From the history of the creation of North-West Technical University. Twinning procedure.

North-West Customs Administration (NWTU)

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• Consulting on customs and logistics
• Customs of Russia Customs of Russia
• Customs of St. Petersburg
• North-West Customs Administration (NWTU)

North-West Customs Administration

The customs service of St. Petersburg is the same age as the city on the Neva. More than three hundred years ago, the first foreign merchant ship arrived in the St. Petersburg port, on the spit of Vasilievsky Island - a Dutch merchant ship with salt and wine, which, according to legend, was greeted by Peter I himself. Today, the customs authorities of the North-Western Customs Administration control foreign trade turnover throughout along the land, sea, river and air borders of the Northwestern Federal District.

Among the seven regional customs departments that are part of the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation , the North-West is rightfully considered the first in terms of creation and one of the largest in the country. It was formed on May 10, 1990 and was originally called the North-West Department of State Customs Con.

North-West Customs Department

191187 St. Petersburg, Kutuzova embankment, 20; st. Shpalernaya, 14 Working hours: Monday-Friday from 9:00 to 17:45 Head of the North-West Customs Administration Working hours: Monday-Friday, from 9:00 to 17:45

Chief's Reception, (812) 275-8300 Assistant Chief: (812) 140-3324

First Deputy Head of the Department - Head of the Customs Control Service Reception: (812) 140-3223

First Deputy Head of Department

Reception: (812) 140-3213 First Deputy Head of Department - Head of the Customs Revenue Service Reception: (812) 140-3235

First Deputy Head of the Department - Head of Customs (North-Western Operational) Reception, (812) 380-2967

First Deputy Head of the Department for the Kaliningrad Region

Reception

Deputy Head of Department - Head of Customs (Kaliningrad Operational) Reception

Deputy Head of Department - Head of Human Resources Reception: (812) 140-3394, (812) 275-5800

Deputy Head of Department - Head of Internal Security Service Reception: (812) 430-1892

Deputy Head of Department - Head of Organizational Inspection Service Reception: (812) 140-3359

Deputy Head of Department - Head of Legal Service Reception: (812) 140-3124 Fax: (812) 275-2994

Deputy Head of Department - Head of Information Technology Service Reception: (812) 239-9251

Deputy Head of Department - Head of the Security Service Reception: (812) 380-2223

Deputy Head of the Customs Control Organization Service Tel.: (812) 140-3246

Deputy Head of the Federal Customs Revenue Service Tel.: (812) 140-3349

Head of the International Customs Cooperation Department Tel.: (812) 275-0235 Fax: (812) 275-0541

Head of Media Relations Department Tel.: (812) 140-3117 Fax: (812) 140-3176

Head of the Field Department Tel.: (812) 140-3193 Fax: (812) 140-3124

Head of Information and Consulting Department Tel.: (812) 140-3187 Fax: (812) 140-3124

OPERATIONAL DUTY: (812) 275-7695

CALL PHONE: (812) 275-7695

PASS OFFICE: (812) 140-3387, 140-3386

From the first days of work, the newly created department, whose staff then consisted of 42 employees, was given very serious tasks to protect the economic interests of the Russian Federation.

Currently, more than 12 thousand employees and civil servants serve in the customs authorities of the North-West Customs Administration. The structure of the North-West Customs Union includes 16 customs offices, uniting 118 customs posts.

The region of activity of NWTU is the Northwestern Federal District with an area of ​​1,679.1 thousand square meters. km, on the territory of which there are 11 constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

The North-West Customs Department is the only department that has borders with the European Union. This determines the active process of integration into European customs technologies based on comprehensive automation of customs activities.

The length of the customs border section in the NWTU activity zone is 3637 km. Of these, the land part is 2375 km, the sea part is 233 km and the lake (river) part is 224 km.

Today, more than 12 thousand people work in customs authorities in the North-West of Russia. In the system of the Federal Customs Service, NWTU is not only one of the largest in terms of personnel, but also the leader in terms of results achieved.

The region borders Finland, Norway, Poland, the Republic of Belarus, and the Baltic countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia. The border with Finland is 1320.8 km, with Latvia - 270.5 km, with Estonia - 464.8 km, and Norway - 219.1 km.

