The Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU visited checkpoints on Ukraine's border with Hungary and Slovakia

On September 15, members of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the European Union visited three checkpoints on Ukraine's border with Hungary and Slovakia. Luzhanka - Beregshuran on the Ukrainian-Hungarian border, according to the State Border Guard Service, has a design capacity of 2,900 cars per day. However, in practice, including due to quarantine restrictions, these figures are much lower. The entrance to the point has not been repaired for a long time. Service area - parking for cars, comfort zone for people are not equipped. It is currently impossible to equip the service zones, as the areas located near the entrance to the checkpoints are private property. According to local authorities, there are several ways to solve this problem, in particular, compensating the owners of land plots or allocating them alternative plots elsewhere. Modernization of this point has been planned since 2015, but has not been implemented yet.

The Uzhhorod-Vyshne-Nemetske checkpoint on the Ukrainian-Slovak border is one of the largest. The planned capacity of the truck crossing is 500 cars. The average waiting time for carriers in Ukraine, according to customs, is up to three hours. Ukrainian customs officials say the point's capacity is high and complain that they cannot get their Slovak counterparts to increase the number of services. At the checkpoint it is also planned to expand the service area to accommodate up to 300 cars, to create an electronic queue and build a passenger checkpoint.

Chop (Tysa) - Zahon - today is one of the largest checkpoints on the western border of Ukraine. Its territory is 6.5 hectares, it employs 142 people, there are 2 boxes of in-depth inspection. There is a stationary scanning system, 2 weight systems. The service area is arranged in the direction of departure. Customs officials say the point is ready to introduce the technology that would allow potential risks to be processed faster, save time and reduce queues. At the same time, the scanning system has not been put into operation, it works in test mode. The constant change of bodies and structures of executive power delays this process.

Common to all checkpoints and, unfortunately, an unresolved issue is joint control with a neighbouring country. According to customs officers, this type of control would save up to 30% of time, needed to go through all procedures. At a field meeting on September 16 in Uzhhorod, members of the Committee discussed capacity, checkpoint infrastructure, and the prevention of smuggling and corruption. Representatives of the State Border Guard Service, the State Customs Service, the EU Advisory Mission and local authorities also took part in the meeting.