The General Directorate of Customs (DGA) created the “Innovation Committee on Artificial Intelligence” as a space to coordinate and articulate the necessary actions between its technical, operational and IT areas, as well as the external sector (public-private) that participates in foreign trade.
This decision of the DGA was published in the Litigation, Arbitration 16/2024 of the Official Gazette, with the aim of advance in the definition of proposals for the implementation of artificial intelligence, as a tool that enhances and complements customs control.
The regulation explains that this action responds to the “Strategic Plan 2021-2025 of the Federal Public Revenue Administration”, which defined the “Implementation of a New Data Exploitation Model” as necessary, in line with the recommendation of the World Customs Organization (WCO).
Technical and organizational training
To cooperate with this effort, the WCO provided the necessary technical and organizational training to the selected Argentine Customs staff - Santiago Sebastián Tedoldi - in the exploitation of customs data, particularly in the BACUDA project ( "Band of Customs Data Analysts”), launched in 2019 to raise awareness and train member administrations in data analytics.
"The training took place over five months at SungKyunKwan University in Seoul and produced encouraging results in areas such as fraud prediction and tariff classification using AI," the DGA said in a statement.
Thus, the agency is working to incorporate the use of AI into the prediction of customs fraud linked to cargo manifests, detailed declarations, passengers and express or postal shipments. The project also plans to apply AI to image processing, both photographic and from scanners and surveillance cameras. Thus, in the case of photographic images, AI could assist in the identification of goods.
In addition, it has been proposed to work with models that process natural language, starting with specific tasks such as tariff classification, but also with a view to more general AI applications, such as chatbots and specialized generative assistants.
"Before AI models can be operational, they need to be trained," the DGA said. It said it wants to begin this task "as soon as possible, in anticipation of having highly advanced models when the use of Artificial Intelligence is established."
The committee
Based on this, the DGA resolved that the Committee created be composed of a coordinator holder (Santiago Sebastián Tedoldi) and a representative from each of the following areas: General Subdirectorates Customs Control, Metropolitan Customs Operations, Interior Customs Operations and Customs Legal Technician. Also, the Addresses Customs Process Reengineering and Coordination, and Customs Operational Evaluation.
For its operation, the Committee will issue regulations, which may provide for the modality of holding sessions in a "broad" manner. This implies that it may call for the participation of companies and third-party organizations, That is to say: chambers, associations and related sectors linked to foreign trade, as well as competent public bodies and universities with responsibilities in the matter.
The Committee's approach responds to modern supply chain security standards adopted in the WCO SAFE Framework, which strengthens "Customs - Business" and "Customs - Third Party" cooperation.
Term
The Committee created will be in force for one (1) year, which may be extended for one (1) year at the discretion of the General Directorate of Customs.
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