The government and the Economic Security Bureau are proposing that the IMEI numbers of mobile phones be mandatory in customs declarations. This would help prevent “grey” imports of devices from abroad and add 5 billion hryvnias a year to the budget.
BES Director Oleksandr Tsyvinskyy said on Telegram that the initiative was discussed with the Ministry of Finance, the State Customs Service, and the largest legal electronics retailers.
“The Ministry of Finance has already signed the relevant order, and the Ministry of Justice has carried out its state registration. Every phone has its own IMEI — a unique number, like a fingerprint. Until now, no one at customs asked for it. That’s why ‘grey’ imports felt so free: a batch of devices ‘from nowhere,’ without a trace, without a name,” the bureau chief commented.
Tsyvinskyi added that “for those who have been making money for years on ‘grey’ imports and electronics smuggling, this is the end of the old schemes.”
The next step is IMEIs on fiscal receipts. Together with the Ministry of Finance and the State Tax Service, the BES is working out the relevant implementation algorithm.