The State Customs Service (SCS) reported that in Ukraine over 900 thousand IMEI codes have been entered into customs records for mobile phones. You can check whether a specific device is in the system via a dedicated online service.
Mandatory IMEI declaration from 4 September 2026
Mandatory declaration of IMEI codes was introduced on 4 September 2026. Since then importers must submit to customs the identifier of every mobile phone they bring into Ukraine and declare it under the relevant commodity codes of the Ukrainian Classification of Goods for Foreign Economic Activity (UKT ZED).
The requirement applies to devices classified under codes 8517 13 00 00 and 8517 14 00 00. The aim is to make it harder to import mobile devices illegally and to make the electronics market more transparent.
How to check an IMEI and what the service shows
To check, use the State Customs Service online service and enter the IMEI in the appropriate field, then click “Search”. There are several ways to find a device’s IMEI.
If a phone supports two SIM cards or more, it can have multiple IMEIs, so you should check each identifier separately. The service shows only whether the IMEI appears in customs clearance records carried out from 4 September 2026 onwards.
The absence of a code in the system does not automatically mean the phone was imported illegally: the device may have entered the country earlier. The check does not confirm the authenticity of the smartphone, does not determine its warranty status, does not show whether it is blocked by a mobile operator, and does not establish whether the device is on a list of stolen items.
The SCS is developing this mechanism together with the Bureau of Economic Security. The data are intended to help supervisory and law-enforcement bodies detect phones that entered the market outside legal channels.
