The topic of customs clearance of cars has recently once again found itself in the spotlight. This is due to systemic violations and the lack of response to them. This even became a subject of discussion at a meeting of the Temporary Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada. Particular questions in this context arise for the Deputy Head of the State Customs Service, Vladyslav Suvorov, who is responsible for international cooperation. He should have initiated international inspections and prevented the recurrence of abuses with car customs clearance, but throughout the time since the facts of violations were made public, obviously no appropriate steps have been taken, writes UNN.
Forged EUR.1 certificates
One of the topics considered by the parliamentary TSK was forged EUR.1 certificates (this is a customs document that confirms the origin of goods from an EU country and gives the importer the right to receive a preferential or zero duty rate when importing goods). These are documents that grant the right to preferential customs clearance of cars with a 10% discount. This scheme, according to journalist Yevhen Plinsky, has become one of the key tools for manipulation during the import of used cars.
It turns out that from 2022 to 2026, the SCSU (State Customs Service of Ukraine – ed.) checked the authenticity of 15,000 EUR.1 certificates, which grant a 10% duty preference. Of this number, only 1078 certificates were verified as genuine. 10,560 pieces turned out to be outright fakes, and 3383 certificates were so-called "gray" ones. That is, the body that issued them in the EU was genuine and had the right to do so, but the manufacturing plant did not approve the issuance of such a document
That is, more than 90% of the documents that allowed avoiding customs duties when importing cars into Ukraine had no legal basis.
It should be noted that the number of used cars for which EUR.1 certificates are submitted to customs has significantly decreased over the past 4 years, from 10% in 2021 to 2% in 2025.
But even this number allows for the construction of an entire infrastructure around forged certificates
Such cars are imported, in particular, through the Volyn customs.
Smuggling carousel
EUR.1 certificates are not the only scheme that exists at customs. Even more indicative is the situation with so-called "vans" and small trucks used to transport goods across the border. According to journalistic investigations, a systemic smuggling scheme has been created at the Shehyni, Krakovets, and Smilnytsia checkpoints in the Lviv region.
In the previous post, we analyzed how three small vans made 149 smuggling trips in a year, transporting 150 tons of contraband worth 10 million dollars. Today I will continue to share with you statistics concerning large seven-ton trucks. The specificity of these vehicles is the presence of a tarpaulin body. It looks more like a semi-trailer, but it has the right to pass through small checkpoints. Each such van carries 3-3.5 tons of cargo... Unlike small vans, which customs processed as empty, this trick did not work here. Therefore, out of 3,000 kg of cargo, customs "saw" only 200-500 kg on each trip
The described scheme at customs operates on the principle of the so-called "smuggling carousel":
- the car leaves Poland;
- is unloaded on the territory of Ukraine;
- returned to the checkpoint;
- was cleared by customs as almost empty or empty.
According to the investigator, such a situation at customs indicates only one thing: in fact, there is currently no economic border in Ukraine.
Lack of reaction from the State Customs Service leadership
Systemic violations at customs became known almost three months ago, not to mention the detection of similar isolated cases. However, the complete lack of proper reaction from the leadership of the State Customs Service of Ukraine is surprising.
Since the majority of cars with EUR.1 certificates crossed the border from Poland, verifying their authenticity would be relatively simple. Within the framework of international cooperation, for which Vladyslav Suvorov is responsible at the State Customs Service, the Ukrainian side could send appropriate requests and compare Ukrainian data with data from the Polish side. After all, this is precisely what the relevant instrument exists for.
The same applies to the smuggling of goods; it is enough to compare the official data of Ukrainian and Polish customs not just to bring one or two truck drivers to justice, but to stop the operation of the smuggling carousel altogether.
And here a question arises for the Deputy Head of the State Customs Service, Vladyslav Suvorov, who is responsible for international cooperation.
Indeed, according to UNN, despite the scale of the schemes uncovered, journalistic investigations, and even the attention to the problem from the parliamentary TSK, Suvorov has not taken any effective steps within the framework of international cooperation. After all, requests to EU customs services, exchange of information with customs services of neighboring countries, and initiation of international inspections are precisely within his competence.
In fact, this means that the state did not even try to officially confirm or refute the volume of smuggling. The only forced reaction of the State Customs Service after the facts were made public was the suspension of individual shifts at the customs posts of the Lviv customs and an attempt to bring them to justice.
This is obviously an attempt, as always, to shift responsibility to the lower echelon of the corruption chain instead of genuinely fighting schemes that cause damage to the state budget.
Negligence or deliberate disregard
This situation raises a logical question: if an official responsible for international cooperation does not use the most obvious and simplest verification tool — international requests to the customs authorities of neighboring countries — then why?
There can be several possible explanations here: official negligence and criminal inaction, sabotage of solving the problem, or deliberate cover-up of schemes, which raises suspicions of corrupt interest on the part of one of the country's main customs officials.
In any case, Suvorov's inaction looks at least strange: whether it is professional incompetence in controlling his own area of work, or a conscious unwillingness to see what is happening on the Ukrainian border.
Recall
As UNN previously wrote, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention may conduct an audit of the lifestyle of Vladyslav Suvorov, Deputy Head of the State Customs Service, whose mother owns real estate worth about UAH 5 million.
Since 2024, Vladyslav Suvorov, along with his wife and children, resides in an apartment of over 100 sq. m in the elite residential complex Greenville Park in Kyiv's Podil district. This apartment is registered to the official's mother, Olha Suvorova, who, according to the declaration of Volodymyr Suvorov, the official's father, only receives a pension as income.
The cost of such housing starts from $230,000 without renovation, although the father's declaration states that it was purchased in 2022 for UAH 3.2 million (approximately $87,000 at the exchange rate at that time).
In addition, in the same residential complex, Olha Suvorova also owns two parking spaces, purchased in 2025 for over UAH 400,000 each.
It is worth noting that, according to YouControl analytical platform data, Olha Suvorova has no business. At the same time, her husband's declaration states that Olha Suvorova also owns a house in Izmail, and Volodymyr Suvorov has an official apartment there, which is owned by the Pridunaiska customs.
In addition, according to media reports, the brother of Vladyslav Suvorov's wife owns a commercial premises in Greenville Park.
Also, according to the customs officer's declaration, his wife Maryna Suvorova purchased two brand new TOYOTA RAV4 cars last year for over UAH 2 million each. The purchases took place with a one-month difference. It should be noted that Maryna Suvorova works at the State Information and Analytical Center for Monitoring Foreign Commodity Markets (SE "Derzhzovnishinform") and her annual salary is slightly more than UAH 500,000.
In addition, the family's declarations year after year indicate significant amounts of cash, including in foreign currency.
It is worth noting that in 2021, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention had already conducted an audit of Vladyslav Suvorov's declarations. At that time, he submitted an updated declaration for 2020, in which he indicated an apartment in which his wife had a share. However, this was before the official's mother acquired elite real estate.