With a 16-year experience on the market of brokerage services, Fortuna protested in court the 2004 regulation imposing mandatory exams and won the case, with the Supreme Administration Court supporting the charge in Jan. 2007. However, a similar regulation imposing mandatory exams was issued by SCS head Valery Khorshkovsky.

“My reaction was quick, and on Apr. 9 I sent the verdicts of 3 courts to SCS declaring the 2004 decree illegal because it was not based on either the Customs Code, or cabinet resolutions, or any other legislation. There are no legal reasons for introducing mandatory exams for customs brokers. Moreover, as Ukraine is moving toward international standards, such exams are treated by international lawyers as corruption-prone situations. We are only too aware of how corrupt examinations are in this country,” Teodor Dyakiv argued.

According to Dyakiv, a meeting of heads of brokerage companies are scheduled to be held at 10.00 on Apr. 15 at the Western Regional Customs whose head Oleh Hoj insists on the enforcement of the exam.

“Before his appointment as WRC head, Oleh Hoj was rector of the Customs Academy in Kmelnytsky. I believe, he was misinformed by his subordinates who did not tell him the 2004 had been cancelled by courts,” Dyakiv continued.