Newsletter conex MAI 2007
| For CONEX, SITL means making history …
For the first time in the history of the company, CONEX has undertaken to award trophies to a select few of its customers, rewarding them for their implementation and management of the DELTApass software.
This award pays tribute to the role the nominated companies played as pilots in the setting up of the DELTA project, but also to their work as pioneers in treading unknown ground. It is important to note that the exchanges between a great number of customers and CONEX need to be applauded. It is this collaboration that enabled all of us to advance more rapidly and efficiently in this ambitious project.
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Extracts from a ‘special customer assembly’,
the 200+ participants crowning its success !
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As an introduction, Alban GRUSON, CEO of CONEX, announced that “on the whole, the launching of DELTA was not too bad”, pointing out the triple challenge that had to be faced: Anticipating the knowledge and practical workings in order to make the software available on time and in conformity with the new regulations, trainingmore than 3000 operators and building a transmission platform capable of meeting the specifications of the customs administration and transmitting messages backwards and forwards in the best possible conditions. |
Before passing the microphone to his collaborators, Bernard DAGUZAN, Customs Corporate Manager with SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC INDUSTRIE, underlined the extent of the job of implementing DELTA. “Today, if our IT systems function, if the DELTA system functions, if our trucks leave on time, it is in part because of CONEX and we must congratulate them, but also internally, thanks to two members of my team who are going to present details of the setting up of this project.” Bernard DAGUZAN also made reference to the 20 years of collaboration with CONEX. Note that SCHNEIDER was one of CONEX’s very first customers more than 20 years ago. |
Using humour and a metaphoric style, Céline GUILLEMIN and Adélaïde LECOQ of SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC INDUSTRIE, defined the preparation for DELTA like a long pilgrimage to a promised land and the first tests a veritable crossing of the desert (a path strewn with pitfalls, BAE (release message) abstinence, a flood of error messages)… But today they present a rather more positive balance sheet:
“Time-savings in making material available for import (notably outside office hours), no more depositing paper documents at the customs office, tariff updates spread throughout the year, no more cumbersome end-of-year operations, improved status for the position of customs declarant who becomes an expert in the use of the DELTA tool, a more uniform application of customs regulations by all customs offices.”
“We are still hoping for better days for operators, where the departure of our exports will no longer be conditioned by waiting for the DELTA BAE (Release Message) and declarations placed in the red circuit will be signalled by an information message rather than the absence of a response from the system.”
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For the company 3 SUISSES, which cleared its imports through customs with ‘internal company software’, the path to DELTA meant completely rethinking customs clearance while including what existed already. As Jean-Pierre CIESLA, Customs Manager, pointed out, “It was imperative for us to preserve certain existing computerised exchanges no matter what kind of clearance system was adopted.”
After a market study of the various service providers, CONEX was chosen because, “it was open to « incorporating our constraints, in spite of a ‘PC to PC-oriented’ technology rather than a server.” After having detailed the concept of declaration flow at 3SUISSES, Jean-Pierre CIESLA explained that in addition to the training given by CONEX, “the group drew up its own manual called ‘How to declare’ and it is added to regularly, based on the specificities encountered.” ,
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Patricia SIFRE, DHL FREIGHT’s Director of Customs, evoked the cumbersome administrative steps which accompanied the setting up of DELTA. She pointed out that it was an unavoidable path to a paperless customs system and spoke of a real upheaval for the profession of customs broker with consequences for the customs service both in the short and medium terms. For Patricia SIFRE, DELTA means having “a perfect command of computer operations; a profound modification to work organisation and methods with the disappearance of local procedures, the archival storage of original documents previously taken care of by the Customs Administration, the eventual end to trips to the customs office, and geographical independence between declaration data input and the location of the goods. In effect, this is a single window at an EU level, a unique customs clearance area.”
