The State Customs Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Finance of Georgia as represented by the Legal Entity of Public Law of the Revenue Service, the Customs Service under the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Moldova and the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine hereinafter – the Parties,

striving to develop customs cooperation in the framework of GUAM;

taking into account that violations of customs legislation are prejudicial to the economic, social and cultural interests of the States of the Parties;

by cooperation through exchange of information among the Parties with a view to enhancing the effectiveness of the fight against offences, related to the competence of the customs administrations of the States of the Parties;

Have agreed as follows:

Article 1

 This Protocol shall cover the exchange of information, mentioned in Article 2 of this Protocol, for the purposes of fighting customs offences related to the movement of goods by air transport across the state borders of the GUAM Member States.

Article 2

The Parties shall, in accordance with the national legislation of the States of the Parties and this Protocol, determine competent units which exchange information as it becomes available on the following:

  • persons, who, according to available data, prepare, commit or have committed offences related to the illegal movement of goods by air transport among the territories of the States of the Parties;
  • goods, moved by physical or legal persons by air transport among the territories of the States of the Parties in violation of the customs legislation of the State of either Party.

Article 3

 The exchange of information and of the results of its verification within the framework of this Protocol shall be carried out by transmission of reports in accordance with Technical terms for exchange of information, to be developed and approved on bilateral basis.

 Article 4 

  1. Information received under the provisions of this Protocol shall be of confidential nature and used only for the purposes of implementation of this Protocol and can not be transmitted to the third Parties or be used for other purposes without written consent of the Party transmitted information.
  2. Information received by one of the Parties under this Protocol shall be subject to the same confidentiality treatment provided for by national legislation of its State for the own information with similar nature and content.
  3. The use of such information as evidence in the courts shall be determined in accordance with the national legislation of the States of the Parties.
  4. Personal data processed under this Protocol shall comply with the national legislation of the States of the Parties, as well as the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data of January 28.01.1981.
  5. The Parties shall take all necessary measures to ensure the competent correction of personal data, their destruction or blocking, if the processing of such personal data does not comply with the provisions of this Protocol and, if the processing of such data is inappropriate, inadequate or beyond the purpose of obtaining it.

Such measures shall be also include the informing of other Parties on each correction, destruction or blocking of personal data.

Article 5

 Any disagreements among the Parties concerning the application of this Protocol shall be settled through negotiations and consultations.

 Article 6

 By mutual consent of the Parties amendments and additions may be made to this Protocol, being its integral part, in the form of separate protocols which shall enter into force in accordance with Article 7 of this Protocol.

 Article 7

  1. This Protocol is concluded for an indefinite period and shall enter into force on the date of the deposit of the third notification by the Parties with the Depository confirming the completion of internal procedures by the Parties required for its entry into force. For the Parties which shall deposit their notifications after such date, the Protocol shall enter into force on the date of receipt of the respective notification by the Depository.
  2. Each Party may denounce this Protocol by a written notification to the Depository not later than six months before the termination of the Protocol for the respective Party.
  3. The Depository for the present Protocol shall be the Secretariat of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM.

Done at Chisinau 5 October 2018, in a single copy in the English and Russian languages, both texts being equally authentic. In case of any divergence of interpretation of the provisions of this Protocol, the English text shall prevail.