Today, the management structure includes 16 customs offices . They unite 117 customs posts located on the territory under the jurisdiction of North-Western Territory with an area of ​​more than 1,600 thousand square kilometers, which in turn are located in 11 constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

The North-Western section of the customs border is considered one of the most equipped in the country. Over the years of NWTU activity, road crossings were put into operation in the district: in 1993, Lotta was put into operation on the border with Finland, Borisoglebsk - with Norway and Ivangorod - with Estonia, in 1994 - on the Finnish section of the Vyartsilya international checkpoint with a capacity of 870 cars per day, in Estonian - Kunichina Gora checkpoint (500 cars per day), Ubylinka checkpoint (2000 cars), in Latvian - Burachki checkpoint (2000 cars).

1997 was marked by the commissioning of two checkpoints on the border with Finland: Torfyanovka , designed for daily clearance of 3,500 vehicles, and Lyttä - 300 cars. A little later, here, in the Vyborg direction, the points Brusnichnoye (2,400 cars) and Svetogorsk , as well as Borisoglebsk as part of the Murmansk customs, were put into operation.

At the beginning of October 2006, the official opening ceremony of the Suoperä checkpoint (more than 150 cars per day), located in the Republic of Karelia, took place. And in mid-2008, a new checkpoint was opened in the Kaliningrad region - the Chernyshevskoye checkpoint.

There are 12 customs vessels on the maritime section of the border in the region where NWTU operates, including the large customs vessel TS-101 “Mercury”, which entered service in August 2003. Crews have to perform tasks in port waters, skerry areas of the Vyborg Bay, on border rivers and lakes.

In December 1994, an aviation department appeared in the structure of North-West Technical University, which fully independently carries out the flight technical operation of aircraft.

Results of NWTU activities for the 1st half of 2010:

In the 1st half of 2010, the customs authorities of the North-West Customs Administration transferred customs payments in the amount of 271.02 billion rubles , which is 109.7% of the established target.

Compared to the same period last year, the increase in actual transfers to the federal budget of the Russian Federation was 42% (in the first half of 2009, the customs authorities of NWTU transferred 190,859.34 million rubles to the federal budget).

There have been structural changes in the transfers of customs payments to the federal budget of the Russian Federation. Thus, the share of the import component of the total volume of transfers decreased from 66.99% in the first half of 2009 to 58.71% in the first half of 2010, while the share of export customs duties increased from 32.00% to 39.35% , respectively.

The main volume of customs payments transferred to the federal budget in the North-West region falls on the Baltic (42.24%), St. Petersburg (21.52%), Murmansk (19.53%) and Kaliningrad regional (7.82%) customs .

43% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 42 billion 837 million US dollars . Including: exports increased by 51% and amounted to 20 billion 37 million US dollars, imports increased by 37% (22 billion 801 million US dollars).

Cargo turnover through NWTU customs for 6 months of this year increased by 11% compared to the first half of 2009 and amounted 48.2 million tons (exports increased by 7%, imports by 29%).

The existing orientation of the region's external market towards non-CIS countries remains. Their share in the region’s trade turnover is 97% . Trade turnover with CIS countries increased by 40% , with non-CIS countries - by 43% .

Goods from the region were exported to 162 countries around the world. The main counterparty countries are the Netherlands (33% share in exports), Great Britain (12%), Switzerland (9%), USA (5%), Germany (4%).

The main export positions are occupied by mineral products (55%), metals (20.9%) and wood (7.3%).

The growth in exports is associated, first of all, with rising prices for raw materials, which are Russia's main export items. Prices for fuel (by 66%) and metals (by 40%) increased significantly.

In general, physical export volumes did not increase as significantly as value ones - by 7%. At the same time, the volume of exports of chemical industry products, wood, and metals increased.

Goods from 159 countries were imported into the North-West region. The main counterparty countries are China (20% share of imports), Germany (11%), USA (6%), Brazil (5%), Republic of Korea (4%), Finland (4%).

The growth of imports in the first half of 2010 is associated both with an increase in natural volumes and with an increase in prices for goods imported to Russia. Compared to the first half of 2009, prices for food products (by 7%) and chemical industry products (by 17%) increased.

The main positions in imports are occupied by products of the engineering industry (38.2%), food products (28.0%) and products of the chemical industry (12.0%). The natural volume of imports of engineering products increased by 40%, food products - by 20%, chemical products - by 53%.

