Контрабанду криміналізували. Що далі?

05.10.2026, 09:20◉ 02 min readEditorial team “SHCHO STALOSIA”

Митниця виявляє і документує контрабанду, але розслідують її інші органи. Усунути цей розрив – завдання наступного етапу реформи.

English translation is temporarily unavailable. The Ukrainian original is shown.

Smuggling of goods is the intentional movement of goods across a customs border outside the customs control or with concealment from it. We are talking about hiding places, forged documents or documents with knowingly false information, the issuance of some goods for other and other ways of illegal movement.

The Criminal Code provides for liability for smuggling of timber and valuable tree species, goods and excisable goods. At the same time, smuggling of goods should be distinguished from ordinary violations of customs rules. An error in the declaration or a dispute regarding the customs value is not in itself an intentional crime.

According to the current model, the customs carries out customs control, detects smuggling, records the circumstances and transfers materials to the Bureau of Economic Security, whose jurisdiction includes commodity smuggling. Customs does not have its own powers for operational and investigative activities and pre-trial investigation.

Details

As a result, the detections and investigations are divided between different government agencies. This complicates the organization of work and the determination of responsibility for the final result – from the detection of a criminal scheme to the transfer of the case to the court.

The idea of revising the powers of the State Customs Service is not new. The 2022 and 2023 World Customs Organization mission reports stated that the criminalization of commodity smuggling should be accompanied by a review of the role of SMS. It should play a central role in the investigation of customs crimes.

Context

The European Commission's report of 2023 raised the issue of granting the SCS the right to operative-search activities and investigative powers in cases of smuggling. During the screening of Ukraine under Section 29 "Customs Union" in 2025, the European Union also emphasized the effectiveness of such a model.

What's next

Criminal liability for commodity smuggling has been introduced, but the model for combating it has not been completed. Customs detects smuggling, but does not have the right to operational-search activities and pre-trial investigation. This creates a gap between the authority that controls the movement of goods across the border and the authority that investigates the crime.

In 25 of the 27 EU states, customs administrations have law enforcement powers to counter smuggling. This practice exists in all EU states neighboring Ukraine.