The already complicated customs procedures for goods passing through international borders have been made even more bureaucratic in recent years by increasingly strict security requirements. European companies are frustrated, and the time is ripe to exploit modern methods of data handling.
Working towards a single integrated customs system
Resultmaker is one of the participants in ITAIDE, an EU project whose goal is a much simpler and more efficient common customs system for the European Union. Based on electronic reporting and registration, the strategy of ITAIDE is to integrate the many separate national customs systems with each other and with the EU system, so users experience a single, process-oriented interface (also referred to as “single-window access”).
Existing customs procedures are inefficient and time-consuming because the national customs systems are not linked together, nor can companies link their own systems to those of the government authorities. ITAIDE is investigating how customs documents and procedures can be redesigned and digitized using a Common Information Model for data. The long-term goal is to build new partnerships between businesses, customs authorities and technology providers and thereby support the European Commission’s strategic goals for e-customs in Europe.
Resultmaker software forms the core
Resultmaker technology provides the central element in the integration process: an interoperability platform that checks the data messages sent between the various systems and ensures that each message conforms to the common data model – and that it thus can be read universally within the system.
In addition, Resultmaker has contributed an Online Consultant module to intelligently guide users as they fill out customs forms. This feature is particularly valuable for small and medium-sized companies, since it lets them use a central portal for filling out forms instead of having to invest in proprietary system-to-system integration.
Other participants in the ITAIDE project include SAP Research, IBM, Heineken, United Paper Mills, Nordea Bank, the tax and customs authorities of Denmark and the Netherlands, the Finnish State Treasury, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, as well as universities in Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany and Slovenia.