Reform Index 138: «+» for the Classification of Goods and «-» for Preferential Admission to Universities

In the previous round, the index was +1.0 point.

The classification of goods of foreign economic activity is brought in line with the classification of the World Customs Organization version 2017, +2.0 points

Companies or consumers who import goods into the country must pay a duty. The size of the customs tariff depends on the type of goods and depends on the code of the goods in the classification of goods of foreign economic activity. 

For convenience in processing exports and imports at customs, countries use classifications that comply with the harmonized system of description and coding of goods (HS) of the World Customs Organization. This system is regularly updated. There are 5 versions of the system: 1996, 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017.

In Ukraine, there was a classification corresponded to the HS version of 2012. Law 674-IX of 04.06.2020 introduced a new one, which corresponds to the HS version of 2017.

The only standard for on-site inspections of banks and non-bank financial institutions, +2.0 points

By Resolution №90 of June 20, 2020, the NBU changed the procedures for conducting on-site inspections of banks and non-banking financial institutions. It merged inspections on financial monitoring, compliance with currency and sanctions legislation, and introduced a single standard of inspections of banks and non-banking financial institutions (NFU). 

The law that allows the use of state budget money to repay debts of local budgets, which took under the construction of roads, 0.0 points

Law 677-IX amends the Budget Code, which allows local governments to use a subvention from the state budget to local budgets to repay local debts. This, on the one hand, creates opportunities for local authorities to attract additional funds for road construction. On the other hand, there are risks to the sustainability of local debts. Experts gave both positive and negative assessments of this law (from —2.0 to +3.0). Therefore, the median score is zero.

Law on the possibility of admission to Ukrainian universities of residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea without external evaluation, -0.5 points.

Law 744-IX of 03.07.2020 provided an opportunity for entrants from the temporarily occupied territories (TOT) who did not pass the external examination to become students of any Ukrainian institution of higher education. Most experts have assessed the law as a negative development.