COMMODITY EXPERTISE OF FLAX FIBRE IN CUSTOMS TARIFF REGULATION OF FOREIGN TRADE

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of ensuring the effectiveness of customs tariff regulation of foreign trade in flax fibre through the mechanism of commodity expertise according to the Ukrainian Classification of Goods for Foreign Economic Activity (UCGFEA). The main problem lies in the absence in Ukraine of an approved methodology for instrumental identification of the degree of flax fibre processing for customs purposes, which makes it impossible to adopt objective classification decisions during customs control. Given the actual loss of Ukraine’s own production of long-stem flax fibre – the areas under this crop decreased from 169.4 thousand hectares in 1990 to 2.0 thousand hectares – the country is forced to import flax fibre mainly from EU countries. Given the dependence on flax fibre imports, customs tariff regulation is the main instrument of state policy in this area of foreign trade. The structure of commodity position 5301 of UCGFEA provides for significantly different import duty rates depending on the degree of fibre processing: for unprocessed fibre (retted straw) – 10%, for scutched fibre – 2%, for noils (combing waste) – 20%. The difference between the rates reaches 18 percentage points, which creates an economic incentive for unreliable declaration and undermines the fiscal function of customs tariff regulation of foreign trade. The purpose of the study is to analyse the role of commodity expertise in the system of customs tariff regulation of foreign trade in flax fibre and to substantiate instrumental methods of identification as the basis of commodity expertise for determining the product code during customs control. The results of the study established that the critical point of classification expertise is the differentiation of short scutched fibre and noils, which are visually similar products that cannot be distinguished by organoleptic methods. The expediency of complex application of acoustic (ultrasonic) and colorimetric methods for objective instrumental identification of flax fibre by degree of processing within the framework of customs commodity expertise is substantiated. The development of a unified approved methodology for instrumental identification of flax fibre for customs purposes is defined as a promising direction for further research, which is a necessary condition for improving the effectiveness of customs tariff regulation of flax fibre imports.