New Surveillance System at the Customs Posts of the Republic of Moldova

Выпуск, март 2009

The training conference was organized for experts who work in MOLDOVA the field of professional training of border guard services,from both the EU, MS, and other, third countries, e.g., Croatia, New surveillance system at the customs posts of the Albania, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova ( states that have signed working arrangements with Republic of Moldova FRONTEX Agency). The main After the successful implementation of the ASYCUDA WORD objective of this information system, as well as the "single window” approach, Conference was the Customs Service of the Republic of Moldova moved to familiarize forward with the realization of its system concept for real time national training monitoring of events, persons and vehicles at the customs coordinators of posts. The designated units are currently testing the the third surveillance system at the pilot customs posts of Leuseni and countries with the Sculeni. special training system of the This system is comprised of a closed-circuit television border guard subsystem; a subsystem to identify state registration number services of the plates and a traffic management subsystem. EU MS. Being involved in The monitoring system helps to monitor and prevent trafficking the activities of such Conferences will significantly improve the in goods, vehicles and passengers at customs posts. It entails quality of training and adjust training programs within the other benefits as well, such as assuring transparency in educational ifacilities of the Border Guard Service – National customs Border Guard College and the Faculty for Border Guards of activities, „Alexandru cel Bun” Military Institute of Armed Forces – to t EU elliminating standards. corruption, examination and providing on-line Heading towards European integration in the field of documentation of the way border issues border users and customs Representatives of the Border Guard Service of the Republic of officers behave. Moldova had a working meeting in Chisinau with border and Moreover, the migration attachés of the diplomatic missions of Denmark, system will allow Lithuania and Austria accredited in the Republic of Moldova. for monitoring of The guests had the opportunity to visit some units of the crossing zones, entry, exit and parking operations, and a time Central Apparatus of the Border Guard Service and to learn framework for customs procedures. more about their activities. In addition,, within the framework of the meeting they were provided with information about the The really innovative element in this project is the automated Service’s activities, results achieved, perspectives and recognition of vehicle identification number plates. The main development goals. task of the project is to recognize a registration number plate at Summing up the meeting, its participants came to the the crossing point regardless of the direction a given vehicle i conclusion that there is a need for further development of and weather conditions, and to identify the country of the bilateral relations and continued interaction on border related vehicle’s registration. Another significant factor for effective issues. functioning of a “single window” and cross-checking of the Customs and Border Guard Services’ data bases is the ability UKRAINE to receive information in real time.

The system for real time monitoring of events, vehicles and For travellers’ attention! New regulations persons at customs posts can be considered as a safety concerning the importation of food products of management system which will contribute to public safety and animal origin into the EU the prevention of emergency situations due to its security cameras and sensor subsystems. In order to protect animals’ health within the territory of EU member states, new regulations on the importation of food products of animal Extended cooperation with FRONTEX origin by persons (while The delegation of the Border Guard Service participated in the travelling, National Training Coordinators Conference organized by in FRONTEX at FRONTEX Partnership Academy in Austria. travellers’ МИССИЯ ЕС

Выпуск, март 2009 accompanied luggage, in international postal parcels) are to The newly created Customs House will be located in the city of come into force on 1 May 2009. Chernivtsi. with three customs posts, ‘Chernivtsi’, ‘Vadul-Siret’ The rules forbid travellers to import meat and dairy products and ‘Kelementsi’ ,as its integral parts. while crossing the EU border. This ban does not apply to The actions taken are to shrink administration and persons entering the EU from Croatia, Greenland, Iceland and management apparatus, thus facilitating an increase in human the Faroe Islands, who bring the aforementioned products for resources in customs field units directly involved in customs personal use in an amount not exceeding 10 kg. controls and clearance. The new Oblast Customs House is to become operational on 1 The rules also do not apply to powdered baby food, special May 2009, i.e. upon the closure of Kelmentsi and Chernivtsi products and foods for treating animals if the weight of such Customs Houses. food stuffs does not exceed 2 kg and if the products don’t have to be refrigerated prior to opening and are transported in Extra eyes for the border undamaged manufacturer’s packaging when sold to the final user. The Kotovsk Border Guard Detachment of SBGSU has received 6.9 million UAH worth of 15 portable VARIO thermal vision devices as part of a US Government assistance project . These special thermal vision monitoring devices are of high priority for the Ukrainian-Moldovan border, enabling border guards to carry out long-range monitoring at any time of the day or night. Thanks to the application of thermal vision devices for border surveillance, in the first quarter of 2009 alone, 42 cross-border offenders were intercepted, as well as smuggled goods to the amount of almost 15 thousand UAH. EUBAM

