RETURN OF SEIZURED GOODS, VEHICLES WHEN VIOLATING CUSTOMS RULES

In case of violation of customs rules when importing goods and vehicles into the territory of Ukraine, such goods and vehicles may be temporarily seized by customs.

Why is this done?

To preserve evidence in the case of violation of customs rules, since the case will be taken to court to collect a fine for the violation, and the goods, vehicles will be evidence of the violation.

Seizure of goods, commercial vehicles, which are subject to confiscation, as well as relevant documents is mandatory provided that:

• You violate the customs control procedure in the simplified customs control zones, they are also called green corridors;
• If you have not declared goods or commercial vehicles;
• If you send goods that are prohibited for such forwarding through the customs border of Ukraine;
• When moving goods across the border of Ukraine in violation of intellectual property rights;
• If you move or take actions aimed at moving goods across the border outside customs control or hide them;
• If you store transported or purchased goods, vehicles for commercial purposes, imported into the customs territory of Ukraine outside of customs control or with concealment from customs control.

During the seizure, the customs officer draws up a report on the temporary seizure of the goods, vehicle or documents. The list of confiscated property and the value of the property are noted in this report.

After the goods and vehicles have been seized, they are sent to the customs warehouse for further storage.

In order to collect the goods from customs, you must:

• obtain a court order regarding prosecution for violation of customs rules and pay a fine;
• carry out customs clearance of seized goods;
• reimburse the expenses of the revenue and tax authorities for their storage and pay the corresponding customs payments.

After that, an application for the return of the confiscated goods, vehicle is sent to the head of customs.

To attention! A package of documents must be attached to the application, including: an identity document, depending on the type of violation of customs rules, evidence of customs clearance of the confiscated goods and payment of all necessary customs payments. The application is considered no more than ten days from the day of its registration, after which the head of the customs office marks the application as "allowed" and the goods are issued to the person or "prohibited" (in this case, this decision can be appealed in court if there are valid grounds).

If upon receipt of the goods you find that the goods are damaged, you must indicate this in the act of receiving and handing over the goods and take photos of the damaged goods.

In the future, you can file a lawsuit against the customs office to collect money for damage to the goods, since the warehouse of this customs office is responsible for the storage of the goods. Our lawyers are ready to provide you with qualified legal assistance in disputed issues with customs.