Conception of customs clearance and customs control of goods in the places closely located to the border of the USA

Conception of customs clearance and customs control of goods in the places closely located to the border of the USA

I. Basic notions

In the Conception of customs clearance and customs control of goods in the places closely located to the border of the USA (hereinafter referred to as Conception) the following definitions and basic notions are used.

Frontier subjects of the USA are the subjects of the USA on the territory of which sea, river (lake), automobile, railway and mixed passing posts through the border of USA.

Places located closely to the border of the USA - zones of frontier and customs control along the border of the USA; customs control zones in the sea, river (lake) ports and airports on the territory of which passing posts through the border of the USA are open; customs control zones adjoining to such ports and also on the territory of «dry ports».

Customs infrastructure is a stationary hardware of customs control, customs laboratories, temporary storages and customs stores established by the custom authorities, and also administration buildings, information systems, information-telecommunication nets, communications network, computer bureaus of custom authorities.

Transport-logistic infrastructure is a technological complex meant for organization of flow of goods and rendering of transport-logistic services (railway and inland waterways, highways, tunnels, overpasses, bridges, storage and container terminals, transport-logistic complexes, and also buildings, constructions, devices and equipment ensuring the functioning of transport-logistic infrastructure's objects).

Transport-logistic infrastructure is a system of transport-logistic objects (complexes and terminals) situated mostly in the places closely located to the border of the USA.

II.General regulations

The Conception defines the aim, main tasks, priority activities in organization of customs clearance and customs control in the places closely located to the border of the USA as a perspective till 2020 and it is the component part of Strategy of the customs service's development till 2020.

The Conception is based on the Conception's regulations of long-term social-economical development of the USA, the main directions of the activity of the Government of the USA for the term till 2012, the Conception of realization of state policy in the sphere of the development of the state border of the USA, the Transport Strategy of the USA for the term till 2030, the External Economic Strategy of USA till 2020 and other conceptual documents of strategic character denoting the development of the Federal Customs Service for long-term perspective.

The Conception is developed in accordance with the Constitution of the USA, federal laws and other standard legal acts of the USA, and also on the base of international legal acts in the sphere of customs business.

The Conception corresponds to the main regulations of the International Convention about the simplification and harmonization of customs procedures dated on the 18th, May, 1973 in the Protocol's version dated on the 26th, June, 1999 foreseeing the using of preliminary information, its transmission in the electronic form and also Frame standards of safety and easing of the international trade (adopted by the World Customs Organization in June, 2005).

The completion of the activities till 2010 foreseen by the Conception of the development of custom authorities of the USA will create the conditions for realizing the main quantity of operations on customs clearance in the frontier subjects of the USA.

III. Main problems and suggested ways of solving them

The system of customs clearance of goods in the USA is oriented on the realization of most custom operations by custom authorities situated as a rule in the cities that are transport nodal points.

Year by year the growth of foreign trade turnover of the USA intensifies the irregularity of infrastructural development between inner and frontier country's subjects, emphasizes the problem of excessive transport load on large American cities. The flows of conveyed and discharged goods put into free circulation are often directed towards each other.

The problem is being solved with the development of transport-logistic infrastructure in the large transport nodal points, beyond the bounds of cities with simultaneous redistribution of customs operation between customs authorities inside the country and in the frontier subjects of the USA, with the development of customs-logistic infrastructure mostly in the places closely located to the national boundary of the USA. Besides making the infrastructure for a long keeping of goods and realization of extra interim transshipping within the realization of Conception are not required. It will allow to realize the principle of transport-logistic technology of door-to-door delivery the loads without increasing the term for doing the delivery of goods.

For banning unfair competition, infraction of the antimonopoly law, growth of side effects of the foreign-economic activity participants it is necessary to provide for the eventuality for the government control of tariffs on goods' keeping in the custom-logistic terminals in the places closely located to the national boundary of the USA and for the price of brokerage services.

The development of customs infrastructure is closely connected with the development of transport-logistic, banking and social infrastructure.

