April 23, 2008, Kyiv: The ACTION project reported on new survey results today concerning corruption in Ukrainian customs bodies. About one-third of Ukrainian importers and exporters encounter corruption during customs clearance procedures. Small companies tend to experience corruption with customs officials more often than large companies. On the other hand, large importers tend to be extorted by customs officials more often than the average firm. At the same time, there is widespread support by Ukrainian importers and exporters for new systems currently being implemented by the government that are meant to create more transparency and accountability (a unified customs declaration document and a new computerized transit system).  

Survey results

Perceptions of corruption

·         61% of Ukrainian importers and exporters believe that corruption is most widespread at border crossings, while 52% believe corruption is most widespread during inspection of clearance documents.

·         Almost half of the companies report that their most frequently encountered problems with customs authorities involve too many formal procedures, overworked officials, and long queues.

Corruption experience

·         The survey showed that 31% of Ukrainian importing and exporting companies encountered one or more corruption incidents during recent interactions with customs authorities.

·         20% of companies reported that they were extorted for unofficial payments, gifts or services and 16% reported that they offered unofficial payments, gifts or services voluntarily. The use of personal connections (including favoritism and nepotism) was indicated by 6% of all respondents.

·         Extortion and bribe offering most often happens during clearance document inspection  (27.8%), at border crossings (14.2%) and during physical inspection (13%).

·         Companies that use their personal connections to facilitate clearance tend to avoid the physical inspection of their goods more easily than the average company.

 Possible ways to decrease corruption at customs

·         More than half the respondents consider simplifying customs clearance procedures at border checkpoints to be the most effective measure to decrease corruption, followed by simplifying transit and temporary import/export procedures, and reducing the number of documents required for import/export operations.

·         88% believe that corruption would decrease if official fees were lowered by 25%.

Effectiveness of current Ukrainian government anticorruption initiatives at customs 

·         70% of companies believe that introduction of a single customs declaration form that would work in European countries and Ukraine would reduce corruption

·         73% believe that integrating Ukraine into the European computerized transit system would reduce corruption. 

Methodology and audience of the survey:

The formal survey was conducted nationwide (in 24 Ukrainian regions and the Republic of Crimea) between November-December 2007 and included structured interviews with 414 top management officials or representatives of companies who directly interact with the customs service.  In addition, expert in-depth interviews were conducted with public officials and business customers.

The overall goal of the survey was to assess perceptions and experiences of Ukrainian importers and exporters to corruption in the customs area, especially related to customs clearance procedures and pre-export arrangements. Another goal was to provide baseline measurement to  assess the future impact of new government initiatives under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Threshold Country Program in Ukraine. A follow-up survey will be conducted in 12 months to evaluate the impact of Ukrainian government efforts in reducing corruption in the customs area.  

Information about the ACTION project:

The ACTION Project is implemented by Management Systems International (MSI) in partnership with Ukrainian organizations and is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The Project is a two-year activity that supports non-governmental monitoring and advocacy on priority areas in the fight against corruption, focusing particularly on issues identified by the Government of Ukraine in its Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Threshold Country Program. One of the important tasks of the ACTION Project is to collect and disseminate unbiased information about the state of corruption in Ukraine.

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Press-release in PDF format