The Board of the National Bank of Ukraine has adopted Resolution No. 364 of 31 August 2012 approving Amendments to the Instruction on the Procedure for Exercising Control over Export and Import Transactions (Resolution shall come into effect from 5 October 2012).

The amendments approved by the National Bank of Ukraine will allow banks to lift controls on the export and import transactions carried out by residents provided that the customs declarations (CD) have been submitted either in hard copy format or electronically. The National Bank of Ukraine has provided a legal framework that clearly specifies the rules governing the way banks exercise foreign exchange control over export and import transactions carried out by residents.

In particular, under the general rule established by the amended Instruction banks will be allowed to remove control over export and import transactions carried out by residents solely on the basis of the data on these transactions stored in the electronic register of customs declarations. Therefore, there is no need for customers to submit original customs declarations (regardless of whether customs declarations have been submitted in hard copy format or electronically). If information on these transactions is not available in the electronic register, banks will be allowed to remove control over export and import transactions carried out by residents upon the written notification issued by the customs authority and certified in accordance with the procedure established by the law.

In addition, the amended Instruction stipulates the following:

-  the Instruction has been supplemented with the norms on compulsory certification of registers of export and import transactions that are kept in hard copy or electronic format and brochures by the bank chairman or other duly authorized official (rather than the chief executive or the chief accountant as required earlier); 

-information about the date of completing the customs declaration form and its number (in the event of submitting CD in hard copy format), the file name and the date of creating a file in the electronic register of CD (in the event of filing customs declarations electronically) must be entered into registers of export and import transactions.

Some norms and terms set forth in the Instruction have been brought into line with the Customs Code of Ukraine, which had recently been amended. In accordance with the rules laid down in the amended Instruction, copies of a customs declaration (CD) must be certified in accordance with the procedure established by the law (rather than the procedure established by the Regulation on the Cargo Customs Declaration approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 574 dated 9 June 2012, which became invalid pursuant to Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 450 dated 21 May 2012).