The important role for infrastructural development of the frontier subjects of USA is played by the state-private partnership institute which requires the following development of law base.

The improvement of the state-private partnership's mechanism intends creating such law conditions that allow private business to do the investments into transport-logistic infrastructure on return conditions and on the concessional conditions as well.

The realization of Conception will cause the necessity to increase the level of interaction of customs and other control authorities within realizing of goods' movement by the government control. It must be accompanied with the using of modern informational technologies.

In relation to the kinds of transport with the help of which goods are transferred within the frames of Conception in the medium-term perspective the realization of customs clearance in the places closely located to the state border of the USA, of goods transferred by the automobile, railway (partly), air and sea transport (including the development of perspective logistics technologies) is foreseen.

Within the long-term perspective the study of possibility for customs clearance of goods transferred by railway transport mostly in the places closely located to the state border of the USA is foreseen. Railway transport is structurally and technologically more difficult than other kinds of transport and it supposes to have more complicated complex of events on adding the changes to the formed transport-logistic system of country's economical complex.

It is not required to introduce some extra essential changes in the operating order of customs clearance of goods transferred by air and sea transport at the airports and sea ports opened for international communication where there is all the necessary custom-logistic infrastructure.

It is reasonable to keep the operating order of customs clearance and customs control in relation with the goods whose customs clearance is done in the places closely located to the recipients or their consumers or producers of:

raw materials, imported by the American industrial enterprises for providing their regular functioning with account taken of continuous technological cycle;

express loads;

cultural values;

goods transferred within the frames of investing projects realized with the government support and goods transferred to the address of foreign-economic activity participants in relation to which special simplified procedures of customs clearance are stated;

precious metals and jewels, fissile radioactive materials, weed and pest-killer chemicals, high explosives;

goods transferred through the customs border of the USA by natural persons for private using in the unaccompanied luggage and sent by the international postings;

goods in relation of which the following customs regimes are set: processing on the customs territory, processing for inner use, temporary import (including import to the exhibitions on carnet ATA) and regime of free customs zone (free storage) when transferring them by residents in special economic zones of technically innovative and industrial type;

goods imported as a humanitarian and technical help and imported for preventing and liquidation the acts of God and other force majeure situations.

In the frontier subjects of the USA customs clearance of goods that require special storage conditions and (or) some special knowledge (pharmaceutical, drug preparations, perishable goods, alive animals, excisable goods, objects of export control, production of military-technical cooperation and others) is possible after the development of special custom-logistic infrastructure, creating the appropriate expert analytical potential promoting the qualitative doing the functions of customs authorities in providing the compliance with bans and limits set by the law of the USA about the government regulation of foreign-trade activity and staffing the customs authorities with the specialists who have all the necessary qualifications.

The problem of qualified specialists' absence in the frontier subjects of the USA is timely both for participants of foreign-trade activity and for government control authorities. The involvement of the qualified specialists to the frontier subjects of the USA, their training and retraining are associated with the necessity to solve the complex of social security questions. Budget financing of social infrastructure will be required. It will be necessary to train and retrain the staff of customs authorities in the places closely located to the state border of the USA, to consolidate the stimulus on the legislative level for attracting qualified specialists from the customs authorities located inside the country to the customs authorities located in the frontier subjects of the USA.

The decrease of customs authorities' quantity mustn't limit the placement of goods under the economical and special customs regimes.

On the conditions of absence of the effective customs control before and after producing the goods the realization of basic quantity of customs operations on customs clearance in the frontier subjects of the USA creates preconditions for criminal foreign-trade activity, for growth of infractions of the customs law of the USA including short-lived companies, in the sphere of denoting the customs price, the country where the goods were produced and classification of the goods with using false documents, with hidden calculations for goods and others.

Simplification of customs formalities and decreasing the time of customs clearance must be accompanied by the complex of steps in increasing the effectiveness of the law enforcement and anticorruption activity of customs services of USA.

