Customs department to launch IT system for clearance of goods

In the coming weeks the Customs department will be deploying a new IT system for the clearance of goods for export, excise director Joseph Chetcuti said.

In a statement, Chetcuti said that the department had recognised the pressing need to deploy new IT systems based on the latest technology available on the market.

“Maintaining and upgrading current aging systems has become difficult and above all very costly,” he said.

 Contrary to what happened prior to EU accession, the decision was taken to develop the new systems in-house. This would cater better for the department’s specific needs and be more flexible for future upgrades which may become necessary due to any changes in EU legislation.

The project to develop the new Import and Export systems was entrusted to the Government agency MITA. The system had to be compliant with EU customs regulations and several meetings were held with experienced customs officials to ensure compliance.

An implementation team was set up within the Department’s Computer Section to coordinate with MITA experts and give them the necessary feedback as the development progressed.

From the business side, members of the team were responsible for the preparation of the training needs for economic operators, clearing agents and customs officers as well as the preparation of a users’ guide.

Other staff members within the computer section were responsible for testing the performance of the system and issues related to the supply of data in the new system.

The deployment of the National Import System will be the second phase of this project.

“Besides the launch of the Import and Export systems, the Computer Section is committed to implement other IT systems which should all be in place by 2020 in line with EU requirements. Amongst others these new systems shall include the Single Window facility, Electronic T2L (Proof of Union status), Centralised Clearance UCC Customs Decisions, Registered Exporter System (REX) and Binding Tariff Information (BTI),” Chetcuti said.

The introduction of these new systems is in line with Customs 2020 programme which was spearheaded by the European Commission to modernise customs processes and introduce an electronic, paper-free customs environment to streamline customs processes and procedures.

Another objective of the programme is to make Member States` electronic systems compatible with each other, introduce EU-wide electronic risk analysis and improve information exchange between frontier control authorities.

This will make electronic declarations the rule and eventually introduce centralised customs clearance. The end result should increase the competitiveness of companies doing business in Europe by reducing  compliance costs as well as improve EU security.

The new system will be known as the National Export System (NES). It will be a purely web based system and will be available to all authorised users also on mobile devices.  One can access the system on the most popular browsers.

The system will include new practical features such as the possibility to attach supporting documents electronically to the declaration, the automatic generation of the Movement Reference Number (MRN), help tips and online links, advanced search facility, the facility to request the cancellation and amendment of a declaration online  will also be available during the time-out period. 

Future enhancements will include batch XML upload of declarations, system-to-system facility, possibility to lodge one declaration containing multiple exporters and the option of lodging a simplified declaration.

The Customs Training Unit has organised several hands-on training sessions tailor-made for customs clearing agents, stevedores and customs officers. Feedback received so far from these users augur well and the deployment of the NES should contribute to increase trade facilitation to all stakeholders involved in the supply chain.

It is envisaged that NES will go live on 22 September 2015. This day follows a long weekend that will give MITA staff enough time to transfer data to the new servers.