A report published this Tuesday (06.09.2022) by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) reveals that the customs automation program, SIDUNEA (Automated Customs System), known in English as ASYCUDA (Automated System for Customs Data), helps developing countries increase customs revenue while reducing the time and cost of trade.
Thus, the document sets out the experiences from 22 countries participating in the agency's program, which assists customs authorities in more than 100 countries on five continents to speed up the clearance of goods and facilitate trade.
Eg Bangladesh, customs revenue increased by 50% between 2017 and 2021, from $6430 billion to $9620 billion. And 73% of imports were cleared within three days in 2021.
En Bosnia y Herzegovina, import transactions increased by 32% between 2020 and 2021.
En Burundi, a module based on ASYCUDA allowed the Ministry of Health to monitor and control international trade in medicines and medical equipment, enabling 71% of medical imports to be processed in less than 24 hours in 2021.
En Djibouti, customs revenues have skyrocketed by 95% (from $116 million to $226 million) in the last decade thanks to the ASYCUDAThe country cleared 94% of goods in transit in less than 24 hours in 2021.
En Dominica, 65% of commercial imports are cleared by customs authorities within 24 hours.
And in Papua New Guinea, customs authorities reduced clearance times from seven days to two hours in 2021.
“Countries' experiences during the pandemic illustrate how ASYCUDA has helped user countries increase their international trade activities as they reactivate their economies,” he said. Shamika N. Sirimanne, Director of Technology and Logistics at UNCTAD.
UNCTAD argues that such a programme “strengthens communication and coordinated intervention” among trade stakeholders, including partner government agencies.
Furthermore, it believes that new information technology (IT)-based tools enable countries to modernise customs management systems and generate much-needed up-to-date trade data.
“The programme provides capacity development to ensure the sustainability and ownership of the system by user countries,” UNCTAD said.
He also indicated that the country was “aligning its national trade regulations with international standards.”
UNCTAD stated that ASYCUDA It empowers vulnerable economies (least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing states) and improves efficiency, transparency, accountability and risk management.
Since its creation it has not stopped updating. Now, ASYCUDA is piloting ASYHub, a standardized open platform for processing and integrating data between the ship's data provider's software and ICT systems to facilitate electronic Marine Cargo Manifest processing prior to arrival (inbound) and prior to departure (outbound) through third party systems.
"This will allow for harmonization and facilitation of integration and the exchange of trade information," UNCTAD concluded. (ASYCUDA. Edition 2022)
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