12th Advisory Board Meeting of the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine held in Odesa

At its 12th meeting in Odessa on March 26, the Apropos of fish Advisory Board products (fish of the EU and different Border shell-fish products such as prawns, lobsters, dead mussels and Assistance oysters), travelers shall be allowed to import 20 kg of these. Mission to The weight restrictions do not apply to persons arriving from Moldovan and Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Ukraine Other food products of animal origin, such as honey, live reviewed the oysters, mussels and, for example, snails, shall be allowed to results of the be imported by persons in an amount of up to 2 kg. work of EUBAM and its partners, namely the Border Guard and The aforementioned regulations shall not apply to food Customs Services of Ukraine and Moldova. The meeting was products of animal origin transported within the 27 EU member chaired by the Head of the EC delegation to Ukraine, Jose states as well as to food products imported from Andorra, Manuel Pinto Teixeira. Liechtenstein, Norway, San Marino and Switzerland. The Advisory Board highlighted the successful cooperation New Regional Customs Office to be launched in between EUBAM and its partner services in a number of areas, Chernivtsi including implementation of a single customs regime, intensification of information exchange, implementation of joint To enhance the institutional structure of the Customs Service border control operations, shared analytical work, public and bring it in line with the administrative and territorial division communications, and various capacity building efforts. The of Ukraine while taking into account requests from local public EUBAM partners informed the Advisory Board about their authorities of the Chernivtsi Oblast, the State Customs Service priorities for 2009 and the key areas of cooperation with of Ukraine has decided to reorganize its subdivisions in the EUBAM. Chernivtsi Oblast. The Advisory Board stresses the importance of technical The Chernivtsi and Kelmentsi Customs Houses are to be assistance provided by the European Commission and EUBAM closed down on 1 May 2009 by the relevant SCSU orders. A to the customs and border guard services of Moldova and separate SCSU order has established the Chernivtsi Oblast Ukraine. The board reviewed the implementation of several Customs House with the whole Chernivsti Oblast as its AoR. technical assistance projects such as development of a Выпуск, март 2009

communication network in the Republic of Moldova, which will allow high- speed transmission of data with voice and video features (EUR 31 million); establishment of a Regional Training Centre in Kotovsk for the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service (EUR 1.6 million); allocation of funds to the Ukrainian border guard and customs services for the implementation of EUBAM recommendations (EUR 5 million); and a technical assistance project for the Moldovan Customs Service (EUR 1.5 million).

EUBAM designed a Training programme for 2009

From the very beginning of its operation EUBAM has paid significant attention to enhancing the professional capacities of customs officers and border guards in Moldova and Ukraine.

In 2008 EUBAM designed and implemented an extensive training programme with 1299 participants from the partner services. The total budget of the training programme amounted to EUR 600 000. The funds were spent on the activities of STEs, organization of workshops, travel and accommodation arrangements, as well as on development of training materials. The Mission organized training sessions on different topics, such as combating organized crime and the trafficking of human beings, managerial issues for senior management, anti-corruption measures, customs valuation and country of origin. EUBAM also organized 3 study overseas tours with 24 participants.

In 2009 the Mission will continue to enhance the professional competence of the officers of partner services. IWe are planning to organize 15 training workshops around issues that traditionally are of a strong interest for the partners, such as development of risk analysis and integrated border management. Moreover, the EUBAM Training Unit is planning to design workshops on new topics, such as trade facilitation, supply chain security and professional training standards . A possibility workshop on EURO 2012 is now being discussed.

In 2009 EUBAM is planning to organize 4 study tours to the EU countries. During their visit to Belgium and Germany the officers from partner services will learn more about standards,applied in professional training. The training in Germany will focus on studying the effective organization of border control procedures at airports. Iwe are also planning to organize two study visits to Latvia. The first visit will be specifically designed for PR officers. whereas the second trip will help the partners to learn more about the information technologies applied at the jointly operated BCPs.