Perepolkin S. International customs law: issues of theory and application practice.

The thesis substantiates the concept of understanding of international customs law, aimed at solving the most pressing issues of its theory and application practice at international and domestic levels of the legal regulation of customs relations. The paper summarizes the scientific approaches of Ukrainian and foreign scholars to understanding of international customs law, studies its genesis and clarifies the range of subjects. The subject of legal regulation of international customs law is specified and the subject of its legal influence is determined. The correlation of the categories of “content of international customs law”, “form of international customs law”, “sources of international customs law” is analyzed and their definition is suggested. A particular attention is paid to the analysis of doctrinal approaches to understanding of the international customs law system and the characteristics of internal organization of the elements of the international customs law content. The interrelationships between the principles, norms and standards of international customs law are explored and the incorrectness of their scientific interpretation as identical concepts is proved. The principles of international customs law are proposed to be interpreted as fundamental rules of origin, development and functioning of international customs law. The norms develop the requirements of the principles and act as a link between the latter and the standards of international customs law. In response, the standards of international customs law are developed in order to promote the most effective implementation of the principles and norms of international customs law. As a source of international customs law there is proposed to understand the will of its subjects due to the specific needs of international relations and expressed externally in certain forms. The types of external forms of existence of general international law, defined in the Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, are proposed to be considered as an inexhaustible list of sources of learning of the content of the current international customs law. There are analyzed main features of law-making activity in international customs relations as a process of the creation by subjects of international customs law of new, change in current or repeal of obsolete principles, norms and standards, carried out to meet both their individual and common needs and interests taking into account generally accepted principles and norms of international law. The codification and progressive development of international customs law and participation in the creation of international customs law of international organizations, in particular the Customs Cooperation Council, are described. Doctrinal approaches to the interpretation of the purpose, tasks and functions of the Customs Cooperation Council are generalized and the connection between these categories is specified. The approaches of Ukrainian and foreign scholars to the interpretation of the “implementation” term are studied and proposals for its improvement in domestic theory of international law and doctrine of national customs law are formulated. The need for doctrinal distinction between the concepts of “implementation” and “execution” is substantiated basing on the thesis that recourse to the means of implementation at both international and domestic levels of legal regulation of customs relations arises in the case of impossibility to implement rules of conduct of international customs law in the designed forms without removing existing obstacles or creating the necessary conditions in this regard. International and domestic levels of implementation of international customs law are characterized, the most common means of individual and joint implementation of its principles, norms and standards are considered, proposals for amendments to the Customs Code of Ukraine are formulated to eliminate contradictions in implementing international customs law by Ukraine. There is grounded an expediency of recognizing by a part of the customs legislation of Ukraine of both current international treaties, consented to be bound by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and current international treaties of Ukraine, eliminated the requirement for ratification and being approved in the form of decrees of the President of Ukraine or resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.