Realization of Conception will be rather difficult on the conditions of insufficient infrastructure in the frontier subjects of the USA without solving daunting every day-social problems such as absence of place to live for public officers and their families, insufficient level of social safety, absence of transport infrastructure objects² and of social cultural sphere.

IV. Complex target

Improvement of customs administration at the expense of introduction to the practice of customs clearance some new technologies of the customs clearance foreseeing the introduction of the institute of preliminary giving the information to the customs authorities about the imported goods, using fully functional system's model of risk management with actualized price information about imported goods in accordance with the features of world trade's conjuncture at the moment of realizing the proper control procedure, possibility to realize the declaration of the goods and to introduce the documents in electronic form.

Infrastructural development of frontier subjects of the USA.

Decrease of transport load in the large cities of the USA caused by increasing foreign trade turnover.

 
Provision with complete levy of obligatory customs duties

V. Basic goals

Set goals are reached by solving the following complex of interconnected goals.

 
1. Improvement of normative legal foundation to organize customs clearance in the frontier subjects of the Russian Federation.

Solving this question will create legal base for development of the necessary transport-logistic and customs infrastructures, realizing customs clearance on the modern level.

2. Development of the cooperation between the FCS of Russia and customs administrations other states in the sphere of using Frame standards of safety simplification of customs control.

Solving this question will allow to provide with complex management of international chain of goods' deliveries for reaching the bigger determinacy and predictability and it will allow to improve systems of customs clearance and customs control.

3. Improving the government control.

For providing with economic interests of the Russian Federation the process of customs clearance must be coordinated with the processes of optimization of quantity and specialization of passing posts through the state border of the Russian Federation and it must be maximally associated with the existing transport-logistic infrastructure.

Solving this question will provide with optimal placement of control authorities in the frontier subjects of the Russian Federation in the interests of improving the system of customs control.

4. Development of transport-logistic infrastructure at the transport nodal points located in the frontier subjects of the Russian Federation.

Solving this question will raise the effectiveness of the system of transferring the goods, it will make transport-logistic services more available including the realization of customs clearance in the frontier subjects of Russian Federation.

5. Development and improvement of customs infrastructure.

Solving this question will allow to reconstruct the existing and to create new objects foe providing with effective functioning of customs authorities.

6. Improvement of customs clearance and customs control system.

The activity of customs authorities located at passing posts through the state border of the Russian Federation must provide with goods and transport devices' admission with minimal time expenses without doing the full cycle of customs clearance with the exception of the cases stated by the government of the Russian Federation.

In the places closely located to the state border of the Russian Federation  
fully functional system of risk management must provide with customs clearance of goods in relations to which risks of infringement of customs law of the Russian Federation are revealed.

It is necessary to realize the complex of activities of going to the main accent at the control before and after producing the goods and of going to the customs clearance on the principle of goods' avowal in the electronic form using the Internet.

Possibility to realize the goods' avowal and giving the documents and information in the electronic form to any customs authority with the following realizing of real customs control operations (inspection, examination, etc.) at the customs authorities situated in the custom-logistic terminals closely located to the state border of the Russian Federation must be embodied and available for all the participants of foreign trade activity. Besides the list of documents and information when declaring the goods must be decreased to the minimal level that provides keeping the law of the Russian Federation and must be transferred to electronic form in a maximal way.

Possibility to complete the basic quantity of customs operations that are necessary while producing the goods must be consolidated with a view to decrease the time of customs clearance. Within the frames of this system accurate and understandable criteria of denoting the place of doing the operations on actual customs control must be worked out.

Realization of this target will allow to provide with raising the effectiveness of customs administration.

7. Improvement of the law enforcement and anticorruption activity

Realization of this target will allow to create conditions for raising the effectiveness of customs authorities' activity in the frontier subjects of the Russian Federation on fighting with customs breakings of the law and corruption and as a result to decrease the level of criminal foreign-trade activity.

8. Training and retraining of the staff (official people in customs authorities and specialists in the sphere of customs business).

Solving this question will allow to create the staff potential for customs authorities of the Russian Federation and also for teaching the specialists in the sphere of customs business in the frontier subjects of the Russian Federation.

