The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) names Georgia as the top trade reformers in the UNECE region with its “lean institutional set-up and paperless trading environment”.
”Today, it takes 30 minutes for imports to pass customs and documentary requirements are reduced to two documents only (transport document and commercial invoice or sales contract). Exports are cleared in only 10 or 15 minutes, depending whether standard or advance procedures are used. Georgia exported goods worth $ 2.11 billion in 2016, and imported goods worth $ 7.27 billion”, says the UNECE Study on regulatory and procedural barriers to trade in the country.
”Traders can obtain the customs declaration, necessary permits and the EUR 1 movement certificate online via the eCustoms interface and the Single Permit System; long wait times at border crossing points are avoided thanks to the electronic queuing system. At the border, control is undertaken by two agencies only (the Revenue Service and the Patrol Police), and traders have a choice of six Customs Clearance Zones, four clearance divisions, and 20 land, air and maritime Customs Crossing Points to clear their goods”, the study reports.
65 traders from across the country appreciated the high level of transparency in interviews.
Traders are kept abreast of trade-related regulatory and procedural requirements through online information dissemination systems and public-private consultations managed by different line ministries.