There has been no rest for DHL FREIGHT with numerous other projects to put in place. Patricia SIFRE then listed, “ DELTA T, which will replace the NCTS, the, ECS superseding Sheet no. 3 and incorporating security data enabling pre-declaration risk analysis, and finally GAMMAthe national project for the dematerialisation of accompanying documents for the transport of products subject to excise duties (alcohol).” DHL FREIGHT has now been working with DELTA for several months.
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For his presentation, Michel TAILLEPIED, GEODIS European Customs Director, chose to retrace the significant dates leading up to the establishment of DELTA. What were the circumstances that allowed GEODIS to advance, and, on the other hand, those that put the machine into reverse?
May 2006, GEODIS organised a seminar with the 74 national agencies in order to announce the key modifications to come: DELTA, ECS, TRIGO, GAMMA, SH, TARIC and the new SAD
. A major revolution loomed on the horizon! ! June 2006, the pilot committee undertook an inventory of what needed to be established or amended. October 2006, saw the first training sessions based on the modifications announced in May. From February 2007,, Customs started putting pressure on companies for a July start-up and “as you all know, everything crashed, everything simply stopped. It took an enormous effort from our IT teams to then go backwards; we were required to keep both systems. In any case, there was no choice.” From the month of September, Customs gave the green light, however advising prudence, “Customs recommended working with exports only to begin with, to progress slowly and to let them know, little by little, which agencies were ready to start declaring through DELTA. So, we played along with the game.”
To conclude, Michel TAILLEPIED stated, “Today the system works 99% of the time and we tend to consider SOFI as a standby solution for the few cases which pose a problem for DELTA.”
Even if at the time of the conference on March 13, GEODIS maintained the DELTA and SOFI systems in parallel, Michel TAILLEPIED, confidently announced they would abandon SOFI definitively at the end of the 2nd quarter.
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In presenting the next ‘work site’ continuing on from DELTA, Alban GRUSON closed the conference: “ : « The curtain falls on DELTA but then rises again on the AEO ‘Authorised Economic Operator) reforms follow in quick succession but are in no way similar. Therefore we must again join forces on new projects, this time concerning showing one’s credentials in order to benefit from more preferable treatment on aspects of security. Once again our teams are ready to offer their support wherever possible.”
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AEO – Authorised Economic Operator
Information Day 27 May 2008
Registration & information :
ED Editions 33(0)1 47 59 09 00
or at www.ed-editions.fr
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AEO, what is it exactly?
AEO, or “Authorised Economic Operator” is a voluntary certification granted by Customs. This EU programme has been taken up by the 27 Member States. To this day, nearly 150 requests have been lodged in The Netherlands and around 70 in Germany, Great Britain, and Sweden, whereas in France just over 10 requests have been made. The companies concerned by these measures all play a role in the supply chain (manufacturers, transporters, forwarding agents, customs brokers, warehouse keepers…).
Three types of certification are planned: “customs simplifications”, “security/safety” and “full” (grouping the first two). The first certification brings with it certain advantages, such as the promise of fewer physical or documentary controls, priority treatment in the event of a control and so on. Furthermore, all future customs simplifications, such as the in-house customs clearance procedure for example, will be granted according to the obtaining of the “AEO simplification certification”.
The “security/safety” certification demands that the candidate meet both the security requirements as well as those laid out in the framework of the AEO “simplifications”. He/she would benefit from the same advantages, as well as the possibility of supplying entry and exit summary declarations with fewer requirements. Once again, the greatest advantage is yet to come: this status will be recognised in other countries once the EU concludes the corresponding agreements.
The third certification is rather similar to “security/safety” and is intended to blend into it in the next EU customs code.
Why is the EU establishing such a system?
Ever since the September 11 attacks in the US, the international community has been reinforcing trade security. Washington has already put in place a large number of regulations designed to control importation flow: C-TPAT (Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, similar to the AEO certificate), CSI (Container Security Initiative aiming to inspect sensitive consignments at the port of loading), ICS (International Container Security proposing to scan 100 % of containers before loading by 2012)…
The World Customs Organisation (WCO) has developed a system making it possible to recognise ‘safe’ operators, with the goal of rendering international trade safer and easier (SAFE). 149 of the 171 WCO member countries have already signed this accord.
