Members of the Ukrainian Business Council, which includes 110 business associations of various sectors of the economy, analyzed draft law No. 5420 regarding the criminalization of smuggling and came to a conclusion, that in the proposed to 2 reading the editorial, this project poses significant threats to law-abiding business, since its provisions are formulated in this way, what contain significant corruption risks, and also pose a threat to the activity of primarily legal business and in no way contribute to solving the problem of shadow imports.

First of all, it should be emphasized, that the limit of criminal responsibility under Article 201-3 of the draft law is unreasonably low. In particular, criminal liability is proposed in case of illegal movement of goods across the customs border in the amount of, with a share of more than 1,342 million. Instead, for the qualification of a criminal offense according to the article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (CCU) «Tax evasion», the limit of criminal liability for tax evasion (which are customs payments) is 4,026 million. 

Since such changes relate specifically to responsibility for economic crimes and public danger consists precisely in non-payment of taxes and other payments, then it is advisable to be guided by those similar to the content of the article 212 KKU criteria for determining the threshold of criminal responsibility. More, the issue of the customs value of goods is often the subject of a dispute between the declarant and the customs authority, and therefore cannot act as a threshold for criminal liability.

Significant risks for honest business are also seen in the proposed version of the Notes to Art. 201 CCU, which refers to smuggling, including the submission of documents to the customs authority as a basis for the movement of goods, containing false information about the name of the goods, their weight or quantity, country of origin, sender or recipient, the number of cargo spaces, their markings and numbers, false information, necessary to determine the product code according to the Ukrainian classification of goods of foreign economic activity and its customs value, which led or could lead to an unlawful exemption from payment of customs payments or a reduction in their amount. In practice, when declaring goods, the customs authority and the declarant often have disputes regarding the determination of the customs value, product code, country of origin, scales, etc. More, proposed revision of the article 201-3 does not imply necessity proving intent to commit a criminal offense.

At this stage, due to the strike, a significant amount of cargo accumulated on the Polish border. Despite the government's efforts, the problem is not solved quickly, and demonstrates our dependence on the Polish border. After all, even minor strikes lead to a collapse on the western border, and numerous negotiations show that the problem is complex. Russian influence on this situation is not excluded, and the Polish government does not contribute to solving the problem. In general, this problem is systemic and difficulties at the border have been observed before, to this protest action of Polish carriers.

Since the concept of using the "grain corridor" has now changed, including, since the middle of September, this corridor has been operating without the participation of Russia and without the need to agree on the list of goods and ships entering the port - it is worth establishing international container lines to the ports of Great Odesa for the transportation of finished Ukrainian products and the unloading of the western border.

153 vessel, that are transported over 5,6 million metric tons of grain and other cargo - passed through the Black Sea Humanitarian Corridor of Ukraine from September to 24 November 2023 .

If we establish international container lines on this route of the "grain corridor" and expand the list of products, transported through this corridor by other goods with high added value - this will allow to solve several important issues at once.

This will positively affect the cost of logistics, will improve the position of Ukrainian food and other goods on foreign markets, will contribute to an increase in the total volume of exports, as well as this would more than halve the load on car checkpoints and reduce queues at the western borders, including, with Poland and the ports of Gdansk, Renee, Constantius.

For example, before the start of a full-scale war, only confectionery and starch-molasses products provided a sufficiently powerful cargo flow (close 160 th. etc.) through the Odesa port, using sea container transportation. The situation is similar in other food industries.

The full text of the appeal of the Ukrainian Business Council can be found at the link:https://urb.org.ua/shhodo-zavedennya-mizhnarodnih-kontejnernih-linij-v-porti-velikoї-odesi-dlya-rozvantazhennya-zahidnogo-kordonu/