New customs head to pursue dramatic reforms

Max Nefyodov, the newly appointed head of the State Customs
Service, announced his top five priorities in an interview published on the
epravda.com.ua news site on July 3. They are making data electronic, changing
personnel, improving customs equipment, integrating into the European customs
community and drafting the customs legal code. All these tasks will be pursued
simultaneously, he said. In particular, Ukraine’s 26 customs bodies will be
consolidated into five or six, he said. Customs officials will be hired on
short- and mid-term contracts that will be renewed based on performance, he
said. And as many of 30% of personnel can be reorganized in the next three
months, he said.

Zenon Zawada: Given his
performance at the economy ministry (where he led the successful implementation
of the ProZorro electronic declarations system), we are confident that Nefyodov
is serious about reforming customs and has both the will and the skill to do
so. Nefyodov will have accomplished a revolution in Ukraine’s notoriously
corrupt and ineffective customs service even if he accomplishes just a third of
his proposals. Even a little change at customs will go a long way for Ukraine’s
economy. So we expect customs reforms – no matter how limited – will become
among the key accomplishments of the Zelensky administration, if not anything
else.