In the past two and a half years, the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration has carried out major reforms to improve its services and reduce the time for following customs procedures to increase its revenues. These changes have been collectively introduced as an integrated customs system.
The IRICA has also replaced a number of customs documentations with electronic ones to create a more efficient and modern customs environment.
A brief review of these recent electronic facilities has been reported by IRNA.
Declaration of Export, Import
Online declaration of exports and imports enables the declarant to electronically report their goods 24/7. It would minimize bureaucracy and streamline transactions while saving importers and exporters a great deal of time.
Submission of IGM
Before the arrival of cargo at destination port, the carrier has to file the details of cargo arriving to the port of importing country with the customs. This is called Import General Manifest filing.
The procedures to file IGM are handled by the carrier of goods or his agent.
The IGM contains the details about shipper, consignee, number of packages, kind of packages, description of goods, airway bill or bill of lading number and date, flight or vessel details. Now the carrier company can submit IGMs electronically.
Presentation of Warehouse Receipt
One of the big challenges of customs management concerns warehouses and getting the warehouse receipts. Warehouse supervision is among the legal responsibilities of customs. With the implementation of the integrated customs system, the customs receipt data are now sent to customs bureaus electronically.
Control Over Customs Debts
Semi-mechanical control over customs debts could set the stage for customs fraud. The integrated customs system allows for automatic control over these processes without direct human intervention.
Now people have to clear their debts before receiving any services from IRICA. Indebted customers will be refused declaration or clearance of their goods.
Issuance of Required Permits
Securing clearance permits such as standard and quarantine permits as well as order registration used to be time-consuming and authentication of these licenses was an arduous task.
Under the new system, the permits are received directly and electronically from their respective organizations, which has a significant effect on accelerating the process, effectively eliminating nonconformities in the process.
Cargo Sealing
Sealing the cargo is of utmost importance in goods transit. Electronic seals are imbedded with a chip to track trailers and monitor load integrity. With this technology, a readable device is attached to a trailer or container, monitoring the shipment’s location via global positioning system.
E-Tir
In July, Iran joined the Electronic TIR Convention—the Convention on International Transport of Goods Under Cover of TIR Carnets—a multilateral treaty concluded at Geneva in 1975 to simplify and harmonize the administrative formalities of international road transport.
According to IRICA’s chief, Masoud Karbasian, this would eliminate the paper transit manuals.
“The data on TIR trucks will be given to the customs office by the International Road and Transport Union before they cross into Iran and the office will check the data online,” he said.
IMEI System
To accelerate and improve the customs control over imports of cellphones, IRICA launched the International Mobile Equipment Identity system. The IMEI is a number used by a global system for mobile network to identify valid devices and, therefore, can be used for stopping a stolen phone from accessing that network.
M-Government
M-government, which is a subset of e-government, refers to the collection of services only possible using cellular telephones, laptop computers, personal digital assistants and wireless Internet infrastructure.
Now, traders can get the latest from the customs procedures of their goods by referring to merchant.irica.ir.
Trade Stats
Since December 22, foreign trade statistics, which were published every three months, have been regularly updated on a daily basis on the customs administration’s website (http://www.irica.gov.ir).
Changes pertain to the automatic authentication process, automatic designation of customs officer based on specified rules and regulations and their capabilities, creating red, yellow and green channels, electronic mailbox, issuance of electronic green cards, smart weighing, issuance of electronic invoices from warehouses and online transit declaration.
The electronic insurance system, electronic archiving system, providing inquiry system using Short Message Service, smart control over automobile entry and exit, online management reports and electronic implementation of bylaws will also help streamline the customs operations.
In conclusion, the performance evaluation of all customs bureaus across the country by using the Performance Management Chart, online evaluation of goods and online payment services for customs charges are some of the new changes expected to increase the efficiency of Iran’s customs administration system.
