Customs chief wants new IT system to replace National Single Window

Customs chief wants new IT system to replace National Single Window

NEWLY installed Bureau of Customs Commissioner John P. Sevilla is eyeing the creation of a brand-new single system in lieu of the National Single Window (NSW) that his predecessor had been pushing to speed up Customs processes and harmonize all trade-related data.

In his first news conference since he assumed office last month, Sevilla expressed dissatisfaction over NSW’s design, which, according to him, is “cumbersome and inefficient.”

Sevilla said that the NSW is designed to have links to other agencies, but while it reflects the import permits emanating from government agencies, the actual import entry and the tabulation of duties and taxes are in a separate system.

“I don’t know the details what’s keeping the National Single Window from being implemented, but I can tell you right now even if it were fully implemented now I wouldn’t be satisfied with [it],” Sevilla told reporters.

Sevilla said he is thinking of creating an IT infrastructure that has a single system with the capacities of NSW as the stand alone system that could combine with the current processing system of the BOC.

“So I think what we want is a single system that has greater functionality than what we have today which already then integrate and that would contain all the capabilities that should have been in the National Single Window,” Sevilla said.

Source: http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php/en/news/economy/25551-customs-chief-wants-new-it-system-to-replace-national-single-window

The BOC chief said he would discuss the possibility of revising the current system or adopting a totally brand new integrated system with the agency’s IT experts very soon.

Sevilla added that he is eying to start or if possible complete the integrated system within 2014.

“We will probably call it something else but then to really achieve that we are going to need the cooperation of other agencies…. Whether it is going to be a brand-new one or whether it is going to be an upgrade of the existing system that we have, that has yet to be decided,” Sevilla said

But until the integrated single system is created, the BOC has no other choice but to make use of the current system, he added.

“I think depending on how long it’s going to take us to have an integrated single system up and running, we still want whatever is there to work,” Sevilla said.

The single window system aims to facilitate trade among the members of the Association Southeast Asian Nations.

NSW 1, which has been in place already, refers to the setting up of an NSW while Phase 2 of the NSW will provide a single source of trade data for analytical purposes.

NSW 2 also calls for a government-wide rationalization, standardization and harmonization of all trade-related data.