Customs clearance of cars with European license plates: what do the regional deputies propose?

Taking into account the numerous appeals of the public, the Region Council, during the first plenary meeting of the 12th session, adopted the decision "On the Appeal of the Transcarpathian Regional Council to prevent the adoption of the bills regulating customs clearance of cars with European license plates" and sent it to the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, deputies of Ukraine from Transcarpathian region and the regional councils of Ukraine.

          The document states: "According to the customs data, as of May 1 this year, the number of cars with a foreign registration, which have been imported into Ukraine since the beginning of 2016, is just over 2 million. 351,228 cars are still in Ukraine. Of those, 124,519 have already exceeded the term of stay.

Over the past four years, the Transcarpathian Regional Council has adopted a number of appeals to higher authorities on the need to amend the current legislation of Ukraine with a view to liberalizing the conditions of temporary car imports. At the moment, the public is once again concerned about the adoption of the bills №8487 and №8488, by which the legislator declared a reduction of excise duty on the clearance of cars and increased liability for the use of uncleared cars."

"If the bills are adopted in their current form, the citizens, who use cars with foreign registration, will have 180 days from the date of enactment for registration of the vehicle in accordance with Ukrainian legislation. Anyone who fails to do it, will be fined for violation of customs rules.

Thus, the legalization of an old car, even under the new rules, remains a luxury for an average Ukrainian. The fact that most of the citizens, who use such vehicles, are not their owners significantly complicates the legalization of such cars. Officially, they belong to foreigners.

So, if the laws come into force, it is quite possible that most owners of cars with European license plates, and those are millions of people, will be forced to disassemble their cars and sell them for scrap.

In view of the above, in order to eliminate the social tension that is becoming unpredictable (new protests, dissatisfaction among people, etc.), the Transcarpathian Regional Council proposes to solve the problem of customs clearance of such cars in the following way: to make provision that the amount of payments for the clearance of a used car with foreign registration shall not exceed 10 percent of its value with the introduction of mandatory technical inspection of such car", – the appeal reads.

     Press office of the Regional Council