“Single Window is defined as a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardized information and documents with a single entry point to fulfil all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements”
UN/CEFACT RECOMMENDATION No. 33
“Transport” # 43 (679) dated 26 October 2011
“Single Window – Local Solution” Pilot Project: the First Step
Trade facilitation issues are becoming increasingly important given the integration of Ukraine into the European and world markets. To date the world has quite powerful international tools. One of the tools addressing trade facilitation is the introduction of Single Window through which the information and/or documents may be submitted only once with a single entry point. The Single Window in this context is defined as a mechanism that allows the parties involved in trade and transport operations to lodge the standardized information and documents with the use of a single entry point for the purpose of fulfilling all regulatory requirements relating to the import, export and transit (Recommendation # 33 of UN CEFACT). Thus, the goal of the Single Window mode consists in expediting and simplifying the information flows between the trading enterprises and state authorities and bring meaningful gains to all parties of trans boundary trade.
The national business structures in conjunction with and being supported by international organizations, the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in particular, pending the International Seminar on Trade Facilitation “The Concept of ‘Single Window’ and Integration of Rail Transport Regimes during Trade Facilitation in the Territory of European Space” put forward an initiative concerning the implementation of a pilot project on the Single Window establishment in Ukraine.
The international seminar on trade facilitation on the theme of “The Concept of ‘Single Window’ and Integration of Rail Transport Regimes during Trade Facilitation in the Territory of European Space” was held in Odessa on 1 June 2011.
The seminar was organized by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) under the auspices of PLASKE JSC and in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine and the National Institute for Strategic Research. It was attended by experts from Germany, France, Switzerland, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Singapore, Czech Republic, Russia and Ukraine.
Following the discussion the participants took an initiative supported by the UNECE Executive Secretary concerning the implementation of a pilot project on the Single Window establishment in Ukraine, e.g. at the sea ports Odessa Region and airports of Odessa and Boryspol, with the participation of international experts and support of the UNECE, United Nations Development Program and the EU countries concerned.
Executive Secretary, Deputy Secretary General of UNECE, Jan Kubis, upon having praised the latest seminar and thanked the Ukrainian state authorities for assistance, sent the Recommendations made up at the seminar “The Concept of ‘Single Window’ and Integration of Rail Transport Regimes during Trade Facilitation in the Territory of European Space” to Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov.
The first step towards the realization of Recommendations made up at the international seminar was the first Meeting of the Interagency Working Group for the Implementation of the “Single Window – Local Solution Technology in the Operations Area of Pivdenna Customs and Odessa Region Ports” held by SCSU on 18.10.2011.
It should also be noted that in September this year Ukraine acceded to the International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures. The Convention recommended using the "Single Window" technology as one of the facilitation tools.
The Ukrainian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce, ICC Ukraine, was one of the initiators of the above event.
The Meeting was attended by representatives of ministries and departments of Ukraine, SCSU, International Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, as well as representatives of international organizations and enterprises of Ukraine.
The first Meeting of the Interagency Working Group was opened by Vladimir Schelkunov, President of the Ukrainian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce ICC Ukraine. He stressed that the Meeting was held in pursuance of Instruction of N. Azarov, Prime Minister of Ukraine regarding the creation in Ukraine of conditions for facilitating the cargoes documenting technology in order to increase the volume of international trade including the same with the use of transit opportunities in Ukraine.
President of ICC Ukraine noted that the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine in conjunction with other ministries and departments of Ukraine had carried out the corresponding work, in accordance with whose results Recommendations on the Feasibility of Organising the Interagency Working Group for the Implementation of “Single Window - Local Solution” Technology in the Operations Area of Pivdenna Customs and Odessa Region Ports were adopted.
As regards this, there was also a corresponding address of Jan Kubis, Executive Secretary, Deputy Secretary General, UNECE, in which it was noted that the pilot project in question was an adaptation of the European experience in Ukraine and it would accelerate the entry of Ukraine into the European space.