In the same way, similar systems are starting to appear in countries such as China, India (Accredited Client Programme), Canada (the PIC programme), Australia, South Africa, Morocco, Jordan and so on.
Why is this essential?
The international will is to conclude agreements in order to allow a mutual recognition of operators who have been certified safe and reliable (in terms of customs and security). The United States have already begun such negotiations with New Zealand, Canada, Jordan and Sweden. In this context, the entire supply chain should become secure.
French operators are at risk of being out of step with other Member States; what is at stake? Flow reorganisation and the rerouting of goods to entry points where the entire supply chain is secure.
Arguments against the AEO
There are three major factors that make companies hesitate: the lack of new customs facilitations, the costs incurred and the American ICS.
The facilitations are planned, as was mentioned above. Time will tell if these new simplifications are only granted according to those companies possessing this status or not, as has been announced on a number of occasions. In addition, there is the possibility that the existing simplifications be eventually re-examined in relation to whether certification has been obtained or not.
As far as the cost of obtaining the AEO status is concerned, this will no doubt vary from one company to another. The most important step in the process is the preparation to be carried out leading up to the definitive request (a good understanding of the questionnaire, efficient internal information transfer to the services concerned etc.). Finally, for certain companies, the American ICS – which anticipates 100% of container traffic destined for the US be scanned (radioactivity and x-ray) at the port of departure – demonstrates the superfluousness of this regulation. Why? If 100% of the containers are scanned, why invest in this status with the objective of making safe trade more fluid? On the one hand, transatlantic trade is not necessarily targeted by this status. Furthermore, the presence of a similar status in other countries will allow European partners to recognise reliable and safe local operators. On the other hand, 100% scanning does not meet with general agreement across the Atlantic and the deployment methods and analysis of the data collected have not been clearly defined. It is important to remember that this regulation originates from the houses of legislation, not from within the customs administration which has not played down its criticism of the law.
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>>> AEO Information Day Registration |
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DELTA : 60% of national EDI traffic travels CONEX
our passcom
transmission platform registers 15000 declarations per day, DELTA C and D combined, to the Release Message status; a considerable traffic taking into account the number of times each declaration travels backwards and forwards.
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An archival storage service is offered beyond the one-year on-line conservation of data.
This enables the transfer of data into a specific environment which can be consulted on-line and available for recovery if need be. Don’t hesitate to contact our commercial team for further information!
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New !
DELTApass is linked directly with
l’ENCYCLOPÉDIE DOUANIÈRE !
The customs tariff assistant, ENCYCLOPÉDIE DOUANIÈRE (Customs Encyclopaedia), formally SELECTARIF, offers you regulatory information in relation to your nomenclatures ; with a simple click of the mouse, you select those that you wish to repatriate automatically to your declaration : CACOs (additional EU codes), CANAs (additional national codes), specific tariff measures, attached documents (CDI) and taxation units. Security, reliability and ease of use are the main characteristics of this indispensable functionality. .
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| For the first time ,
nomenclature monitoring straight from Encyclopédie Douanière (Customs Encyclopaedia).
A sizeable asset in securing your transactions!
This module offers you a highly personalised service! It enables ENCYCLOPEDIE DOUANIERE (Customs Encyclopaedia) to monitor all regulatory amendments applying to your own nomenclatures based on customs tariff updates. You are informed by email of the declarable nomenclature modifications, but also of any regulatory measures that may have been introduced relating to your nomenclatures (CANA (additional national codes), CACO (additional EU codes) quotas etc.) and their date of application..
A sizeable asset in securing your transactions !
Automatic commodity code consultation via DELTApass* by direct communication
*DELTApass : CONEX-developed software and transmission platform for the treatment of DELTA customs declarations.
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