FACILITATING INTRA-OIC TRADE:
Improving the Efficiency of the Customs Procedures in the OIC Member States
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For the payment of duties, taxes and other fees by electronic means;
For electronic filing facilities for the trade community in respect of declaration
data to be submitted at import and export and for bank and corporate sureties in
respect of duty and tax guarantees and surety bonds;
For transmitting and receiving data nationally and internationally
For publication of tariff and related information data
For using risk-assessment and other modern control techniques;
For Single Window
However, using ICT for such purposes require political will, necessary legal framework,
financial resources, developed organization structure and skilled human resources. Not
all the countries have such capacity to meet these requirements. Doyle (2011) suggests
that, depending mainly on the business context and on an agency’s confidence and
competence in ICT systems management, the agency may choose to develop a bespoke
(custom build) solution or to adopt a commercial off the shelf solution.
“A commercial off the shelf solution—modeled after other similar systems and based
on widely agreed standard procedural models—is likely for a standard business
environment or for an agency with less confidence in its ICT capacity. A standard
business environment allows more reuse of ICT solutions, offers greater fi t, and it
favors the application of ICT standards and international agreed procedures.
Commercial off the shelf solutions are more likely if confidence in the agency’s ICT
capacity is low, if its in-house ICT competence is limited, or if its history with ICT is
thin.” Doyle (2011)
The Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) is developed by UNCTAD. It
covers the complete customs clearance process including the processing of manifests,
customs declarations (all procedures), accounting and electronic payment, transit
processing, TIR Carnets, suspense procedures, risk management (including multi-
agency risk management), valuation control and statistical reports. UNCTAD has
installed the ASYCUDA System (ASYCUDA v2, ASYCUDA
++ or
ASYCUDA
World) in many developing countries and LDCs (more than 90) which continues to
have significant impact on the streamlining of customs procedures and revenue
collection. For example according to Doing Business Report 2010, implementation of
risk-based inspections and the full implementation of ASYCUDA World have reduced
customs clearance time by 2 days for exporters and 3 days for the importers.
2.2.5. Cooperation among the various domestic and international stakeholders,
It is essential to sustain cooperation with the various domestic and international partners
to reach the objectives of the customs reforms. The importance of this cooperation is
highly emphasized by the RKC and other instruments as well as by the relevant
international institutions.