At the end of the opening speech Mr. V. Schelkunov underlined that the purpose of the Meeting was to determine the feasibility and advisability of implementing the Single Window mechanism in Ukraine, and to begin with there was the implementation of “Single Window – Local Solution” as a pilot project in the operations area of Pivdenna Customs and ports of Odessa Region.
Oleg Platonov, Vice President for Strategic Development of the Ukrainian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce ICC Ukraine, informed the participants about the main results of the International Seminar on Trade Facilitation “The Concept of ‘Single Window’ and Integration of Rail Transport Modes During Trade Facilitation in the Territory of European Space”, which was held in the framework of Odessa Transport Week in June 2011. O. I. Platonov also informed about the decisions and recommendations of the Seminar.
Mario Apostolov, Regional Adviser of the UNECE Trade Section, made his report on the first item of the agenda “The Concept of Single Window: a Key Tool for Trade Facilitation and Proper Management”. In his presentation he outlined the main principles of the Single Window technology implementation in other countries around the world, and focused on those technologies introduction benefits for both government agencies and private business.
M. Apostolov briefly presented the reference materials to familiarize the participants with:
- Recommendations and guidelines on the Single Window implementation (Recommendation # 33, UNECE);
- Recommendations on simplification and standardization of data for international trade (Recommendation # 34, UNECE); and
- Recommendations for Establishing a Legal Framework for an International Single Window (Recommendation # 35, UNECE).
At the same time M. Apostolov noted that the full implementation of the Single Window technology was not possible without the political will of the government.
The floor on the second item on the agenda “Experience and Main Results of the NCTS RAIL pilot project implementation” was given to Valdas Dovydenas, Consultant of the Advisory Group on Trade and Transport Security and Facilitation, US Department of Justice (ICITAR). He shared his experience in the NCTS RAIL pilot project implementation with the use of electronic declaration in the EU countries in general and in the Republic of Lithuania in particular. The said project provides for the organization of intermodal transportation with a full set of transportation documents and customs declaration in the form of an electronic record. Using a cartoon about the Single Window implementation in the Republic of Lithuania shown to the Meeting participants as an example the Reporter presented a sequence of Single Window designing and the benefits of its application.
V. Dovydėnas also shared the experience in the application of the Single Window principle at the Commercial Sea Port of Klaipeda by outlining the basic principles of formation and operation of the information system for data exchange between the port companies and government agencies during cargo transportation through the port of Klaipėda (the KIPIS system). At the end of its Report the speaker explained that the application of the Single Window principle with the use of the latest information technology had substantially simplified the business processes in the Port of Klaipeda and increased its capacity.
As to the issues of the electronic declaration introduction in Ukraine they were dealt with by Igor Muratov, Chief of Department for Declaration and Customs Regimes, SCSU, in his report “Electronic Declaration as a part of Single Window”. He said that on the initiative of SCSU on 12.08.2011 there had been held a business meeting with the representatives of the ministries and departments whose experts had been involved in the process of customs clearance of goods. In accordance with the results of the meeting its participants supported the initiative of the participants of the International Seminar on Trade Facilitation “The Concept of Single Window and Integration of Rail Transport Regimes during Trade Facilitation in the Territory of European Space” on the implementation of the Single Window introduction pilot project in Ukraine on the basis of sea ports of Odessa Region.
I. Muratov also stressed that laws on electronic documents, electronic document circulation and electronic digital signature had already been adopted in Ukraine in 2003. In Ukraine since 2007 the customs declaration had been used as a prior notice in the electronic form and there existed a procedure for determining the enterprises to whose goods the electronic declaration procedure could be applied.
A pilot project on the Unified Automated Information System (UAIS) of SCSU and New Computerized Transit System (NCTS) of the European Community interaction during goods customs clearance under the “transit” customs regime between Ukraine and Lithuania was successfully implemented in October-December 2009 with the involvement in the said project of PLASKE JSC as a carrier and declarant.
