B5.1 Has the country implemented a paperless customs declaration for national transit procedures (inbound transit, outbound transit, inland transit)?
Background
Among issues faced by transit traders under the current international transit procedure in many countries in the region are:
- Repetitive submission of a customs transit declaration at entry to every country of transit; and
- A security document needs to be registered at every country of transit.
To address the above issues at the national level, the electronic customs system should be developed to facilitate and automate electronic customs transit declarations and other related procedures including inbound, outbound and inland transit. The system should allow a single customs transit declaration to be valid for the whole transit route.
Good Practices
The electronic customs system should have the capability to receive, validate and approve customs transit declarations electronically, covering inbound transit, outbound transit, and inland transit operations. The national transit operations here refer to transports of goods between departure and destination offices within the same country or territory.
With the aim of both securing and facilitating the transit operations, Customs administrations should establish effective information sharing among customs offices and other related agencies en route. This will help monitoring the transit movement, and ascertain whether the goods have been correctly declared for transit and whether the transit procedure has been correctly completed at each stage of the transit route up to the final destination.
An effective exchange of secure information helps gather intelligence, and allows all border agencies involved to take appropriate decisions concerning the applicable control measures. Effective exchange of information reduces the unnecessary administrative burden on both Customs administrations and economic operators.
References and Case Studies
- WCO Transit Guidelines (particularly on Chapter 2 - ICT and Efficient Information Management), http://www.wcoomd.org/-/media/wco/public/global/pdf/topics/facilitation/instruments-and-tools/tools/transit/transit-guidelines.pdf?db=web
- Case Examples: Innovative practices in transit, http://www.wcoomd.org/-/media/wco/webtool/es/art-9/transit-practices.pdf
B5.2 Has the country implemented a paperless customs declaration for international transit?
Background
Transit traders face several issues, e.g. repetitive submission of a customs transit declaration at entry to every country of transit, and security document registration at every country of transit. To address those issues, the following could be considered, (a) a single customs transit declaration to be valid for the whole transit route, and (b) a single guarantee to be valid for the whole transit route
The country should implement electronic customs system to also support international transit procedures. Data and information of the customs transit declaration could be submitted and approved electronically at the country of departure and shared across borders with the countries of transit and the country of destination. Relevant data/information of the guarantee could be registered at the country of departure and shared across borders with countries of transit and the country of destination by electronic mean.
Good Practices
The country's customs administration should actively collaborate with dialogue country partners to establish agreements in order to implement single customs transit declaration and single guarantee valid for the international transit route in the region.
Bilateral, multilateral, regional, or international agreements should also focus on the exchange of information, or may be broader in scope, comprising exchange of information as just one part of the agreement. In any event, an agreement to exchange information should consider at least the following guidelines:
- Agreements/arrangements on transit should envisage obligations for customs administrations to ensure the integrity of the information exchanged, provided by transit operators.
- Agreements/arrangements should allow for immediate exchange of information electronically, i.e. an explicit request from the customs office to obtain the information should not be required.
- Agreements/arrangements should enable a guarantee registered at the country of departure, covering the highest duty amount calculated based on the duty rate of each country in the transit route, to be valid and accepted throughout the transit route; and
- Agreements/arrangements should support a regional/sub-regional format and content of the single guarantee.
References and Case Studies
- Guide on Establishing an Automated Customs Transit Transport System, https://www.unescap.org/resources/guide-establishing-automated-customs-transit-transport-system
- Case Example: ASEAN Transit System, https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/Aivaras_Pigaga_6feb2018_bangkok.pdf
B5.3 Has your country implemented a one stop inspection system by all controlling agencies at the borders at the time of exit/export?
Background
If single stop inspection is done by all controlling agencies at the exporting country and data of the inspection results is shared with the importing country, preferably electronically, it will definitely expedite cargo clearance.
Good Practices
The customs administration works collaboratively with all other controlling agencies in the country to establish and operate a single stop inspection with the support of paperless/single window systems. The country needs to work collaboratively also with dialogue country partners bilaterally, multilaterally or regionally to develop electronic cross-border data exchange capability. The electronic system is established in such a way that the inspection result in the export country can be created electronically, and then sent or shared with the electronic system of the importing country.
References and Case Studies
- Case Examples: Single Window Inspection & Single Stop Inspection, https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/ESCAP%20Presentaiton_Single%20Window%20Inspection-Single%20Stop%20Inspection.pdf