The Dutch Institute for Advanced Logistics “Dinalog” was established earlier this year to realize the Dutch ambition to become European market leader in controlling flows of goods  passing through one or more European Countries by 2020. 

The Dinalog network consistis of many private and public organizations and knowledge institutions. The ‘Extended Single Window – Information Gateway to Europe’ is a Dinalog research project to develop solutions to issues faced by international logistics industry:

1.     Need for seamless and reliable supply chains;

2.     Compliance to revised European coordinated border management procedures;

3.     Need to reduce the costs of compliance to governance requirements.

The aim is to develop an integrated coordinated border management solution for ports and airports integrating with previous and subsequent procedures for reliable, secure, and cost effective logistic chains as a prerequisite for the Netherlands to serve as an excellent gateway to Europe.

This coordinated border management, ‘Extended Single Window’, requires efficient and reliable information for effective joint supply chain planning by shippers, goods owners, transport companies, forwarders, terminals and other logistic service providers and to use this information to meet government laws and regulations in a cost effective way. The main purpose of the Extended Single Window is re-usability of business data by all government authorities for all types of goods movements  and enabling existing Port Community Systems to behave as one Information Service Bus with innovative IT.

The projects needs to identify which safeguards for government controls need to be defined and how they can be supported by advanced IT with contribution of business and government authorities and in close cooperation with various demonstration projects (single window, Authorized Economic Operator (AEO)/system-based controls, centralized clearance/Single Authorization for Simplified Procedures).  It  is expected to lead to a drastic reduction of physical inspections of goods in the mainports by coordinated  planning of government authorities, reliable transport to and from hinterland hubs and administrative cost reduction.

We will keep you informed about this ambitious  Dutch project.

Source: www.dinalog.nl

Recently the Belgian Customs Administration has decided to eliminate or reduce certain guarantees for AEO certified companies. The Circular of May 18, 2010 lays down the provisions for granting an exemption or a reduction in security for authorized economic operators (AEO certified companies) with customs activities in Belgium.

An exemption from the security is granted for:
1. the temporary storage of goods in anticipation of the declaration;
2. the placing of goods under economic customs procedures (customs warehousing and inward processing relief) and for processing of goods under customs control in the name of the AEO certified operator;
3. the comprehensive guarantee on Community / Common transit to the extent of the reference amount if
a. the Belgium-based operator is the authorized declarant AND
b. the approved operator has sufficient experience in using the system Community / common transit and has control over transportation to the required criteria of the CCA AND
c. the Community / Common transit does not cover goods with a higher risk of fraud as defined in the CCA.

If the approved operator has no control over the transport, the amount of the guarantee is reduced to 30% of the reference amount.

If the Community / common transit concerns goods with a higher risk of fraud, the amount of the comprehensive guarantee is reduced in Belgium to 30% of the reference amount if:
1. the in Belgium-based authorized operator is the declarant AND
2. the approved operator has sufficient experience on the use of the scheme Community / common transit and has control over transportation to the required criteria of the CCA.

If the approved operator does not have sufficient experience on the use of the scheme Community / common transit or has not enough control over the transport, no reduction of the guarantee is granted.

If you have any question regarding this information, contact us for more information.

An online platform has been launched for the delivrance of the Certificates of Origin.  This platform is named the DigiChambers and has been developed by the Belgian Chambers of Commerce in cooperation with the Federal Public Service Economy and the Department for Administrative Simplification.

From now on, you have the possibility to apply online on the website of the DigiChambers for your Certificates of Origin and have them printed at your desk after approval of the Chamber of Commerce. You can upload attachments in several formats which are automatically converted to PDF.

You can contact your local Chamber of Commerce for more information. They are shortly organizing sessions on the use of this platform.

Click here for access to the DigiChambers website.

The EU’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) is a trade arrangement through which the EU provides preferential access to the EU market to 176 developing countries and territories, in the form of reduced tariffs for their goods when entering the EU market.

GSP covers three separate preference regimes:

• the standard GSP, which provides preferences to 176 developing countries and territories on around 6400 tariff lines;
• the special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance, known as GSP+, which offers additional tariff reductions to support vulnerable developing countries in their ratification and implementation of international conventions;
• the Everything But Arms (EBA) arrangement, which provides Duty-free, Quota-Free access for all products for the 50 Least-Developed Countries on 7200 tariff lines.

The 16 beneficiary countries from 1 January 2009 until the end of 2011 will be: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Sri Lanka and Venezuela.  These countries will have duty-free access to the EU market for around 6400 tariff lines in addition to the standard GSP.

GSP+ preferences are of real economic value to the beneficiary countries: in 2007 there was 4.7 billion € worth of trade under this scheme, with a nominal duty loss (compared to standard GSP rates) for the EU of over 357 million €. The duty-free access means a considerable tariff reduction over the rates applied under the regular GSP scheme. Tariff cuts include tobacco (cut by up to 52%), various fruit juices (up to 30%), fruits (up to 20%), vegetables (up to 14%), fish (up to 20%) and honey (up to 17%).

Source: Weekly Trade News of the European Commission, 11 december 2008.

The AEO status took legal effect on 1 January 2008.  Since then the customs administrations in the EC received hundreds of applications.  The vast majority of the applications are for a combined customs simplification and safety and security AEO certificate and have been received from a wide range of businesses, including importers, exporters and freight agents.

In the meanwhile, the first applications have completed the authorisation process and AEO certificates have been issued to the successful applicants (a.o. in Denmark, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands).   We expect the number of applications to grow in the coming months.

It is also expected that the benefits of AEO status will increase once mutual recognition agreements are in place.  The EC is currently in negotiation with a number of third countries, with the United States and China taking priority because of the volumes of trade involved.  An agreement has been concluded with the US on strengthened co-operation on security with the US and there are on-going discussions with the US to reach a mutual recognition of our standards.  According to our information the US authorities will expand the C-TPAT certificate with export transactions.  To our opinion this decision will speed up the mutual recognition of the AEO and C-TPAT standards between the US and EU.  Next to this, a pilot project has been started to study the smart and secure trade lanes between the EC and China.

Next to the US and China, Norway and Switzerland are also taking priority due to their shared border with the EC.  It is expected that Norway and Switzerland will introduce AEO or an AEO equivalent regime as a result of new pre-notification rules being introduced in the EU from 1 July 2009.  These rules require information on consignments being imported into the EU to be provided between 1 and 24 hours before the consignment leaves its point of departure.  This rule may have major impact at the borders with Norway and Switzerland as it could cause huge traffic jams and lenghty waiting for customs administrations.