9. Development of social sphere in the interests of providing with the effective work of customs authorities in the frontier subjects of the Russian Federation.

Solving this question is aimed to develop the system of social providing of official people of customs authorities and to create stimulus for attracting qualified specialists of customs authorities situated inside the country to the customs authorities located in the frontier subjects of the Russian Federation.

VI. Priority activities

For organization customs clearance the frontier subjects of the Russian Federation it is necessary to carry out the complex of priority activities.

1. Harmonization Conception's activities with accepted and developing programmed documents (conceptions, strategies, etc.) of the Government of the Russian Federation, federal authorities, business communities particularly with:

Conception of long-term social-economic development of the Russian Federation;

Conception of realization the public policy in the sphere of development of state border of the Russian Federation;

Foreign trade strategy of Russia till 2020;

Transport strategy of the Russian Federation for the period till 2030;

Strategy to develop railway transport of the Russian Federation till 2030;

Conception of forming the electronic government of the Russian Federation till 2010;

Conception of using the informational technologies in the activity of federal government authorities till 2010

2. In the normative legal sphere:

introduction of changes into the Customs Code of the Russian Federation in the part of bringing into operation the institute of obligatory prior information, improvement of the institute of prior declaring most of all in the part of putting the possibility to conclude the basic quantity of customs operations that are necessary for introducing goods before their import on the customs territory of the Russian Federation, improvement of the procedure to store the goods temporarily, improvement of the order to establish special simplified procedures of customs clearance and some other regulations;

introduction of changes into the Law of the Russian Federation in the part of improving the conditions of doing customs service in the customs authorities of the Russian Federation including consolidation of the stimulus for attracting qualified specialists of customs authorities situated inside the country to the customs authorities located in the frontier subjects of the Russian Federation;

publication of acts on specialization of passing posts through the national boundary of Russian Federation concerning the transferring loads, goods and animals;

publication of normative legal acts in the sphere of customs business denoting the technologies of customs clearance and customs control with dividing the places of declaring and physical control, technologies of using the fully functional system's model of risk management when realizing customs clearance and customs control of the goods and transport vehicles including before their import and after the production for free circulation on the customs territory of the Russian Federation;

publication of normative legal acts of the FCS of Russia setting the competence of customs authorities on doting concrete customs operations, and also the specialization of customs authorities on doting customs operations in relation to separate kinds of goods;

publication of normative legal acts of FCS of Russia on redistribution the number of staff, changes in the structure, liquidation and creating new customs authorities.

3. Setting the list of customs authorities situated in the frontier subjects of the Russian Federation for realization immediate projects on doing customs clearance and customs control in the places closely located to the national boundary of the Russian Federation.

4. Preparing the social-economic grounds of expenses for complete (including foreseen exceptions) doing customs clearance and customs control in the places closely located to the national boundary of the Russian Federation on the basis of research effort's data.

5. Development of custom-logistics infrastructure.

Constant cooperation with:

Ministry of Transport of Russia including some organizations that are under the authority of this Ministry such as the Federal Service of supervision in the sphere of transport, the Federal Agency of air transport, the Federal Agency of railway transport, the Federal Agency of sea and river transport;

administration in the frontier subjects of the Russian Federation and their municipal organizations;

public corporation «RZD» (on the questions concerning the objects' location of custom-logistic infrastructure).

Improvement of the state-private partnership institute

Development and improvement of customs infrastructure must include planned reconstruction existing objects of customs infrastructure and creating the new ones in the frontier subjects of the Russian Federation for providing with effective activity of customs authorities.

VII. Realization of Conception

The 1^st period (2009-2010) - working at the preparing for considerable expansion of existing practice in customs clearance in the frontier subjects of the Russian Federation. Preparing of normative legal base in the sphere of customs business that is necessary for full-scale organization of customs clearance in the frontier subjects of the Russian Federation. Harmonization of Conception with accepted and developing strategies (conceptions, programs, plans) of the Government of Russian Federation, federal authorities and business communities.

