BIG DIGITAL STEPS TAKEN IN CUSTOMS APPLICATIONS…

Hasan BAYTOK
UGM PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

In the first quarter of this century, digital applications in customs increased and proliferated. Of course, many more steps will be taken to digitalize customs procedures in the coming periods. I think digital innovations such as a single window system in land and air transportation transactions, paperless applications in imports, the new BİLGE customs platform, blockchain, and artificial intelligence in declaration processes should be implemented.

The article of Ms. Nurcan Özyazıcı Sunay (Retired Head of the IT Department of the Ministry of Customs and Monopolies) titled "The Story of Digitalization in Customs in the 100th Anniversary of our Republic", published in the 11th issue of our magazine specially prepared for the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic, was published in the institution. It reveals the developments in detail. With this article, I am talking about the stages after taking over the baton from him and the goals that our esteemed friends to whom we have handed over the task should pursue.

First of all, as the customs community, I would like to emphasize our gratitude to Nurcan Özyazıcı Sunday for her invaluable services in the significant steps taken in Digitalization in Customs at the beginning of the millennium, to Cahit Soysal, who believed in this project and automation and gave great support within the scope of the legislation, and to all customs officials who supported them afterward.

Since the early 2000s, I have worked at the Undersecretariat of Customs, the Ministry of Customs and Trade, and the Ministry of Commerce. As an analyzer, branch manager, and department head, I tried to fulfill my duties properly, especially in the "WISE" applications, and then handed them over to our friends to take them further.

In the first quarter of this century, digital applications in customs increased and proliferated. Now, I want to discuss what we do and where we carry our customs.

NCTS (New Computerized Transit System): Türkiye became a party to the Common Transit Agreement on December 1, 2012. The NCTS system, a "new common transit regime computer infrastructure" for transit transactions between the member states of the convention, has been put into practice. Within the scope of the application, the obliged party must make a transit declaration, and the transit transactions at the customs administrations become functional through electronic messages. It is carried out within the Common Transit Agreement, Transit Handbook, Customs Regulation, and related secondary legislation. At the same time, national transit operations are also carried out through the NCTS application.

Single Window System: It is an application that enables the documents "subject to foreign trade transactions that must be added to the customs declaration" requested during customs procedures to be obtained from a single point and the customs procedures to be carried out and completed "with an application to be made to a single point." With the integration with many institutions (23 stakeholder institutions), document information issued by institutions in electronic form, from 177 documents on paper, has been transmitted to the Ministry of Commerce. While some institutions can receive applications through their systems, many are made through the Single Window System. Applications are approved by institutions or Ministry of Commerce units and converted into e-documents. E-document information constitutes the integrated and cyclical system of the Single Window System, used in customs procedures and feedback to relevant institutions. Obliged parties can use this system as an e-government service.

E-invoice: E-invoices created for export transactions by companies liable in the Revenue Administration system are made as e-documents in the Single Window System of the Ministry of Commerce through the Revenue Administration system. The resulting e-documents are forwarded to the Revenue Administration system to be used in export declarations and VAT refunds following the closing of these declarations. This way, the number of invoices used on paper gradually decreases.

Container Tracking System: It is the system in which the container, the goods inside, and the carrying vehicles are tracked. Thanks to this system, which works integrated with port operators, container movements are closely monitored by the customs administration; Messaging between customs administrations and port operators is done electronically. With this application, it is possible to complete the customs procedures for the container and its cargo, to take them to the customs area, or to control their exit. In addition, many documents, such as container tracking forms and warehouse exit slips prepared on paper, have been moved to electronic media in this system.

GET APP (Customs Goods Tracking and Performance System): It is an application that enables the tracking of customs procedures of goods whose import, export, or transit has been initiated. This application allows all stages and information about goods and declarations to be accessed instantly. Operational processes are assisted by establishing relationships between processes. With this application, "Report, penalty decision, e-document" information regarding open or closed declarations of importers, exporters, or declarants can also be queried. The application also offers the opportunity to measure performance and time.