During the 1st half of 2010, the customs inspection units of the North-Western Technical University carried out 886 inspection activities, including 208 customs audits. The effectiveness indicator of the verification activities carried out was 51.7% (the benchmark effectiveness indicator established by UTI FTS is 41.0%). The effectiveness of special customs audits was 97.0% (the performance benchmark established by UTI FCS is 85.0%).

Based on the results of verification activities carried out by customs inspection units, 689 cases of administrative offenses and 29 criminal cases were initiated.

Based on the results of the work of the NWTU customs inspection units in the reporting period, additional customs duties, penalties and fines were accrued in the amount of 306.66 million rubles. Customs duties, penalties, and fines were collected for a total amount of 36.18 million rubles.

In the first half of 2010, the customs authorities of NWTU issued 454,558 customs declarations, which is 25.7 % more than in the first half of 2009.

Work continued on the further introduction and use of new modern information customs technologies in the customs authorities of the North-West.

Currently, 73 customs posts of NWTU customs carry out electronic declaration using a dedicated communication channel (ED1) and using the Internet (ED2). The number of completed electronic declarations is more than 20% of the total number of customs declarations.

At checkpoints across the state border of the Russian Federation, preliminary information is used when carrying out customs clearance of goods and vehicles. 183.5 thousand was used .

In the region of activity of the Baltic Customs, the technology of a “dry” port is implemented - customs clearance of goods at an internal container terminal located outside the port territory.

One of the key issues in the activities of the administration and customs authorities of the region in the 1st half of 2010 was the preparation of the practical implementation and application of the Customs Code in the context of the formation of the Customs Union between the Republics of Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. Particular attention was paid to the issue of transferring customs clearance and control to the external border of the Customs Union, in particular, to the Russian-Belarusian section of the border.

As before, one of the current areas of activity of the department remains the implementation in the Northwestern Federal District of the Concept of customs clearance and customs control of goods in places close to the State Border of the Russian Federation. Currently, the department has developed the basic principles for implementing the Concept in the Northwestern Federal District, and has compiled a list of places proposed for the placement of customs and logistics terminals (CLTs). On the territory of the Northwestern Federal District, it is planned to create TLT near 13 international automobile checkpoints: Vyartsilya (Republic of Karelia), Svetogorsk, Brusnichnoe, Torfyanovka (Vyborg district of the Leningrad region), Ivangorod (Kingisepp district), Kunichina Gora, Shumilkino, Ubylinka, Burachki, (Pskov region) , Sovetsk, Chernyshevskoye, Bagrationovsk, Mamonovo (Kaliningrad region).

As part of the implementation of the Concept, the Torfyanovsky customs post was created near the Torfyanovka checkpoint of the Vyborg customs, the Bagrationovsky customs post near the Bagrationovsk checkpoint of the Kaliningrad regional customs, and the Ovinkovsky customs post near the Burachki checkpoint of the Sebezh customs.

To date, in the region where NWTU operates, there are already functioning customs posts located on temporary storage warehouses, which are considered in the future as TLT - these are the Vyartsila customs post of the Karelian customs and the Pechora customs post of the Pskov customs. At these facilities, work will be carried out to reconstruct the premises, increase the temporary storage warehouse sites, and increase the staffing level of customs posts.

NWTU began work on implementing the Concept by reducing the number of customs authorities located in the city. To date, the Zheleznodorozhny and Northern customs posts, Vyborg and Piskarevsky have already been liquidated in the structure of St. Petersburg customs. The South-Western customs post was transferred to the village of Yanino and renamed Yaninsky.

In the future, it is planned to maintain customs clearance in St. Petersburg only for those goods for which there are no mandatory requirements for their customs clearance near the state border, in particular, perishable food products, pharmaceutical and medicinal products, cultural property, raw materials imported by Russian industrial enterprises for own production and others.

As before, the priority direction of NWTU activities remains the fight against corruption within the framework of the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Program and the unconditional implementation of the Analytical Program of the Federal Customs Service of Russia “Combating manifestations of corruption and malfeasance in customs authorities for the period 2007-2009”, adopted for implementation in 2006 of the year.

In order to strengthen preventive measures aimed at preventing, identifying and suppressing corruption offenses among officials of the region's customs authorities, in 2010, 127 materials from internal inspections were sent to the prosecutor's office for consideration and decision-making in the manner prescribed by Articles 144, 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation . In 2010, 74 criminal cases were initiated against 56 officials based on identified official corruption-related crimes (in the first half of 2009 - 32 criminal cases against 19 officials).

