Improving the Border Agency Cooperation
Among the OIC Member States for Facilitating Trade
27
The ATA System (ATA and Istanbul Conventions)
The acronym ATA stands for the French words “Admission Temporaire” or “Temporary
Admission” in English. It is a system that allows for the temporary tax and duty-free admission
of goods into a customs territory, being jointly administered by the WCO and the International
Chamber of Commerce (ICC). As of 2013, there was a total of 63 contracting parties to the ATA
Convention, of which 11 are OIC member states. In the ATA system the goods are covered by
one single document called the ATA carnet, which is secured by an international guarantee
chain whereby the business community enjoys considerable simplification of customs
formalities. The ATA carnet serves as a goods declaration at export, transit and import, and is
currently the business community’s most commonly used document for international
operations involving the temporary admission of goods.
Interface Public Members
The Interface Public Members (IPM) is an anti-counterfeiting tool developed by the WCO to
assist customs and other agencies to scrutinise suspicious products and verify their
authenticity, as well as to promote communication. Through this system, users can search for
the products by using either the product name or by scanning the barcode found on the
product, and receive detailed information about the product, including the product
description, packaging and characteristics, and information about real and previously detected
examples of fake products. The IPM facilitates BAC as it enables swift communication between
various stakeholders.
Customs Enforcement Network
The Customs Enforcement Network (CEN) is a global system developed by the WCO to assist in
data gathering and the storage of information at the national level. The CEN is a database for
assisting in the use and exchange of information and intelligence. The database contains non-
nominal information on customs seizures and violations to facilitate the analysis of illegal
flows over a wide range of areas.
Globally Networked Customs
Globally Networked Customs (GNC) is the first of the ten building blocks of customs in the 21 st
century strategic vision. GNC lays the groundwork for WCO members to apply a common
methodology to develop strategic and operational blueprints based on WCO tools and
instruments. It is a useful tool for facilitating interconnectedness among customs authorities
through the exchange of information. The GNC concept is comprised of the legal toolkit, the
Utility Block and the Proof-of-Concept.
WCO Data Model
The WCO Data Model consists of a set of carefully selected items of information that are
standardised and organised in order to minimise trading efforts and costs. They are intended
to meet the procedural and legal needs of various border agencies controlling export, import
and transit transactions. The WCO Data Model is of great relevance for BAC in terms of
increasing communication and consultation between administrations and establishing
interoperability between systems used by different administrations.