ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE SYSTEM TO PREVENT CUSTOMS FRAUD
Press Release
ECE/467
ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE SYSTEM TO PREVENT CUSTOMS FRAUD
19960320 GENEVA, 13 March (UN Information Service) -- More than 30 countries represented at the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) Working Party on Customs Questions Affecting Transport have agreed on the introduction of an international electronic data processing and transmission system for the control of TIR Carnets. The Carnets are documents accompanying cargo that testify to orderly customs procedures under the ECE Convention -- known as TIR -- that permits transit carriers to travel without intermediate customs control.This international electronic data interchange control system, which has been developed and implemented through joint efforts of concerned customs authorities and the transport industry, will be operated by the International Road Transport Union and the national guaranteeing associations on the basis of information provided by customs authorities of the countries utilizing the TIR transit regime. The system is currently being tested in a number of countries and will be fully operational as of 1 May 1996 in most countries utilizing the TIR transit regime.
The system will contain customs information on the discharge of TIR Carnets and will permit direct access for customs authorities, in many cases, within hours of the presentation of TIR Carnets at the customs offices of final destination, in all countries participating in this control system. The system will also allow issuing associations to verify the proper discharge of TIR Carnets at customs offices of final destination before issuing further TIR Carnets to the transport operators.
In recent years, organized crime has discovered possibilities of abusing the facilities provided by customs transit systems. Political, economic and social framework conditions in Europe have drastically changed. Internal borders within the European Union have been abolished. International east-west traffic has considerably increased. In newly independent countries of central and eastern Europe, public authorities have often little experience with customs procedures, and controls and resources are insufficient. The new control system will help to avoid those problems and make fraudulent activities much more difficult, if not impossible.
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This complex international electronic data interchange control system is centrally operated from Geneva for all participating countries and will be monitored and fine-tuned through an expert group of the ECE, comprising customs experts and representatives of the International Road Transport Union. The objective is to control the use of TIR Carnets by transport operators in all countries utilizing the TIR transit regime and to provide customs authorities and Carnet-issuing associations with the necessary information to immediately identify fraudulent activities. The ECE and the International Road Transport Union are committed to extend the international control system in substance and in geographical coverage in the months to come.
The control system is the first step in an all-comprising control and monitoring system which will be one of the key elements of the revised United Nations TIR Convention currently being prepared under the auspices of the ECE, in close cooperation between competent customs authorities and the transport industry.
Other elements of the revised TIR transit regime, which is scheduled to be implemented by early 1998, are the following: controlled access to the TIR regime; revised international guarantee system; provisions on the harmonized application of the TIR regime; revision of the TIR Carnet; and creation of an international governmental TIR Executive Board.
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