Customs will stop working at the administrative border with occupied Crimea at the checkpoints. What is known

Анастасія Діденко
·
11:28, 20 November
Customs will stop working at the administrative border with occupied Crimea at the checkpoints. What is known
Image source: УНІАН

Ukrainian customs will no longer check citizens when crossing the administrative border with occupied Crimea. The Representation of the President of Ukraine in the ARC has reported that from November 21, 2021, Ukrainian customs will stop working at the Chongar and Kalanchak checkpoints.

The office notes that the changes will allow:

  • to restore the status of residents of Ukraine for residents of Crimea;
  • to significantly simplify the procedure for transportation of personal belongings across the administrative border with mainland Ukraine;
  • after the abolition of the free economic zone “Crimea”, when crossing the administrative border, the norms of the Customs Code of Ukraine, in particular, Article 370, which defines an exhaustive list of things that can be transported across the administrative border, cease to apply;
  • completing the transfer of inheritance rights.

“In 2014, the law on the free economic zone of Crimea was approved, which made citizens living in Crimea non-residents. Problems with bank accounts, wages, and various transactions began. As for the current situation, this law is not about people but business. In fact, the administrative border will not be the intersection of different economic spaces, because we are abandoning the economic zone of Crimea, and thus, from special economic spaces", - Borys Babin, former representative of the President of Ukraine in occupied Crimea, former Government Commissioner for the European Court of Human Rights, explained to Suspilne Crimea.

For an ordinary citizen, there will only be a change in the fact that there will be no customs control, because all forms of control will be carried out by border services, police officers, etc.

“As for the more serious consequences, the abolition of the free economic zone of Crimea will significantly affect only the economy. All major Ukrainian beneficiaries who have assets in Crimea: the enterprise, the chemical industry, the extraction of ore resources will be outlawed. It is strange when we talk about the sanctions policy and the need for some economic pressure on the aggressor state, and at the same time, Ukraine has a law that promotes the economy of occupied Crimea”, - Borys Babin said.

In August 2021, Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law abolishing the free economic zone of Crimea. Before that, on July 1, the Verkhovna Rada voted for a bill to abolish the free economic zone “Crimea”. 328 deputies voted for the initiative.

The State Fiscal Service reports that in the territory of the free economic zone “Crimea” it was possible to import / export to the territory of Ukraine, not more than ten thousand euros, without a written declaration to the customs authority.

The rules for the movement of cash currency were in force following:

  • Law of Ukraine dated August 12, 2014 No. 1636-VII "On the creation of a free economic zone" Crimea "and on the specifics of carrying out economic activities in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine";
  • Resolutions of the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine dated November 3, 2014 No. 699 "On the application of certain norms of foreign exchange legislation during the regime of temporary occupation on the territory of the free economic zone "Crimea".

Russian rubles could be transported across the border to individuals if the amount did not exceed the equivalent of 10 thousand hryvnias and subject to an oral declaration to a customs official.

Borys Babin draws attention to the currency and equivalent in which it will be possible to transport cash from Crimea to Ukraine from November 21, 2021.

A bylaw will regulate it.The presence or absence of this law will not seriously affect such practical matters. This will change the order of control over money, which is no longer controlled by customs officials.

The cancellation of this law does not terminate the restrictions on crossing the administrative border. They remain, moreover, they are enhancing, because from now on, several positions related to economic activity will be lost.

The issue of all legal dimensions: civil, criminal, administrative - this is the law on the occupied territories, and not on the whole of Crimea. It remains in force, unchanged because this is the procedure for considering cases on the mainland", - Boris Babin said.

The occupying authorities of Crimea have also introduced mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 on the territory of the peninsula. The resolution of the Russian state bodies says that employees of educational, healthcare, social protection, trade (including delivery), food, household services, beauty salons, and fitness centers are subject to mandatory vaccination in occupied Crimea.

"Unfortunately, the aggressor state has its own illegal policy on the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea, which restricts the circulation of medications and vaccines. Ukraine has never banned the import of medications to the peninsula and will not stop after November 21. Today, responsibility for the epidemiological situation is controlled by the Russian Federation. Ukraine can only offer its vaccines to uncontrolled territories. There is no WHO-certified vaccine in Crimea. Those vaccines that are used in temporarily occupied territories do not provide full protection against the disease. Accordingly, people are not provided with the necessary medical care.

Even though Ukraine does not recognize the vaccine created in Russia, people who come from Crimea and other countries are always offered to choose between medical examination, isolation, or vaccination approved by the WHO", - said the former Government Commissioner for the ECHR.