, which has the effect of tenfold acceleration of container operations require the introduction of the remote control unified technical decisions in the state border crossing procedures.
O. O. Fedorov concentrated the meeting participants on a threat to PCIS implementation at the ports of Ukraine, which arose due to opposition from some businesses that distribute in mass media false information about PCIS activities and are obviously not interested in the transparency the goods clearance at ports.
He observed that the resistance of some individuals and economic entities to the ISPS implementation and operation actually threatens dissemination of the single window principles in this country, which are based on the UN ECE Recommendations ## 33, 34 and 35, the strategic directions of the economy transport segment and international cooperation development.
L. M. Muromtsev drew attention of those present to the fact that many-year experience of cooperation between the executive power bodies and lack of budget funds for financing the sphere of technical, information and telecommunication support of the public sector confirms that changes in this area should be ensured by means of capital investments and by participation in the processes of not only state institutions, but also the business community interested in promoting of economic development of this country.
K. A. Savchenko informed the audience of the work being done on preparation of the draft resolutions of the Government in the field of transport industry. He proposed to additionally thrash out and concretise the steps of the ministries and authorities for implementation of a more detailed plan of introducing in Ukraine the basic principles of single window in accordance with the EU Association Agreement.
The speaker pointed out that formulation of objectives for the development of such processes within the competence of the central executive bodies turns to be more effective when these tasks include links to specific provisions of directives and recommendations. He also informed about the work of the ministry in this area.
O. P. Moskalenko communicated that the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine have developed a draft law on making amendments to the Customs Code of Ukraine as regards the requirements to the authorized economic operator with consideration of the norms of European Law, and a detailed list and procedure of providing preliminary information about the goods that are planned to be imported into the customs territory of Ukraine before the arrival of the vehicle.
He suggested to address a request to the Government for introduction of the above mentioned draft law to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on a priority basis.
O. I. Platonov informed the meeting that the reorganization procedure and the Interagency Working Group will be completed in December of the current year and new tasks of the of international trade and logistics facilitation will be set. In particular, the new group will work for two years on the creation of the National Authority for these issues in accordance with the UN Recommendations.
He provided the information on the new IWG composition and said that the Ministry of Justice have also proposed their candidacy, and the Attorney General's Office have identified their representative for attending the meeting and getting acquainted with the IWG work. The final composition of the Interagency Working Group will be determined by the end of November this year in connection with the reorganization of the government bodies system.
O. I. Platonov said that Ukraine took the initiative to expand economic cooperation in the BSEC region where this country should play a leading role in implementing the principles of the regional single window. As part of this initiative it was proposed to start creating a portal for the exchange of trade information between the BSEC countries.
Summing up the meeting results O. I. Platonov generalised the opinion of the audience concerning the need to prepare and submit to the Government of Ukraine a memorandum with a detailed analysis of execution of orders of Prime Minister of Ukraine and decisions of the Interagency Working Group regarding the introduction of single window and PCIS. He noted that time is now ripe for the Government to finally decide whether these tools are effective, and to establish responsibility of government control bodies for failing to use them to strengthen the fight against corruption and smuggling on the border.
Resolved: to prepare and send to the Prime Minister of Ukraine a memorandum with a detailed analysis of execution of orders of the Prime Minister of Ukraine and decisions of the Interagency Working Group concerning the introduction of the single window technology and PCIS, particularly in terms of its execution by the authorities that fight against corruption and smuggling on the border.
Responsible body: Secretariat of the Interagency Working Group.
Deadline: until 01.12.2014.
Concerning the second item of the agenda no proposals were made and no decisions were adopted.
Chairman V. I. Schelkunov
