Border crossing of cargo at the land border between Estonia and Russia

Report ID: 55

The National Audit Office analyzed the work of Estonian border inspection points on the land border between Estonia and Russia. The goal was to point out to Estonian state agencies how they could make it easier for goods vehicles to cross the border and thereby reduce the queues at the border.

The Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation audited the activities of Russia’s state agencies at the border inspection points on the land border between Russia and Estonia. The opinions of both audit institutions were presented in a joint document.

The audit concluded that the organization of vehicles crossing the land border between Estonia and Russia improved considerably in 2011 when waiting areas were established by the border and an electronic queue was introduced. Vehicles are no longer queuing on Estonian roads, drivers know when they can expect to enter the Estonian border inspection point and do not have to waste their time on spending days in the queue. However, the introduction of electronic queues did not increase the capacity of the border inspection point. Sometimes, people still have to wait for several days before they can cross the border. According to the Ministry of the Interior, the Police and Border Guard Board, and the Tax and Customs Board, reducing the waiting times depends primarily on the work organization in the Federal Customs Service of Russia and in the border inspection points on the border between Russia and Estonia. Audit operations in Estonia and examining the organization of work in the Russian border inspection points opposite the Estonian ones give the National Audit Office reason to believe that this is likely to be the case. However, there also reserves that can be used to make the work of Estonian border inspection points more efficient.