In recent years, the State Customs Service of Ukraine has taken a significant step toward digitalization. Electronic declaration, the development of the ‘Single Window for International Trade,’ the implementation of API access to customs declarations, and the gradual abandonment of paper-based procedures indicate a systematic course toward building a modern customs administration.

For business, digitalization is much more than a convenient electronic service. It means faster information exchange, less administrative burden, more transparent procedures, reduced operating costs, and the minimization of risks associated with the human factor. That is why the development of digital services is currently one of the key tools for increasing the efficiency of customs administration.

However, any digital transformation must pass through two stages. The first is to convert documents into an electronic format. The second is to change the logic of the processes themselves. It is this second stage that remains the main challenge.

Despite significant progress, some customs procedures still remain effectively paper-based.

A telling example is making amendments to customs declarations. Legislation already allows for the submission of such applications in electronic form, but the functionality of the ‘Single Window’ personal account does not yet allow this to be realized in practice. As a result, companies are forced to prepare separate documents, submit them through customs office registries, and wait for manual processing.

At first glance, this may look like a purely technical issue. In reality, it affects the efficiency of the entire procedure.

The absence of an electronic service means:

• the inability to automatically verify the correctness of application completion;
• manual data transfer and an increased risk of technical errors;
• additional burden on customs officials;
• increased timelines for amending customs declarations.

The experience of the Association’s member companies confirms this problem. In most cases, adjustment sheets are processed longer than prescribed by law: the average term is about 19 days against the regulatory 10 working days. This indicates that the next logical step in the development of the ‘Single Window’ should be the automation of the entire process of amending customs declarations, rather than just the ability to submit a document in electronic form.

At the same time, one of the most positive steps in recent times has been the implementation of API access to customs declarations in 2025. This has effectively opened a new format of interaction between state information systems and corporate business IT solutions. Automated data exchange allows for the integration of customs processes into companies’ internal systems, reducing manual work and the number of potential errors.

However, the potential of the API is much broader. 

Businesses are already interested in the ability to automatically receive information regarding:

• movement of funds on the single treasury account;
• blocking and release of customs guarantees;
• NCTS operations;
• confirmation of the actual import and export of goods.

Expanding such functionality will not only reduce the number of manual operations but will also make customs processes more predictable, controllable, and integrated with internal enterprise procedures.

Another area that is often underestimated is the ability to export information from the Personal Account. Today, a significant portion of data is available only for viewing via a web interface. This means that company employees are forced to manually transfer information to internal systems or use it without the possibility of automated processing. The ability to export data in Excel or CSV formats is a relatively small technical improvement. However, it is precisely such, at first glance, simple solutions that often give the greatest practical effect: they reduce the time for report preparation, simplify financial analysis, accounting, and internal control.

In the opinion of the Association’s experts, no digital state service can develop effectively without constant feedback from its users. It is the business that works with customs information systems daily, so it best sees which solutions are already working effectively and which require further development. In this sense, improving the ‘Single Window for International Trade’ Personal Account should be viewed not as a separate IT project, but as one of the key elements of building a modern service-oriented customs.

The more procedures are automated, the less time will be spent on technical operations, the faster decisions will be made, and the more resources will remain for both businesses and state bodies to perform their main functions.

Ukrainian customs has already taken important steps on the path of digital transformation. However, a true ‘Single Window’ is not just electronic forms instead of paper documents. It is a system in which most processes happen automatically, data interacts seamlessly, and digital services help business and the state work faster, more efficiently, and more transparently. Such digitalization is capable of becoming one of the factors for increasing Ukraine’s competitiveness as a trading nation and bringing customs administration closer to the best European practices.