Registration began in March 2026, a month later than in 2025, when the first shipments passed through the post in February. Despite the late start, the total volume has multiplied over the past nine months.
The main reason is organizational reform, not just the growth of supplies themselves. Prior to the introduction of inter-post dispatching, the Ural Central Economic Commission processed declarations exclusively of participants in foreign economic activity registered in the Ural region. After switching to automatic distribution, the post receives declarations from anywhere in the country, depending on the system load.
"The increase in clearance volumes is associated with the introduction of a new inter-post dispatching system. Previously, the regional CED issued declarations of those participants of foreign economic activity that are located in the Ural region. Now we are issuing all declarations received as a result of automatic distribution," explained Sergey Epifanov, head of the Ural Electronic Customs.
The published data do not allow us to separate which share of the increase is due to a real increase in imports of cocoa beans, and which is due to the redistribution of declarations between electronic declaration centers. Both factors acted simultaneously.
At the same time, the design itself accelerated. The average time for the release of batches of cocoa beans in 2026 is 1.5 hours compared to 4.5 hours a year earlier. The minimum recorded value in automatic mode was 10 seconds. We are talking about single declarations that have been fully automatically issued without the participation of an inspector: the average value more accurately reflects the actual processing speed of the stream.
For importers of cocoa raw materials and confectionery manufacturers operating through the CED, reducing the average release time from a few hours to one and a half is a significant change in supply planning. The goods are transferred to the recipient's disposal faster, and the cost of storage in temporary warehouses is reduced.
Inter-post dispatching changes the logic of interaction with customs: the declarant is no longer tied to "his" regional post. The declaration can go to any data center with available capacity. This reduces the risk of queues during peak load periods, but requires participants in foreign economic activity to be ready to communicate with different posts when requesting documents or clarifications.
Related materials:
- The FCS will focus on the uniformity of customs decisions through digital systems — how does the FCS align the practice of posts where declarations are now distributed
- The FCS is switching to single data entry in export transactions — another acceleration of clearance, now for export
- The FCS classification decision for the import of industrial equipment: why it is needed and what changes from September 1 — how to reduce the risk of questions from a new post during distributed declaration
