The government has started the competition process for the position of head of the State Customs Service. Who is on the commission?

On August 4, the government began an open competition process for the position of head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine.

This was reported by the Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko.

The competition committee included representatives of Ukrainian business and international experts in anti-corruption and customs.

From Ukraine:

• the head of the analytical center of the Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs (UUE) Andriy Yerashov;
• the chairman of the Council of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine Dmytro Oliynyk;
• business development director of the auditing firm Moore Stevens Oleh Tymkiv.

From international partners:

• Customs Attaché of Lithuania to the EU, expert in customs policy and international cooperation Arūnas Adomenas;
• governance and institutional reform expert David Bernstein;
• international expert on customs policy, trade facilitation and organizational leadership Kunio Mikuriya.

In addition, Svyrydenko said that the government has also approved a medium-term action plan for implementing customs reform. According to her, this is one of the key areas in the National Revenue Strategy until 2030.

"The reformed customs should establish equal rules for all economic participants and become a source of stable revenues for the state budget," says the Prime Minister.

What preceded

On October 17 last year, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed Law No. 6490-d on the resettlement of customs.

The law, among other things, provides for a transparent competition for the position of the head of the State Customs Service and his political independence. The bill also proposed introducing integrity checks and lifestyle monitoring, and the possibility of interviewing customs officials using a polygraph.

The law provides for an independent audit of customs authorities and requirements for hiring. Within 18 months of the election of a new head, all customs employees will be re-certified, including on integrity issues. Failure to pass the re-certification will mean the dismissal of such an employee. Customs officers should also be paid more.

For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.