In 2010 a pilot project on the declaration, customs control and clearance of goods with the use of electronic customs cargo declarations in the “transit”, “import” and “customs bonded warehouse” was implemented. At present there exists the Register of enterprises to whose goods the electronic declaration procedure may be applied. In 2007 fifty companies were included in the Register and now it contains more than 1,000 subjects of FEA.
In his closing speech, Mr. I. Muratov said that SCSU supported the introduction of the technology based on the Single Window principle in Ukraine and hoped that the implementation of the “Single Window - Local Solution” technology as a pilot project in the area of operations of the Pivdenna Customs and ports of Odessa Region would considerably simplify the trade procedure and reduce the bureaucratic restrictions on the goods movement across the borders.
The above speaker’s report was supplemented by Andrei Miroshnikov, Deputy Chief of the Central Commercial Authority, Ukrzaliznytsia, who, speaking about the issues of electronic document circulation, noted that since 1 July 2011 Ukrzaliznytsia had transferred to electronic document circulation. At the first stage, compulsory issuance of transportation documents in the domestic carriage through the Automated Rail Transport System had been introduced. 8,308 of active clients had connected to AS Client UZ, the system of electronic documents circulation. On the whole, the percentage of the Ukrzaliznytsia users applying the information system AS Client UZ made 99.4%. It could be stated that almost all the information on the transportation documents used in the domestic traffic and export were submitted to Ukrzalіznytsia in the electronic form.
Ukrzaliznytsia had developed and approved a roadmap of full transition to the electronic document circulation between the clients and railroad. A. Miroshnikov stressed that Ukrzaliznytsia was fully prepared for transition to 100-% issuance of the transportation documents, but there were deterrents beyond the Authority’s control. In particular, it was the unwillingness of the government control bodies to interact with the railway in the electronic form; the state bodies requested the originals of the certificates and other permissive documents in the paper form.
As it was stressed by the representative of Ukrzaliznytsia the introduction of the “Single Window – Local Solution” technology would greatly simplify the interaction between the cargo carriers and state control bodies, and reduce the bureaucratic restrictions on the goods movement across the borders.
After discussing the problems and prospects of the “Single Window – Local Solution” pilot project concept introduction Chairman V. Schelkunov invited the participants to identify and agree on the composition of the Interagency Working Group for the development of the “Single Window – Local Solution” pilot project concept. It was proposed that the Interagency Working Group should include an official from each authority whose position was not lower than Deputy Minister, Chief of the Service or Administration or Association. The participants in the Meeting voted unanimously for the Interagency Working Group composition.
Chairman also offered, and the participants in the Meeting supported him, that the Members of the Interagency Working Group would form a group of experts selected from the subordinate agencies’ employees for the development of the practical (methodological and technical) solutions concerning the implementation of the pilot project.
During the discussion of the draft Resolution of the Meeting of the Initiative Group for organising the Interagency Working Group for Implementation of the “Single Window – Local Solution” technology in the Operations Area of Southern Customs and Ports of Odessa Region Pavel Pisnoy, Deputy Chief of the Department for Information Technology and Customs Statistics, SCSU, offered to resolve at the government level the issue of funding the pilot project and to determine the possible forms of UNECE participation (in particular, organizational and financial ones) in the organization and implementation in Ukraine of corresponding training programs on the use of electronic documents with the electronic digital signature in foreign operations.
At the end of the Meeting Chairman V. Schelkunov invited the participants to approve the decision of the Initiative Group Meeting on organising the Interagency Working Group for Implementation of the “Single Window – Local Solution” Technology in the Operations Area of Pivdenna Customs and Ports of Odessa region; approve the composition of the Working Group that at the first stage should conduct a thorough analysis of the technology implementation possibilities, assess potential problems and difficulties, and determine a plan of specific actions and measures for the near future; prepare an appeal to UNECE concerning the determination of the possible forms (organizational and financial) of the Economic Commission for Europe participation in organizing and holding in Ukraine of the relevant training programs on the use of documents with the electronic digital signature in the foreign operations.
The participants in the Meeting of the Interagency Initiative Group decided to hold the next Meeting on 22 December 2011.
