Improving Customs Transit Systems
In the Islamic Countries
12
Requirements/Needs Border & Transport Reality
transportation are needed to avoid
duplicative procedures and delays
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
(UNECE) Agreement on the International Carriage of
Perishable Foodstuffs and on the Special Equipment to
be Used for Such Carriage (ATP) was signed by 50
countries5.
Source: Author’s own compilation
International transit regimes begin when goods arrive at ports, whereas upon their arrival at
the destination country, the national transit regime begins. The national customs regime
ensures that the goods will be under customs control until they become part of other customs
regimes like import, temporary import, re-export, etc.
CTR include laws, institutions, mechanisms, and procedures that facilitate the movement of
goods without paying duties, taxes, and commercial policy measures that are usually applicable
to imported goods, thereby allowing customs clearance formalities to take place at the country
of destination rather than at the point of entry into the customs territory or en route6.
An important requirement when it comes to CTR is that goods andmeans of transports in transit
must remain in an unchanged state, due to the history of using the transit regime as a way of
smuggling and loss of duties when transit goods stay in the transit country.
Customs Administrations worldwide face the challenge on how to design appropriate CTR
procedures that will be simple, transparent, and efficient, and to avoid unnecessary delays and
extra costs for trade community, while in the same time ensure that the goods will leave the
transit country without any changes. The development of ICT in large part can help to overcome
this challenge because efficient CTR does not require heavy IT infrastructure or infrastructure
that is distinct from that of the underlying Customs IT backbone.
Having an efficient CTR in place can facilitate the movement of transit goods through transit
countries between departure and destination locations without any interruption of customs and
border control. For these to become a reality, there is a specific CTR named door-to-door
transit system. Such a system enables only one customs transit procedure that covers both
international and national transit for all the countries from departure to the final destination.
The example of the door-to-door transit system is TIR or the New Computerized Transit System
(NCTS) common transit in the European Union.
1.3 Customs Transit Procedure
5 8 countries are OIC Member States: Albania, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey and
Uzbekistan
6 Kunaka, Charles, and Robin Carruthers. 2014. Trade and Transport Corridor Management Toolkit. Washington, DC: World
Bank. doi: 10.1596/978-1-4648-0143-3. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO