Challenges  

The customs domain plays a vital role in the economy and society – including revenue collection, trade facilitation, and security safeguarding. This role has become more complex and challenging today, having entered a Digital Customs era, where a diverse mix of demands needs to be met – coming from trade, legal frameworks, national & regional plans, social security, and risk management, as well as demands of a purely technical nature.  

Adding to this global tendency, the EU customs territory presents its own set of hurdles: It is a complicated network of customs regulations and processes implemented through various interconnected systems, some in use for extended periods. This creates significant difficulties in maintenance and management.  

Transitioning all customs formalities to fit within a new legislative and data framework demands considerable investment in technical, financial, and human resources, often not readily apparent during the initial stages of project procurement and budgeting. In addition, ensuring the security, reliability, and interoperability of the electronic systems and the quality of the data they exchange introduces yet another set of challenges, such as data protection, data quality, and data governance, resulting in more time-consuming processes and system adaptations.  

Finally, such intricate projects necessitate seamless coordination and cooperation across stakeholders, including the Commission, member states, customs authorities, economic operators, and third countries. Ensuring effective communication, consultation, and collaboration mechanisms becomes paramount. 

Solution 

The customs consultants of Netcompany-Intrasoft have many years of accumulated experience in dealing with the complexity and diversity of national customs policies, regulations, and IT systems across Europe. To this end, Netcompany-Intrasoft’s consultants assisted and collaborated with each administration’s legal- and customs process experts to provide a fully working and legislation-compliant solution.  

Netcompany-Intrasoft first assessed the current state of each administration’s customs systems and identified the gaps and needs for compliance with the UCC legislation and standards and CTC (Common Transit Convention) data and processes. 

Based on the specific needs, Netcompany-Intrasoft’s consultants selected the appropriate modules and components on the ERMIS platform that were needed to meet the requirements and specifications of the country’s customs processes and procedures. Then, the teams proceeded to configure and customise the platform according to the administration’s preferences and needs, such as language, currency, and rates. Using the platform’s modular architecture, the consultants integrated the platform with the existing national systems as well as the EU trans-European systems, ensuring the security, reliability, and interoperability of the data exchange.  

Using its experience, Netcompany-Intrasoft tested and validated the functionality and performance of the platform, as well as its compliance with the UCC rules, data, and best practices. Netcompany-Intrasoft’s experience enabled the administrations to easily pass the rigorous EU trans-European systems’ conformance testing, running more than 1400 automated and semi-automated tests. 

Netcompany-Intrasoft also provided training and education services to customs staff as well as economic operators on how to use the platform and provided them with the necessary support and guidance. It deployed and operated the platform in a phased manner, monitoring and evaluating its impact and benefits, using a streamlined continuous delivery approach. 

Results 

By leveraging the assets offered by the ERMIS platform, European customs administrations significantly reduced the time and effort spent on modernisation projects, by benefiting from the platform’s numerous advantages, which include: Eliminating the need to create the software architecture and user interface for the solution from the ground up; Simplification of the process of establishing, executing, modifying, and maintaining the data models and communication formats of the solution; And facilitating the development and documentation upkeep for the software code of the solution.  

Moreover, regarding further development and evolution, the ERMIS Platform ensures continuous compliance with UCC legislation and standards, and adaptation to technological trends and emerging security challenges. This approach effectively relieves customs administrations of the need to redesign and update their solutions to stay current.

In an era where customs solutions demand adaptability and compliance, Netcompany-Intrasoft has consistently demonstrated its ability to integrate, innovate, and implement.