On September 10, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed the Simplifying customs procedures and further improving the organizational structure of the state customs authority Decree.

The Decree approved the proposal of the State Customs Committee (SCC) to create customs posts for remote electronic declaration with an off-category status:

• from October 1 - in the departments of the State Customs Committee in Tashkent, Syrdarya, Kashkadarya and Khorezm provinces;
• from April 1, 2022 - in stages in other provincial departments of the committee.

According to the decree, from October this year, new customs posts will begin to carry out remote processing of cargo electronic customs declarations submitted by participants in foreign economic activity (FEA).

From the same date, employees of groups working with inspection systems (scanners) of border customs posts will be paid from the state budget a monthly supplement of 40% of the official salary for harmful working conditions.

In addition, from December 1, 2021, at the checkpoints of cars across the state border of Uzbekistan:

• verification and registration of documents for goods of veterinary and phytosanitary authorities will be carried out through the customs information system "Single Window" or integrated information systems;
• the practice of affixing the seal and registration of transport documents by veterinary and phytosanitary authorities will be abolished;
• the practice of prepayment of all fees payable on the basis of a single invoice is being introduced prior to the ingress of vehicles at the border checkpoint.

From January 1, 2022, overpaid or collected customs payments will be returned to the participants of foreign economic activity within three working days after the relevant decision is made by the customs authorities.

Starting from the new year, the minimum period of deferral or installment payment of customs payments will also be established at 14 days. During this period, interest will not be charged, and if the minimum grace period or payment by installments is exceeded, interest will be charged in full for the entire period. At the same time, the amount of additional customs payments that are not subject to collection and return should not exceed 20% of the base value.

Since January, the practice of conditional release of goods has also been introduced until the completion of an examination to determine the code of goods in accordance with the commodity nomenclature of foreign economic activity appointed by the customs authority, with the provision of payment of customs duties.

The decree will eliminate six customs posts, which are assigned to other posts:

Naimankul railway border customs post (Karakalpakstan);

Karshi Tola customs post of foreign economic activity and Karshi railway border customs post (Kashkadarya province);

Amuzang railway border customs post (Surkhandarya province);

Besharyk railway border customs post and Ukchi border customs post (Fergana province).

The decree notes that the Central Customs Laboratory with the status of a separate legal entity will be created in the structure of the State Customs Committee. It is expected to receive the status of the Provincial Customs Laboratory of the World Customs Organization.

The laboratory will deal with the determination of the composition of nicotine-containing products and alcoholic beverages, the provision of services related to the examination and certification of goods, as well as the examination of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors.