Today national customs systems working in the quickly changing environment must react in changes standards of the production and the consumption, growth of the volume, methods and technologies of the international trade, threats of the terrorism, organized cross–border crime or else the breaking of international sanctions (embargoes). In spite of that these phenomena appeared earlier, this the essential novum is their dynamics, spectrum and methods which are disparately greater, wider and more and more complicated than this took place several or a dozen or so years ago. The turn of the century put before national customs systems many of new challenges and dilemmas which caused the revision of views concerning of the meaning customs policy in the economy and the society and also the roles which has (can, should, will be) to fulfil in twenty–first century. Signum temporis of the Customs at the beginning the new millennium is to act between Scylla of the guarantee of closed borders and the effective protection of the state and the society and Charybdis of the providing the methods and instruments, which will not create barriers in the international trade. However, it should be explicite stated, that question security – facilitation is not a dilemma ‘to control or not to control’ (either–or) but touches the problem ‘how to perform it’.
Global Trade and Customs Journal