The team of the Fiscal Policy Research Center presented the results of two years of work on the ACCORD project, focusing on the development of modern tools for monitoring customs performance based on large-scale datasets.
“Our main focus was on collecting, verifying, and developing interactive tools that enable the assessment of customs performance,” said Viktor Maziarchuk, Head of the Center, during the public online event “Customs Reform in Action: Achievements and Challenges on the Path to the EU,” dedicated to discussing the progress of customs transformation and shaping a reform roadmap for 2026.
As part of the project, the team compiled customs data for 2020–2024 into two large datasets.
“The first dataset consists of anonymized data on export-import operations across all goods. It includes more than 50 million records. We cleaned, structured, and visualized the data so that anyone can see what is being imported through specific customs offices and what the associated tax burden is,” Maziarchuk explained.
The second dataset focused on aggregated statistical information on customs operations, including regional breakdowns.
“We combined datasets that are, on the one hand, quite similar, and on the other, very different. Over a long period, we developed a methodology that allows us to integrate them and identify segments within the overall dataset that appear anomalous,” he explained. The team named this methodology ACCORD.
“For each commodity group, based on a large dataset, we calculated average values representing so-called ‘normal behavior.’ Then, for each product and each customs office, we identify deviations that require attention,” noted the Head of the Center.
According to him, such indicators can be updated on a monthly basis and applied within a risk-based approach.
“This can be useful both for customs authorities and for the Ministry of Finance,” he concluded.
This publication was produced within a subgrant of the project “ACCORD: Accountability and Capacity-building for Customs Oversight and Reform Development,” with financial support from the European Union and implemented by IAA – Institute of Analytics and Advocacy and Technology of Progress. Its content is the sole responsibility of the ACCORD project subgrantee (the Fiscal Policy Research Center) and does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union.