In the first half of 2010, 383 criminal cases were initiated by the customs authorities of the region. The structure of customs crimes is dominated by smuggling. Its share in the total number of cases filed is 84% . 322 were initiated in the reporting period (534 in the same period last year). 52 cases (26 in the past year) were initiated under Article 194 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Evasion of customs duties.” 304 were initiated (369 last year) or 79.4% of the total.

Thus, in the region where NWOT operates, there has been a slight decrease in the number of violations of customs legislation. The decrease in the number of detected crimes and criminal cases initiated was a consequence of the entry into force on April 9, 2010 of the federal law of April 7, 2010 No. 60-FZ “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation,” according to which the large size of the contraband item was significantly increased (from 250 thousand rubles to 1,500 thousand rubles) and the amount of unpaid customs duties (from 500 thousand rubles to 3 million rubles), for which criminal liability arises.

32 criminal cases (in 2009 - 31 cases) regarding the smuggling of narcotic drugs and potent substances 140 kg of narcotic substances were seized.

Customs officers also stopped attempts to smuggle 239 items of cultural value and 150 units of ammunition, cartridges for civilian small arms and explosives.

In addition, through administrative investigations, 6,334 cases of administrative offenses were initiated in the customs of the North-West region over the 6 months of 2010.

Details of the North-West Customs Administration :

Official website of management

191187, St. Petersburg, emb. Kutuzova, 20

TIN 7830002582, checkpoint 784101001

Federal Treasury Department for St. Petersburg (North-Western Customs Department),

l/s 03721153030, GRKTs GU Bank of Russia for St. Petersburg,

account number 40105810400000010001, account number no.

BIC 044030001.

OGRN 1037843059495, OKVED 75.11.4.

OKATO 40298563000 OKPO 00137414

Management

191187, St. Petersburg, emb. Kutuzova, 20 teletype 622403 JURI RU, 821690 SZTY RU, fax 275-43-70

Management of the North-West Customs Administration:

From the history of the creation of North-West Technical University. Twinning procedure.

Interview with the head of the Baltic customs Alexander Puchkov - March, 2000

Customs is not only a regulatory authority

Personalities of St. Petersburg. Transport complex. No. 3, 2000

The history of the Baltic customs is inextricably linked with the history of our city. After all, they are the same age. Over three centuries, a lot has changed in it more than once: form, titles, structure, methods... But the main thing has remained forever - these are traditions, says the head of the Baltic customs, Alexander Puchkov.

— St. Petersburg customs is one of the oldest. Although in Russia there are similar organizations of more advanced age. Arkhangelskaya, for example, recently celebrated its 400th anniversary; Novgorodskaya has existed for almost a thousand years. Border customs dates back to the time of Peter. But at all times, the methods of customs control were the same. The Baltic customs itself is unique: being internal to the city, it itself is maritime, border. With such an established symbiosis, a huge amount of cargo passes through it in transit and even more is cleared through customs here. Thus, both border and internal customs functions intersect.

In general, internal customs began to be created in the late 80s, when the monopoly of foreign trade was abolished. Everyone was allowed to enter the world market. Previously, this fell within the competence of only specially created organizations, and ordinary business entities could interact with foreign companies only through such structures. That’s when a step was taken that was completely reasonable from the point of view of customs policy: the institution of commissioners was organized. Simply put, customs went to the people. And at this stage, it was engaged not only in control (for which, in fact, it was created), but at the same time provided assistance to participants in foreign trade activities who did not even know how to correctly draw up a contract. Naturally, the organization of ever new customs offices has created a situation that risks becoming uncontrollable. Let's say, in 1986, the number of Soviet customs officers was 7,000 people, and the total number of customs offices along the entire border barely exceeded a hundred. A few years later, the Soviet Union ceased to exist, and the leadership of the State Customs Committee of Russia had to urgently organize additional customs offices, having lost those that remained in neighboring countries.

The idea arose of creating regional departments that would divide the whole of Russia into certain districts. This is how the North-West Customs Administration was created. And since it was the first, it just so happened that it became the most progressive, starting from the time of its birth. As a result, NWTU turned out to be the initiator of many progressive ideas and technologies. For example, today the most promising computer program for customs clearance is in use here. Another, no less impressive fact: in Moscow there is a customs academy named after. V.B. Bobkova, and its branch is located in St. Petersburg. So, our students graduated last year, a year earlier than at the Moscow Academy.

