Numerous complaints of businessmen on the actions of customs services have become the reason for the next Council meeting on combating corruption and the shadow economy of NCE RK "Atameken", at which were discussed issues of customs administration

The Chairman of the Council Kairbek Suleimenov, opening the meeting, noted that the policy of the State Revenue officials related to the strategic topic of increasing state revenue, has finally swallowed such important issues as provision of incentives for law-abiding businesses, equal dialogue, openness and transparency of customs administration, etc.

-  This can not be tolerated. Execution of the important task of replenishment the state budget should not give reasons for breaking the law, neglection of entrepreneurs’ interests. Entrepreneurs submit complaints on harassment on the part of customs officials. Objectively speaking, the flow of complaints is not as big, as it was 3-4 years ago, but there are problem, which 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 Amanzhan Zhamalov, the lack of a clear legal regulation of customs control creates conditions for corruption risks. Thus, the Customs Code establishes unduly broad discretionary powers for the customs authorities. Unrestricted right to reclaim additional documents creates opportunities for abuse.

-  Customs inspection can greatly affect the time of clearance of goods. This creates interest in its "acceleration". However, the timing of the inspection is determined at the discretion of the customs inspector. These timing is 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.

A lack of established order of the customs inspection of premises and territories creates prerequisites for corruption. The issues of off-site customs audits are not resolved completely either. During appointment of an expertise, submission of petitions to other states can be suspended indefinitely. Period of suspension is not stipulated by the law. This is also a corruption factor. Zhamalov noted that entrepreneurs often make comments in relation to customs audits. It can be applied by the recommendation of the risk profile, and at the discretion of a customs officer.

These gaps in legislation contribute to the commission of corruption crimes, - 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 provide adequate information on risk minimization; it doesn’t address 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 fails because many of its components are not integrated with each other, he said.

-A major problem affecting the development of foreign economic activities is incorrect determination of the customs value of imported goods. The risk management system has a clearly fiscal nature. The objective is not to establish the objective customs value of the goods, but the artificial overstatement in order to increase state revenue, - said Zhamalov.

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

Current customs administration problems hinder the development of foreign trade, increase the costs for 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 it 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 State Revenue Committee - 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 Appeal 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 components in the sphere of customs administration are 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.

As it was reported at the meeting of the Council on combating corruption and the shadow economy under the National Chamber of entrepreneurs of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Atameken" by Deputy Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan Andrey Kravchenko, the biggest problem of the fiscal authorities is inconsistency. In his opinion in such a situation it is impossible to talk about stability.

-In recent years, the customs bodies adopted so many measures. I just want to mention one, in my opinion, the most important problem, which prosecutor’s office faces on regular basis. This is the lack of consistency in the actions of fiscal authorities. They allowed the cargo to enter the country and to be customs cleared; sometimes they even inspect this cargo 10 times. No questions, an entrepreneur has left. After six months, a year, two, even three years after they get back to you and say: whatever you did in the past was wrong. The legal proceedings begin at that point: first, these are disputes with the administrative authorities, customs, the Ministry of Finance, then courts proceedings - years of disputes. Well, if they argued only in the court. It happens that they initiate criminal proceedings and then stop them, - he said.

As a result of this process, a lot of people get involved in it, both the state and entrepreneurs spend enormous resources.

-The corruption component immediately increases. In my opinion, inconsistency leads to the fact that few people understand the logic of events. Even more, you can’t talk about stability of business in such a situation. There is no stability - there is no development of business, - concluded the representative of the Prosecutor General's Office.

The Commissioner for Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan Bolat Palymbetov said that he holds personal meetings with entrepreneurs. They often complain on the actions of the customs authorities. Businessmen have to put a great effort to overcome the resistance of the customs authorities, to prove their innocence. As a result, they spend time and money.

Bolat Palymbetov, referring to customs, encouraged them to be more attentive to the problems of entrepreneurs.

- This should be a common cause: the budget replenishment, preservation of jobs and business, – said the Business Ombudsman.

According to him, the customs officers need to meet more often with entrepreneurs to avoid this kind of misunderstanding.

- This is the wish of entrepreneurs themselves. After all, these actions of customs bodies give reason to doubt the "purity" of their intentions to protect state interests, - summed Bolat Palymbetov, proposing to the State Revenue authorities, together with representatives of civil society and business to build an effective system of prevention of corruption offenses, the improvement of customs.

Source:  http://forbes.kz/process/businessmen/tamojnya_i_biznes_razgovor_nachistotu