The Acting Director of the Federal Customs Service reported on its performance, including expanded checkpoints in eastern and southern Russia, as well as the service’s digital transformation.
Excerpts from the transcript:
Mikhail Mishustin meets with Acting Director of the Federal Customs Service Ruslan Davydov
Mikhail Mishustin: Mr Davydov, As the President has noted, the Federal Customs Service is making a substantial contribution to the country’s economic security. Of course, your agency is now fulfilling a highly important function and forming the budget in extremely complicated conditions when Russia is facing greater sanctions pressure.
We have accomplished a lot towards simplifying customs clearance procedures under a plan of high-priority action to facilitate economic development in the context of foreign pressure. As you know, many decisions have been adopted in this regard, and this has considerably facilitated customs clearance procedures in these complicated times. We have also simplified technical import regulation procedures.
Please tell me more about the service’s performance recently.
Ruslan Davydov: Mr Mishustin, Indeed, this year, the Federal Customs Service has continued the work that was launched last year under the guidance of the Government and yourself.
We have been working in several directions.
As you
have said, efforts to simplify and expedite customs clearance formalities were
our first task. This involved a high-priority procedure for clearing socially
important goods, as well as those required for the special military operation.
In all, we cleared over 7 million tonnes of such goods.
We have significantly reduced the burden on businesses within the risk management system. The frequency of effective control, which is the most challenging process for businesses, has been reduced by more than 50 percent.
As per the Government’s decision, 950 officers have been assigned to the customs checkpoints in an effort to increase their capacity. The officers were distributed among the busiest checkpoints on the new North–South and East–West transport corridors. With the additional 950 staffers, five checkpoints operate around the clock now.
As you rightly noted, the technical regulation measures have been simplified, which made it possible to import 227,000 batches of goods weighing almost half a million tonnes in total.
The second major area of focus is financial measures. In just under six months, the total amount of financial support provided reached 1.4 trillion roubles. These include concessions and deferred payments of customs duties, zero customs tariffs and a higher threshold for duty-free e-commerce imports.
It would be fair to say that these measures have shown certain results. We can see that, for example, during the first half of the year, trade grew by 3 percent compared to the pre-crisis year of 2019, or before Covid.
Imports are growing at a good pace, which is reflected in the composition of customs revenue. Import duties account for 77 percent of the customs revenue earned during the first half of 2023. We managed to achieve the targets set for the second quarter. In May and June, we actually exceeded the budget revenue plan.
Overall, the Federal Customs Service performed as usual during the first half of the year, with some positive trends.
Mikhail Mishustin: We continue to considerably redirect our transport and logistics systems. The conventional transport flows are changing. We are receiving more cargo from the South and the East, which makes it necessary to streamline the operation of customs checkpoints. It is very important.
What measures are being taken to improve the quality and speed, and to make all the procedures convenient and modern for importers?
Ruslan Davydov: Mr Mishustin, true, it is safe to say that a major turnaround of our trade to the East and the South has happened.
What have the customs authorities done to make sure that the customs checkpoints continue to be a well-functioning part of the transport corridors, without the bottlenecks that we saw in the past?
As I said, five customs checkpoints now operate 24/7, with an increased staff capacity of 950 more officers. We plan to assign 200 workers to the Far Eastern sector shortly.
We are simplifying the effective control to minimise the burden on businesses at customs checkpoints. Our plan is to implement, in cooperation with the Ministry of Transport and the Border Service of the Federal Security Service, inspection and screening facilities that will allow screening more cargo using non-intrusive methods and expediting customs control procedures. According to Government resolutions, we are setting up additional inspection stations in congested areas such as Verkhny Lars.
Mikhail Mishustin: As you know, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan made this request. While in Sochi, you and I made the relevant commitments to him, and we have kept them. I would therefore like to thank the customs officers who were involved in addressing the issues of throughput capacity at Verkhny Lars together with specialists from the Ministry of Transport and other agencies.
Ruslan Davydov: Mr Mishustin, this was indeed a collective project that involved customs officers, border guards, the Ministry of Transport, other oversight agencies, and the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision (Rosselkhoznadzor). We achieved a record of sorts in Verkhny Lars, clearing 31,622 lorries this past June. We continue to maintain this pace, and there have been no queues since early July. We are clearing over 1,000 lorries daily. During the peak season, the checkpoint handles 3,000 to 3,500 passenger cars and up to 15,000 individuals each day. This is a heavy workload; it takes a lot of cooperation between our agencies and partners. Our Armenian colleagues also help us coordinate our work with Georgia. For example, we discuss vehicle clearance issues with our Georgian colleagues.
Mikhail Mishustin: This is healthy cooperation. First, we should keep the people who are inconvenienced in mind when these processes do not work smoothly, and the businesspeople that are losing money as they wait.
Digital transformation is another important issue. The customs agencies have made major progress in using special customs clearance tools, including customs declarations, and convenient tools for businesspeople, both exporters and importers, as well as customs clearance departments.
Cybersecurity issues are another important part of this. While possessing substantial and highly sensitive state and business resources, we must make sure criminals cannot access sensitive information, and we must prevent DDoS attacks on the Customs Service’s server equipment. What is the Customs Service doing in this respect, including cybersecurity issues?
Ruslan Davydov: Mr Mishustin, the digitalisation of customs offices is an important part of this work. We have been achieving 30 percent levels in the past six months. This includes customs clearance deadlines for those involved in foreign economic operations, for private individuals, expediting procedures, reducing the administrative load on businesses and reducing customs operations deadlines. We automatically clear goods and declarations. Additionally, we are increasing our labour productivity because automation allows us to relieve about 800 inspectors and use them for performing other tasks.
Regarding DDoS attacks and cyberattacks, our opponents now see our infrastructure as a lucrative prize during the crisis and the special military operation. As per your directions and with the Government’s assistance, we are now implementing a range of measures to strengthen cybersecurity. We are doing this with all our colleagues and specialists, including those in the market. We have approved a corresponding action plan.
Mikhail Mishustin: This is very important; you need to constantly keep up with this issue. I expect you to fulfil the plans that have been presented.
