Allowances in customs procedure with China and Hungary

Customs procedures need to be simplified and sped up in order to facilitate the flow of goods, especially by railway, it was estimated during the two-day meeting of the Working Group consisting of representatives of the customs services of China, Hungary, Macedonia and Serbia, the Customs Administration of Serbia reported.

The Working Group for carrying out the protocol on cooperation in facilitating the customs procedures met in Belgrade in order to monitor the implementation of allowances in the customs procedure between the customs services of China, Hungary, Serbia and Macedonia.

The protocol signed at the Summit of China and 16 countries of Central and Eastern Europe in 2014 in Belgrade obliges all parties to intensify the customs cooperation in many areas.

The key issues regarding the cooperation pertain to the simplification of customs procedures, securing allowances for businessmen, providing technical help by exchanging experts and organizing training courses for the implementation of modern technology.

Deputy director of the Customs Administration of Serbia, Veselin Milosevic, emphasized that the customs service was making maximum efforts towards providing support, through simplified customs procedures, to the endeavors of the Government of Serbia in the realization of the facilitation of the flow of goods transported by railway.

– In order to reduce the time needed to travel or transport goods between the capitals of Serbia and Hungary on the new Belgrade-Budapest railway, the construction of which should begin in November, to under three hours, customs procedures need to be harmonized and stepped up – Milosevic said.

He added that the customs services of the countries which had signed the protocol were facing a challenge of synchronizing their activities so as to have a quicker and more efficient flow of goods, to facilitate the customs procedures, to implement the trade allowances and improve the trade connections between the countries in order for everybody to benefit from it to the full extent, the press release adds.

Keeping in mind the expansion of the Chinese economy and the country's need to transport the goods from the Port of Piraeus to the main hubs for further distribution in the most economical and the quickest way possible, it is clear, given that Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary are located on that path, that it is necessary for the customs services to harmonize their activities, thereby enabling benefits to be felt by their national economies as well, the press release adds.

Uprava Carina Beograd

protocol on cooperation in facilitating the customs procedure

simplifying the customs procedure

customs procedures

Veselin Milosevic