AFACT IIC Customs EDI Project

1. AFACT IIC Customs EDI Project Rafiq Mark Traas IIC-TWG Technical Advisor

2. Project Goals • Ultimate goal of project • Exchange of Customs EDI data for: • Trade Facilitation & Expediting Clearance • Enforcement • Statistics

3. Project Description • Exchange of EDI Information between Customs Administrations • Exchange of Export and/or Import Declaration (CUSDEC) • Selected Information based on need and confidentiality agreements • May extend to other documents and information in the future Refer to AFACT IIC Meeting Documents FOR MORE INFO...

4. Legal Framework • AFACT IIC • Authority • Implementation Standards & Guidelines • Project Management • Pilot • Bilateral Memorandum of Understanding • Live • Bilateral Agreement with Annexes

5. Technical Overview • Standards • Developed and reviewed by the IIC-TWG (Technical Working Group) • EDI Standards • UN/EDIFACT • WCO Mapping Guide & APEC Code Harmonization Guide • VAN-to-VAN network over X.400 Refer to IIC-TWG Meeting Documents & Technical Kit FOR MORE INFO...

6. X.400 Network Overview VAN VAN Customs Customs

7. Process Overview • Sending Country • Decides what information may be released to other countries • Maps local CUSDEC into WCO guideline and/or agreed bilateral standard prior to transmission • Message Structure and Data Elements (group locations and qualifier codes) • Language and Character Sets • Code Set Normalization (tabled cross-reference)

8. Process Overview • Receiving Country • Receives regional-standard export CUSDEC from sending country • Uses message according to local requirements and bilateral confidentiality agreements • May re-map message for local standards • Message Structure and Data Elements (group locations and qualifier codes) • Language and Character Sets • Code Set Normalization (tabled cross-reference)

9. Current Activity • Chinese Taipei • VAN-to-VAN MOU signed between Trade*Van (Chinese Taipei) and Dagang*Net (Malaysia) • Level test message exchange pending • Korea • Customs-to-Customs MOU signed between Korea and Malaysia administrations on 29/12/1999 • Level 3 Pilot message exchange began 19/4/2000 • 3rd bilateral Customs JPT meeting held in October, 2000 to review progress • IIC-TWG meeting held April, 2002 to review progress • Customs-to-Customs Agreement under review by respective administrations

10. Current Activity • Indonesia • VAN-to-VAN MOU signed between EDI Indonesia and Dagang*Net (Malaysia) • 1st bilateral Customs JPT meeting held November, 2001 • 2nd bilateral Customs JPT meeting held March, 2002 • IIC-TWG meeting held April, 2002 to review progress • Level 3 test exchange completed • Customs-to-Customs MOU signed April, 2002 • Exchange specifications drafted • Active pilot pending readiness of Customs Indonesia export modules

11. Korea - Malaysia Pilot Exchange • Bilateral message exchange between Customs administrations of • Korea • Malaysia • MOU signed on 29/12/1999 • Three Joint Project Team (JPT) meetings • Pilot exchange began 19/4/2000

12. Korea - Malaysia Pilot Exchange • Weekly exchange of export consignment declaration information (export CUSDEC, EDIFACT D97A) • Selected subset of 3 harmonized tariff codes (6-digit) each direction • Intended for direct shipments only • Selected subset of declaration data • Confidentiality (Customs only)

13. Korea - Malaysia Pilot Exchange • Selected Data • Place of Loading/Discharge • Departure Date • Total Weight (in KGM) • Reference information (used to build UCI) • Transport details (call sign, voyage number, vessel name) • Consignor and consignee name and address • Line item information (HS code, goods description, quantity measurements)

14. Korea - Malaysia Pilot Exchange • Analysis of Data Exchange to date Difficulty of matching import/export declarations due to: • Lack of internationally recognized unique consignment reference number (UCR) • All or nearly all shipments are transshipments, with impact on B/L information

15. Korea - Malaysia Pilot Exchange • Data exchange issues resolved • UN/EDIFACT version • Code qualifiers • Data formats, lengths and decimal usage • Data exchange issues unresolved • Common UCR to link up import/export data • Unavailability of some internationally used vessel and voyage information for transshipments (change of B/L) • Interim solutions need to be reconsidered for identification of consignments to match data

16. Korea - Malaysia Pilot Exchange • Conclusions to date • Successful and reliable exchange of export consignment declaration data • No major technical problems encountered • Problems revolved around non-availability of some internationally used data elements • Clear case of a need for internationally adopted use of a Unique Consignment Reference (UCR) recently recommended for use by the WCO • Bilateral Customs-to-Customs Agreement necessary for live implementation

17. Review of Legal Issues • Customs Enforcement • Who is responsible if there are discrepancies between import and export declarations? • Is electronic information from a party outside the country admissible as evidence in court? • Bilateral MOU and Agreement • Responsible Parties • Confidentiality & Release of Information Clauses • Later adoption of UCR • Can Customs legally make this a requirement from the international trading community?

18. EC Partners Thank You! Rafiq Mark Traas Director, Senior Consultant, EC Partners (Malaysia) mtraas@ec-partners.com