“Nevertheless, among representatives of domestic business there is an unflattering opinion about the work of customs officers. They complain that the State Customs Committee almost deliberately “puts a spoke in the wheels,” and the efficiency of the regional departments is extremely low due to the abundance of bureaucratic instructions...

- I do not argue. But the 31% increase in cargo turnover last year and a very promising forecast for this year are the result of our work. Despite the fact that we are simply not able to organize a complete search. This is an unthinkable thing. I believe that customs is not only a regulatory authority. Customs in Russia is a public service. This means that we must think not only about the notorious plan for filling the budget. You need to take into your budget exactly as much as you need. How much is due - duty, how much is due - VAT, took, collected. And what will happen in the end is generally harmful to think about. Because such things lead to distortions and excesses, and the desire to undeservedly punish someone.

We must make the customs system such that neither Finland nor the Baltic states are a window to Europe for Russia. We have our own window, not even a window, but a gate. And we need to use them. Analysis of cargo flows through neighboring countries shows that transportation is not always carried out fairly. As a rule, these intermediate stages are used to replace documents, issue new ones, in a word, violate customs rules. Eurocustoms has such a program - twinning. This is when two customs offices work together to create something new.

The Baltic Customs and the Hamburg Customs have been engaged in twinning for three years now. We jointly tried to organize a free customs zone or (according to the German version) a free port on the territory of the St. Petersburg port. But life has shown that such issues must be resolved at the government level; the documents have not been written down, and it is unlikely that anyone will write them down. Therefore, a year ago we refocused the program on creating analytical groups. In Hamburg this is called a "container group". Analysts, according to preliminary information, determine the location of undeclared goods, drugs, weapons, and other items prohibited for import or export. Only after this is an inspection carried out. By the way, such a procedure is more consistent with the law. After all, the Customs Code states that goods are subject to inspection “if there are grounds to believe that...”. What if there is no reason to believe? What if a company has been carrying the same product for many years? We accept that dishonest people can be found anywhere. Therefore, we periodically inspect even successful companies.

In Germany, the main attention is paid to the transportation of drugs, and then to serious excise goods: cigarettes or alcohol. In our country, economic smuggling is much more developed. It can be based on any goods. You can underpay huge amounts to the budget using any product. Therefore, it is much more difficult for us than for our colleagues from Hamburg.

— Obviously, the collapse of the Soviet Union entailed transformations of the customs service...

— Let’s say, a significant number of internal customs offices have appeared that only process the cargo of several foreign trade participants. This is unprofitable from a government point of view. If, for example, you reduce the total staff within the country by 100 people, you can painlessly for foreign trade participants add at least 10 people to the border customs offices. The budget can also be filled by saving government money. Today, a system of customs brokers has already been created. She may not be quite perfect yet. This year, by the way, has been declared the year of the customs broker. I hope that soon there will be some by-laws that will make the activities of brokers quite reasonable and transparent. Then it will be possible to shift the work of customs clearance to brokers. This will not be a burden to the budget, because brokers work themselves, receiving salaries from foreign trade participants. So there is one way to reduce customs and save budget money.

And locally, in large cities and regional centers, units such as customs inspection can be left. They will conduct an audit of the foreign economic activities of the participants together with the same tax police or other organizations. In my opinion, this is the most reasonable system, in which all the power and strength of the customs will be concentrated in the border districts. But we also have departments for monitoring the delivery of goods. And it must be said that it is during delivery that in previous years, and even now, a huge amount of cargo is sometimes lost. The creation of the institution of customs carriers is gradually improving this situation, but only little by little... With well-functioning work of brokers: you have cleared customs - go wherever you want. Where you take the goods is your business. If everything: duties, VAT, and excise taxes are collected, then participants in foreign trade activities are completely free.

The simpler the system (controlling) is, the more difficult it is to bypass and bypass it. And when legislative acts contradict each other, then a wide field of activity appears for all sorts of abuses.

— Times change, people change too. In the opinion of Alexander Puchkov, does the modern smuggler resemble “black Abdullah” from the famous film, even remotely?

