President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed bill No. 5420 into law, which criminalizes smuggling in Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed bill No. 5420, approved by the Ukrainian Parliament, which criminalises smuggling, into law on 28 December.

The thresholds for the smuggling of goods are proposed to be raised five times; thresholds for smuggling of excisable goods by half.

The entry into force of the provisions on the smuggling of goods is postponed until mid-2024 (the IMF's deadline for the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine reset).

The law also took into account the numerous insistences of businesses to specify the intentional form of guilt, which is the only way to qualify actions as a crime.

The law also significantly limited the possible cases of bringing liability under smuggling articles for submitting documents with false information; they must be the basis for the movement of goods, be subject to mandatory declaration in accordance with customs legislation, and have an impact on the determination of customs payments or compliance with non-tariff regulation measures.

The Verkhovna Rada adopted in the second reading bill No. 5420 on the criminalisation of smuggling on 9 December.

On 28 December 2023, the Dniprovskyi Court of Kyiv closed the case of ex-Berkut members Vadym Betliy and Oleh Kozachyshyn, who took part in the Maidan dispersal.