EU Help Ukrainian Border Guards and Customs Officers Optimise Work at Border Crossing Points
European experts together with experts of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS) and the State Customs Service of Ukraine (SCS) conducted the first assessment mission at the automobile and railway BCP “Yahodyn-Dorohusk” at the Ukrainian-Polish border. This mission is a step towards improving border and customs control processes and procedures at BCPs and is a part of a large-scale activity under the EU-funded project “EU Support to Strengthening Integrated Border Management in Ukraine (EU4IBM)”.
“BCP assessment mission will provide more targeted recommendations for improving border and customs control procedures at BCPs by strengthening interagency coordination and cooperation, which in turn should facilitate more effective border checks and combating illegal cross-border activities and crime”, commented Arunas Adomenas, EU4IBM project manager.
During the visit to the BCP, a team of international profile experts of the EU4IBM project and national experts of the SBGS and the SCS conducted a detailed analysis of border and customs control procedures, from entering the customs territory of Ukraine to leaving the BCP. The evaluation also included an analysis of the processes of registration of passengers, goods and vehicles at automobile and railway BCPs. The main task is to identify gaps and develop recommendations that will reduce time and resources for the relevant processes at BCPs and at the same time ensure a fast and safe border crossing for people and goods. In addition, the assessment team worked on analysing the current situation at the BCP to further develop proposals for model BCPs and gathering information on the availability, condition and needs for technical equipment.
Similar missions were planned to assess air and marine BCPs and will be conducted by a team of project experts in the coming weeks. The relevant missions will result in comprehensive recommendations for improving border and customs checks at border crossing points, developing concepts for model BCPs and assessing equipment and infrastructure needs to be submitted to the SBGS and the SCS in the next few months.
“The results of the assessment at BCPs will contribute to implementation of the national policy on integrated border management in Ukraine, which aims at ensuring the functioning of open and, at the same time, well-controlled and secure borders,” said Xavier Camus, Head of “Effective Governance and Democratization” section of the EU Delegation to Ukraine.
The results also provide a basis for more effective national policies on integrated border management, streamlined border control, more accurate risk analysis, better interagency and cross-border coordination and information exchange with neighbouring countries. As a result, Ukrainian citizens will benefit from greater mobility, and national economic operators will benefit from closer economic ties with the globalized world. All this is combined with a higher level of border security and prevention of cross-border crime.
