One of the main trends towards stimulation of customs activity is application of customs clearance Special Streamlined Proceedings (SUP). For foreign economic activity participants (FEAP), they mean a significant decrease of costs, accelerated commodity production, decreased documents exchange and more simple clearance formalities.
Unfortunately, the share of FEAP, that have understood the advantages of SUP and are using them, is inappreciable. To our opinion, the number of organizations that run foreign economic activities over three years and for this reason may lay claim to use the SUP within the Samara Customs accountability area should be several times bigger.
At the present time, only three FEAP out of seven hundred forty use SUP, on three customs posts, one FEAP each. But even here the range of proceedings applied and their potential capabilities are not completely known.
For instance, two FEAPs were granted Russian FTS permissions to use all five SUP's, but are actually using only one each. Other SUP's remain unclaimed for the reasons unknown.
The reason for us to advertise these proceedings at such extent is that if FEAP are using them, this means a significant reduction of work load for the customs, because in this case you need only one customs entry instead of several. Which, in its turn allows additional unanticipated effect, leading to quickening of customs clearance.
The SUP, done before the entry is filed are currently used by only two companies out of those three, that have the right for this, and even them are not using the sifficient amount of such SUP's. This kind of procedures allow to finish clearance right "at the gate", without temporary storing it. The usual objection here is usually that you need to apply to the customs twice for the same shipment: first time - when releasing the commodity, and second - to file the customs entry. A cross-opposition here would be that this procedure allows to reach the main objective of customs clearance: the quickest release of goods to sell it or use for production. Second visit to the customs to file the entry - is nothing but a formality, because the commodity is already released and delay in GTD (State Customs Entry) checking does not lead to any losses.
Preliminary clearing when an incomplete or inclomplete-periodic customs entry is filed. Such entry is at the same time periodical, preliminary and incomplete, accumulating all advantages of these types of clearance. It allows both file a preliminary entry for a separate shipment and for several shipments, that are to arrive in 15 nearest days. Moreover, the documents should be submitted only with respect to the first shipment, which means that GTD may not include the numbers of customs bonds and licence plates for several shipments, that will arrive within the nearest 15 days.
The Russian FTS has put forward an initiative to incorporate the legal institution of Authorized Importer to customs law. This would be a sort of further development and highest level of SUP. An organization with such status will be able to use and manage commodities before they are released with further summarized clearance according to monthly or annual outcome. This is a way to make customs clearance one may only dream of. But only those, who have passed the stage of contemporary SUP's will be granted the right for this.
Keep in mind that if an organization is included into the register of SUP users, it is exempted, in a number of cases, from some of the customs control forms, for instance, examination.
The Procedures for assigning SUP for individual bodies was approved by the Order of Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade as of 27.01.2005 №9.