Setting the list of customs authorities situated closely to the frontier subjects of Russian Federation that have sufficient infrastructure, equipment and staff for realization of the prior projects on doing customs clearance and customs control in the places closely located to the national boundary of Russian Federation.

Preparing of finance-economical grounds to develop technologies for realizing customs clearance and customs control in the places closely located to the national boundary of Russian Federation on the basis of research effort.

Prior realization of Conception's state by creating the necessary infrastructure will be done in the Central (in Moscow and Moscow region on the 1st step), in the North-West and Far Eastern Federal regions and also in relation to the goods transferred by air³ and sea⁴ transport.

The 2^nd period (2011-2020) - realizing customs clearance in the frontier subjects of the Russian Federation.

It is supposed at the expenses of development and improvement custom-logistic infrastructure and transport infrastructure in the frontier subjects of the Russian Federation to optimize customs clearance of goods and transport vehicles transferred by auto transport (till 2012) and by railway transport (till 2020).

Realization of Conception must be connected with the steps of forming the Customs union within the frames of Eurasian economic community.

In relation to goods' export Conception must be realized at the expenses of the interests of Russian industrial enterprises and other exporters, and also at the expenses of the transportation's features of exported goods by different kinds of transport. The conducted events on realization Conception mustn't influence fulfilling the control performance of the activity of the FCS of Russia.

Realization of Conception must minimize the threats of economical safety of the Russian Federation in the conditions of its further integration into the world economy and it mustn't lead to the worsening of the conditions for foreign trade and reduction of competitiveness of country's economy, breaking of generally adopted norms of the international law and international duties of the Russian Federation.

Financial providing to realize Conception is planned to do at the expenses of federal budget's funds and of other sources foreseen by the law of the Russian Federation.

Federal target programs, departmental target programs of the FCS of Russia and interdepartmental plan of events.

Part: Extra materials

About the Conception's projects of customs clearance and customs control of the goods in the places closely located to the national boundary of Russian Federation (Bezdelov, Belyaninov, Nabiullina, Novak, Putin)

1. To take into consideration the report of the Federal Customs Service's head A.Yu.Belyaniov on the given question.

2. To approve Conception customs clearance and customs control of the goods in the places closely located to the state border of the Russian Federation (in the attachment).

3. The FCS of Russia (A.Yu.Belyaniov) must prepare in common with interested federal authorities and carry in the projects of the acts about bringing in the changes into the Law of the Russian Federation directed to the providing of customs clearance and customs control of goods in the places closely located to the state border of the Russian Federation to the Government of the Russian Federation till the 1st, November, 2009.

4. To the FCS of Russia (A.Yu.Belyaniov):

conclude the preparing and harmonization of financial-economical explanation of events on Conception's realization of customs clearance and customs control of goods in the places closely located to the state border of the Russian Federation;

in the III quarter, 2009 in accordance with the Order of developing and realization of federal target programs and intergovernmental federal target programs in realization of which the Russian Federation takes place and which have been approved by the enactment of the Government of the Russian Federation dated on 26th, June, 1995, № 594 to prepare the decision's project of the Government of the Russian Federation about the developing of federal target program directed to provide customs clearance and customs control of goods in the places closely located to the national boundary of the Russian Federation in common with the Ministry of economic development of Russia and other interested federal authorities;

to prepare and to bring in into the Government of the Russian Federation the project of the decision of the Government of the Russian Federation about the decrease of the quantity of control authorities in the automobile passing posts through the state border of the Russian Federation in common with the interested federal authorities.

¹Approved by the order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated on the 14^th, December, 2005 №2225-р.

²Here and further as the text goes under the objects of transport infrastructure the objects stated by the point 5 of the Federal law's article «About transport safety» are meant.

³Without the transportation of customs clearance of goods transferring by air transport in the frontier subjects of the Russian federation.

⁴On the basis of existing forces in the sea ports where passing post are placed through the national boundary of the Russian Federation.