On Wednesday, July 5, 2023, at a plenary session, the Second Senate of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine delivered a Decision in the case upon constitutional complaints of Anatolii Dushenkevych, Andrii Franko, and Iryna Yarosh regarding the constitutionality of Article 483.1.2 of the Customs Code of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as “the Code”).
According to the sanction of Article 483.1 of the Code, guilty persons who moved goods across the customs border of Ukraine while hiding from customs control shall be imposed a fine in the amount of 100 percent of the value of the goods - the direct objects of the violation of customs rules, with the confiscation of these goods.
The authors of the constitutional complaints appealed to declare the disputed provision of the Code unconstitutional, since, in their opinion, it makes impossible the implementation of the principle of individualisation of legal liability of the violator of customs rules, taking into account the nature of the committed illegal act, the form of guilt, the characteristics of the person guilty of committing the offense, the possibility of compensation for the damage caused, the presence of circumstances mitigating or aggravating liability.
After examining the issues raised in the constitutional complaints, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine concluded that the provisions of Article 483 of the Code do not correspond to the Constitution of Ukraine due to the fact that “such legislative regulation contradicts the principles of a democratic society based on the rule of law”.
The text of the Decision and its summary will be published on the official website of the Court on July 6, 2023.
