Transportation of imported goods to Ukraine: how to organize the process of transportation?

Transporting goods under customs control will be exactly the stage when you will not know exactly where the goods are. At this stage, the entrepreneur in fact rarely has direct contact with the driver, and if he does, it does little good, because the driver does not have sufficient information about the goods and the shipping documents, but only transports the cargo.

Therefore, if the entrepreneur has not clearly agreed with the counterparty, the driver may at least have the wrong documents, which will greatly complicate the customs clearance of goods. For example, customs officers may stamp a wrong invoice, rather than one that the entrepreneur planned to use for clearance of the goods, and thus you won’t be able to use the certificate of origin, which reduces the amount of duty.

The presence of all the necessary documents directly affects the carrier’s speed of passing the control. And on whether the carrier is working officially depends on whether the entrepreneur will have on hand enough documents to prove the declared customs value, as well as whether the customs office will be able to adjust the customs value.

Therefore, today we will talk about how to choose a transporter of imported goods to Ukraine, how to organize work with it and how to make sure that there will be no trouble with your goods.

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Start the organization of the transportation process by signing a contract with the carrier, making a request for transportation, specifying all the necessary conditions for the transportation of a particular cargo.

Please note! The carrier must work officially, have a permit for transportation, specifying the corresponding type of its economic activity, and must be able to officially receive payment for the services provided.

When executing the agreement one should pay attention to the following issues:

• section on the liability of the parties in case of delay in delivery of the vehicle for loading;
• terms of compensation in case of damage or accidental destruction of cargo;
• terms of delivery.

Also, the force majeure section is often left without proper attention, although it is important – in practice, the vehicle can break down and be under repair for quite a long time. In such circumstances, the entrepreneur must know in advance what happens to the cargo. The road is the road. You never know what can happen. The contract shall clearly indicate the issues of carrier liability, the cases in which it occurs and in what amount.

In addition, you should immediately discuss which border crossing point the cargo will go through, and at which customs office the customs clearance will be performed. In order to avoid the car getting stuck on the border because of the lack of necessary information from the customs, you should first determine exactly whether the carrier is ready to submit a general declaration of arrival, and whether such a service is included in the cost of transportation.

When choosing a carrier, clarify the following questions at once:

• Will the goods take up the whole car or will they go as consolidated cargo together with other recipients’ cargoes? Perhaps it will be more appropriate to find a smaller vehicle for transportation.
• Are there any other requirements for the vehicle, such as a refrigerated vehicle?

You should decide on these issues based on the characteristics of the goods and before confirming the order of transportation.

If the entrepreneur plans to order the delivery of consolidated cargo and to process it in a simplified manner (declaration type IM40EA), it is necessary to specify that the car does not go under TIR. The thing is that the TIR is physically closed by the inspector during customs clearance, so the declaration of type IM40EA will not be drawn up, and the goods will go to the customs control zone with the subsequent mandatory inspection.

At the stage of passing the customs border, the driver must arrive at a specific checkpoint, present the correct invoice, CMR, and packing list. A preliminary customs declaration must be prepared in advance for the customs office where the driver crosses the border, a general declaration of arrival at the border crossing point must be submitted.

How our company helps at this stage of importing goods to Ukraine:

• we find a vehicle that meets the characteristics of the goods;
• we verify the officiality of the carrier;
• whether the latter has the necessary permits;
• we coordinate the route the cargo will follow;
• we check the carrier’s documents, which will be added to the customs declaration.

Our main advantage is that we can take responsibility not only for the transportation of imported goods, but also for the entire import process. Starting from elaboration of the foreign trade contract and up to its clearance at the Ukrainian border.

Please see the service fee and packages here.

If you want to import goods into Ukraine on a one-time or permanent basis and you don’t want to lose money and time at customs, don’t hesitate to contact us. We can help you organize the entire process and take care of protecting your interests.

About the Import License.