Single Window Systems
In the OIC Member States
10
Figure 2: Single Window Users
Source: Authors’ own construction
Each Single Window sets a different focus regarding the activities it supports. Often Single
Windows are grouped into types based on general activity areas they support: Single Windows
for clearance formalities; Single Windows for logistics coordination; Single Windows for B2B
transactions11 , or customs-centric, port-centric and license-centric Single Windows. In reality
however, Single Windows nowadays integrate a large array of trade related activities across
organizational and functional boundaries in order to offer a seamless service to traders.
The activity areas are integrated into the Single Window in form of business processes. A
business process is a series of actions/operations that are interrelated and transform an input
into an output. Examples of common Single Window business processes are: the application for
a permit for the import of a specific good, or the submission of documents to Customs services,
the submission and amendment of the ship/customs manifest to Port authority and Customs
services.
Each of the business process consists of a series of actions – from filling of forms, lodging of
documents, to validation, decision-making, and notification below presents a possible
range of Single Window Business processes and services. Not all of these actions are necessarily
11 AACE, Single Window Guide for Africa (2013)