EU recommends ETN customs project
25 April 2007
Bad Homburg, 11 April 2007 (bk) – The European customs software alliance EurTradeNet (ETN) has been named the Project of the Month for April by the Information Society and Media Directorate General of the European Commission. The reason for the commendation: The multi-phase implementation currently being carried out as part of the eTEN (Trans-European Network) programme simplifies and standardises transnational data interchange and facilitates customs clearance. According to ETN co-founder Kewill CSF GmbH, the 18-month IT project that won the tender will sustainably extend the services and compliance portfolio of Customs-Related Service Providers (CRSPs) from a national to a trans-European level.
The EU’s eTEN programme, says Kewill CSF COO Wolfgang Schwab, promotes innovative, pan-European services of social and economic relevance. Funded projects are aimed at contributing to the EU’s economic growth and competitiveness and raising employment levels, social cohesion and knowledge-based inclusion of all members of European society. The primary objective of eTEN is to help make e-services available throughout the European Union, under the auspices of the Information Society and Media Directorate General.
According to Schwab, the ETN Group won out over project teams from all over Europe and became the choice of independent expert committees due to its service portfolio, community values, European focus and economic sustainability. Schwab: “In order to offer European companies a standardised, innovative interface goods transit, we will continue to refine our service modules throughout the project. Based on Message Service Providing (MSP) – a service free of charge which enables dissemination of messages generated by customs officials to all commercial partners in the foreign trade supply chain – ETN provides automated access to different national customs regulations.”
In terms of technology, the network is based on an XML format and protocols developed by the ETN Technical Group, which were defined by Kewill CSF in its role as ETN Technical Leader. The Unified Interface Data Structure (UIDS) gives users standardised access to the IT procedures of twelve customs administrations via a single interface. UIDS can be integrated into company software to enable automatic generation and dissemination of customs messages. Interconnecting pan-European ETN services allows companies to communicate with customs administrations in other countries. Customs software specialist Schwab: “National ETN partners take care of converting documents between formats used in different countries.”
ETN currently comprises the following countries and partners: Spain (Taric), Germany/Switzerland (Kewill CSF/DSLV), Poland (SKG-Glowka), Netherlands (Minihouse), Belgium (Dexx), Portugal (Moredata), Slovenia (Trinet), Slovakia (Beset), Lithuania (Vilniaus Avilda) and Ireland (Icarus). Responsible for coordination is New Knowledge Network S. A., based in Madrid.
Electronic messaging via the ETN platform will be made available not just to customers of the participating software companies, according to Kewill CSF, but also, by agreement, as a public service. For this reason, the individual software partners must make UIDS formats available for the purpose of information processing as well. Included in the envisioned messaging services is the Manifest project, which essentially represents summary customs document submission for Germany and which is intended for use in the EU as part of the anticipated pre-arrival advice system (early declaration of goods at a specific time prior to arrival at an EU border).
Soon, says Schwab, the presentation form and information about its processing will be able to be tracked at the shipment level. As part of the EU-wide rollout of the Automated Export System (AES)/Export Control System (ECS), Schwab says that, “for the first time ever, the UIDS interface will be available for a new customs procedure right from the start”.
Background information:
Since its founding in 1986, Kewill CSF GmbH, with headquarters in Bad Homburg and offices in Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Pratteln (Switzerland), has been a leading software provider for customs and air and sea freight handling. Since June 2006, the company – together with its trade and industry consulting subsidiary CSF Industry Consulting GmbH – has belonged to Kewill Systems plc, based in London, and now employs more than 80 people. Its proprietary customs software Zabis connects network participants with the relevant customs agencies, enabling interchange of customs-relevant presentation data between multiple agents.
The dispatching solution b 2®Logistik supports communication with Traxon, LH, eBooking, Dakosy, BHT, customers and agents. Plus, Kewill CSF provides a secure, high-performance data centre for hosting the software solutions on an ASP or Internet basis. The Kewill CSF Clearing Centre currently handles in excess of four million messages a month, representing over 60 percent of all messages processed using the Atlas system. With the aim of extending this service Europe-wide, Kewill CSF is a partner in EurTradeNet (ETN).
We’ll be happy to speak with you, should you have any questions or require any further information:
Kewill CSF GmbH
Wolfgang Schwab, COO
Norsk-Data-Straße 1, D-61352 Bad Homburg v. d. H.
Phone: 0 61 72/92 68 - 0
Fax: 0 61 72/92 68 - 399
email: wolfgang.schwab@kewill.de
MBWA PR GmbH
Bernd Karpfen, Senior PR Consultant
Foßredder 12, D-22359 Hamburg
Phone: 0 40/60 90 07 - 14
Fax: 0 40/6 03 17 76
email: pr@mbwa.de