Draft Customs Law adopted – Certain procedures stand to be simplified

Finance Minister Sinisa Mali has stated that the Draft Customs Law, adopted at today's session of the Government of Serbia, entails the simplification of various customs procedures and that it is largely harmonized with the EU legal framework, which is another step on Serbia's road to Europe.

As his cabinet announced, Mali said that the law proscribes electronic communication between the customs authorities and the private sector.

He explained that customs declarations would be submitted electronically and that new IT systems needed to be built, whereas the existing ones needed to be upgraded, in order for those provisions to be implemented, which requires a certain amount of time. He added that the EU planned for this to be carried out by the end of 2020.

The draft law, Mali added, implements new simplifications of customs procedures, such as centralized customs clearance and self-evaluation, whereas the existing simplifications entail the usage of data from the books of business entities to a greater extent.

– Compared to the current Customs Law, this is the first time that the provisions pertaining to customs debt are found in the initial chapters, which points to the remarkable importance of the financial aspect in the implementation of customs regulations. Another new feature is a new categorization of customs procedures: release of goods into free circulation, special procedures and export – the minister said and added that mandatory security has been defined for the majority of customs procedures.

According to Mali, the draft law also envisages the storage of goods in free zones as a special customs procedure – free zone procedure.

The minister also said that the customs procedures of processing under customs supervision and inward processing were abolished and that the institution of an authorized business entity was strengthened.

– Inward processing can be approved without the obligation of having the goods re-exported – Mali said.

As he added, another new feature is the period within which goods can be temporarily stored, which has been increased from 20 to 90 days, and the period within which goods can remain in the procedure of temporary import is now 10 years.

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Sinisa Mali

Draft Customs Law

Customs Law

customs procedures

simplification of customs procedures

electronic submission of customs declarations

centralized customs clearance

new classification of customs procedures

free zone storage

free zone procedure

temporary storage period

temporary import procedure

customs debt

implementation of customs regulations

import

export

inward processing