With sponsorship of the German Customs Cooperation Fund, a WCO National Workshop on the modernization of the Customs Laboratories of Ukraine was held in the Specialized Laboratory on Expertise and Researches of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, in Kyiv, from 30 August to 2 September 2016. The Workshop was attended by more than 100 Customs officers, from different sections of the Country, involved in Customs Laboratories and HS classification matters.

At the opening of the Workshop, the Director of the Specialized Laboratory, Ms. Yuliia Shadevska, highlighted the importance of a Customs Laboratory for the correct classification of certain commodities in the Harmonized System (HS) and thanked the representatives from the German Customs Administration and from the WCO Secretariat's Tariff and Trade Affairs Directorate for facilitating the high level discussions on the modernization of the Ukrainian Customs Laboratories.

Also present at the opening ceremony, Dr. Burkhard Grebbe, from the Customs Laboratory of Cologne, emphasized the importance of a Customs Laboratory for the correct and uniform classification of commodities in the HS and in the national Customs tariff and encouraged the cooperation and networking between Customs Laboratories.

During the Workshop participants discussed relevant areas of analytic methodology, methods validation, quality assurance and considered the possibilities for the modernization of the Specialized Customs Laboratory in Kiev in order to be accredited under ISO 17025. The Specialized Laboratory is a modern well-equipped standard laboratory that is the Central Customs Laboratory of Ukraine. A wide range of topics related to the HS and Customs Laboratories were addressed and the participants were also thoroughly informed about the amendments to the chemical area of the HS 2017 and about several databases and documentation specifically designed for the day to day routine in a Customs Laboratory. Participants were also informed about the efforts of the WCO Secretariat in promoting cooperation and networking between Customs Laboratories and, in particular, about the WCO Regional Customs Laboratories initiative. Moreover, some analytical determinations of special interest for Ukrainian Customs were discussed in the Laboratory under the supervision of the external experts.