The lack of regulation of customs control creates conditions for corruption

Today, at the regular meeting of the Council on combating corruption and the shadow economy under the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs "Atameken", chaired by Kairbek Suleimenov, was considered the issue of "Strengthening the interaction between business and customs authorities in combating corruption".

Suleimenov, opening the meeting, noted that the strategic topic in the policy of the State Revenue officials as an increase of revenues finally swallowed such important issues as finding incentives for law-abiding businesses, equal dialogue, openness and transparency of customs administration, etc. "This can’t be tolerated. Performing the important task of replenishment of the budget, should occur without breaking the law, it is necessary to take into account the interests of entrepreneurs. Businessmen submit complaints of harassment imposed by the customs officials. Here it must be said objectively that the flow of complaints is not huge, as it was 3-4 years ago, but the problems are very significant", - he said.

Deputy of the Mazhilis of the Parliament, a member of the Council on combating corruption and the shadow economy of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs  "Atameken" Amanzhan Zhamalov reported on the results of the visit of the expert group of the Council to the regions, where meetings were held with the akims, customs officers and businessmen-participants of foreign economic activity. In particular, he focused on the problems of interaction between business and the state in the sphere of foreign economic activity and existing threats of corruption in this sphere. For example, he noted that the entrepreneurs complain about the duration and opacity of customs procedures, poor infrastructure of customs clearance points, subjectivism of officials when making decisions.

According to Zhamalov, the lack of a clear legal regulation of customs control creates conditions for corruption risks. Thus, the Code on customs establishes unduly broad discretion for the customs authorities. Unrestricted right to reclaim additional documents creates opportunities for malfeasance.

"Customs inspection can greatly affect the time of clearance of the goods. This creates interest in its "acceleration". However, the timing of the inspection is determined at the discretion of the customs inspector, legislation, these terms are not stipulated by the law. In practice, the facts of corruption among customs officials are widespread in return for acceleration of customs clearance", - he said.

The prerequisites for corruption creates a lack of established order of the customs inspection of premises and territories. The issues of off-site customs audits are not resolved completely either. In the appointment of expertise, submission of requests to other states, the audits can be suspended indefinitely. Period of suspension is not stipulated in the law. This is also the factor of corruption. Zhamalov noted that entrepreneurs often make comments in relation to customs audits. It can be used in the risk profile, and at the discretion of the customs officer. "These gaps in legislation contribute to the commission of crimes of corruption", - he added.

Because of unjustified inspections, contractual obligations of entrepreneurs are breached. "According to the Audit Committee, in 2015 out of 36 thousand audits, the units of SRC revealed only 103 violations of the customs legislation. One of the reasons for this is the poor methodological support of the risk management system (RMS). It does not allow to obtain adequate information on the results of risk minimization measures, to address the control and analytical tasks. As a result of the application of RMS, 1455 customs audits were carried out with identification of 13 violations of the customs legislation. At the same time, in some cases the value of consignments for which RMS has worked, vary from 6 to 200 USD", - said the deputy.

The existing risk management system, in spite of considerable financial investment, systematically falters because many of its components are not integrated with each other, he said.

"A major problem affecting the development of foreign economic activity, are distortions in the determination of the customs value of imported goods. The risk management system is clearly fiscal in nature. The objective is - failure to establish the objective of the customs value of the goods and the artificial overstatement in order to increase state revenue", - said Zhamalov.

The speaker stated that the failure to comply with requirements of the law entails infringement of the rights of entrepreneurs, and accordingly the appeal of illegal actions in the courts. According to Prosecutor General's Office, the courts considered 117 applications of appeals against illegal actions of customs officials during execution of customs control, of which 32 were satisfied, or every third (in 2015 - 75, 42 for 6 months of 2016).

Current customs administration problems hinder the development of foreign trade, increase the cost of business, says Zhamalov.

He also noted that the system of customs control is not effective against gray import of goods. "According to the state statistics bodies, the market of retail sales of cellular phones and other wireless communication amounts to 139 billion tenge. Illegal importation of goods scheme, the so-called gray imports, according to experts, are widely used in the market. Grey market is supported by buyers themselves, wishing to purchase goods at low prices. The use of "gray" schemes restricts competition and creates unequal conditions for law-abiding participants of foreign trade activities", - said the deputy.

According to Zhamalov, the international experience shows that the automated information system for recording mobile terminals (AISUMT) used in the European Union, the United States and other countries, effectively resists gray, semi-legal import phones. "Kazakhstan has developed such a system as (AISUMT), which was presented at the SRC in 2015. However, it was not adopted, although the law allows you to adopt it quickly and to implement to ensure customs control", - he said.

According to the speaker, business criticizes the system of appeal against unlawful decisions of SRC and the settlement of customs disputes, as an appeal is within the SRC system. Entrepreneurs more often go to the courts than to a higher authority. In 2014, the courts considered 13.2% claims of entrepreneurs and SRC - 7.5% of the complaints. "In order to ensure the independence, openness and transparency in dealing with complaints on Customs (tax) issues, it is necessary to create the Appeals Commission under the Ministry of Finance with participation of the independent experts in its work", - he suggested.

Opinion polls among entrepreneurs indicate a high level of corruption in the provision of services in the field of customs administration. "According to sociological studies, the most corrupt services in the sphere of customs administration is customs control at the border, additional verification value of the goods, a decision on the classification of goods, and reconciliation of payments. The size of bribes, according to research, is highest for customs clearance of goods and carrying out additional checks on the value of goods (on average 100-110 thousand tenge) ", - said the deputy.

"Thus, there are still serious organizational and legal problems in the sphere of interaction between state bodies and entrepreneurs. Their resolution should contribute to the successful development of the economy of the country ", - summed up Amanzhan Zhamalov.