— At different stages, different items were considered contraband. About 15 years ago it was antiques and art objects. The Polish epic was especially magnificent, when masses of tourists entered the Union, moving goods back and forth. This is, perhaps, the romantic period of our activity... Then there was a time when customs fought against dissent. Then all sorts of “harmful” publications and printed materials were detained. Today everything is gone. All that remains is to intensify the fight against the flow of drugs, which is expanding and strengthening. It mainly comes to us from Central Asia, the North Caucasus, and Ukraine. It turns out that the port has nothing to do with it. Although at the same time, not all drugs are produced here, in the post-Soviet space. And recently we detained a large shipment of cigarettes heading to Germany. The cigarettes were packed in boards (which compensated for the weight) placed in large pallets, inside something like a sarcophagus, with metal sheets inserted: the cigarettes are light, and the wood is heavy. More than a hundred such pallets were detained. The equipment used to make them was also revealed. According to our information, a similar detention was carried out in Rotterdam.

Unfortunately, there are cases when you can only passively predict a violation. Let’s say non-return of foreign currency earnings. Or the problem of collecting non-ferrous metals: not only is the state suffering significant damage through endless theft, from wires, equipment to monuments. Then all this, completely legally, is exported abroad. As a result, the proceeds are not returned. And someone opens an account there and lives happily further, outside.

Customs is not omnipotent and cannot be responsible for the development of the economy in the country. Oddly enough, we punish only those companies that actually exist and have suffered only because of the activities of their partners in the West. As for the “one-day” ones, it is much more difficult to fight them. Until the state revises the procedure for registering enterprises and their liquidation, it is unlikely that we will be able to do anything. By the way, in a favorable economic situation, it is more profitable to invest money within the country rather than export it abroad. In this case, there is no need for currency control - in developed countries of the world, customs do not deal with this. The introduction of uniform rates, for example, customs duties, as discussed in German Gref’s program, would lead to us stopping taking customs costs so seriously, which is what everyone is playing with now.

— Historically, the customs commission that boards the ship consists of representatives of various services and departments. Doesn't this cause inconsistencies in passing control?

— Unfortunately, there are discrepancies. But conflicts never arose. The difficulty is, for example, that veterinary control requires 100% inspection. Phytosanitary - also requires inspection of each batch. But there are no hopeless situations. We recently started an experiment that was conceived 15 years ago. Its essence is that customs officers should stop participating in these commissions. Inspection on board is a rather incomprehensible thing. After all, it is almost impossible to inspect the cargo. There are times when it is necessary to check the cabins, the engine room - if there is a suspicion of contraband being transported by the crew. It was decided to carry out a risk analysis for cargo. In some cases, analysis of the risks of ship calls. And, having agreed on this in the North-West Technical University, we entered into an agreement with the Association of Agency Firms. Those agents who sign this agreement will, in some cases, have concessions when passing control. The main coordinator in the commission is the agent, he is responsible to all structures for the documentation provided.

Today, most of the cargo is released in one day: about eighty percent. In addition, for ship shipments of goods, we use the following method (it is generally accepted throughout the world) as a direct option: unloading the vessel - loading onto the vehicle. Which is very convenient. The declaration must be submitted in advance. It is known how much cargo has arrived, so this does not present any difficulties. In addition, such an institution as surveyors, who are required to calculate everything, is actively used. We keep records of these surveyors, we track which of them works honestly and which does not. This is so that you can further rely on their information about the cargo. But there are cases when cargo sits for two weeks, as a rule, if the goods do not have a certificate of conformity, the documents are filled out incorrectly or do not pass phyto- and veterinary control, although no more than a day has passed since the declaration was submitted.

In the future, a customs clearance center will be created. Our territory is vast: Kronstadt, Lomonosov, and all the port areas here... And in the near future we will begin to use remote access: we will allow brokers into the computer network that exists in the customs office. Thus, we will receive and issue declarations electronically. This will further reduce the processing time. All that remains is to resolve the most pressing issue that was, is and will probably still be: inspection. In recent weeks, work has intensified on the construction of our main container terminal in the area - a special X-ray installation for inspecting containers and trucks directly without unloading. This means that the inspection process will be significantly accelerated and the detection of contraband will be enhanced. Similar installations are installed in Hamburg and Rotterdam, and in Germany the installation paid for itself in a year and a half; in Rotterdam - six months. Although the cost of such an installation is high: about 10 million dollars. This is already a necessary link in civilized customs inspection.

And since we started the conversation with traditions, I remember that on June 12, 2000, on the spit of Vasilievsky Island, a stone was laid for the future monument to the customs officer. Here, next to the former building of the St. Petersburg port customs (now the Pushkin House) there will now be a historical place in memory of Russian customs officers.