1020 customs decisions on the return of sanctioned goods from customs checkpoints have been made. Regarding the intention to export or re-export goods in the Clearance Economic Zones, more than 600 customs decisions were made rejecting a person's application which was made orally/in writing, Minister of Finance Lasha Khutsishvili stated this while presenting a report in the "Minister's Hour" format at the plenary of the spring session of the Parliament.
In addition, according to the Minister, the mentioned goods were mainly household goods.
According to him, it is the result of the effective work of the country's customs service that no cases of violation of the sanctions imposed against Russia were recorded during the past year.
"All the products that are included in the list defined by the countries participating in the sanctions, as well as any customs operations (including export, re-export and transit) that can be carried out by sanctioned individuals or companies are subject to special customs control in Georgia.
From the very first days of the imposition of international sanctions, a relevant working group has been created in the Customs Risk Management Division of the Customs Department of the Revenue Service, which carries out centralized control of the enforcement of said sanctions.
In the mentioned period, 16 risk profiles were created, on the basis of which the movement of prohibited goods to the customs territory of Georgia in the direction of sanctioned individuals and companies or from sanctioned individuals and companies, as well as the transit, export and re-export procedures, are identified and controlled," the Minister said.
As he noted, since the first days of the imposition of sanctions, a number of communications were made with strategic partners regarding the technical assistance required for the proper administration of international sanctions. According to him, Georgia was granted access to the international sanctions training platform DOLFIN, and currently, 2 employees of the Customs Department have already obtained the sanctions enforcement expert certificate. In order to avoid potentially sanctioned operations, there are constant consultations with economic operators, which is important in terms of prevention.
In addition, the Minister explained that military and dual-purpose goods need a special permit to move on the territory of Georgia, which is issued by the Ministry of Defense and the Revenue Service. The issuance of such permits has been suspended since the start of hostilities, and therefore, not a single permit has been issued. Statistical data of Georgia's foreign trade (including import, export) with any country is public information and is systematically published on the website of the Revenue Service. This information is fully available to any interested party and to all partners.
